Written by: Johan Börje, Hans-Åke Lund and Anders Wirkestrand

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Through the introduction of a novel breed of routers that have been optimized for use in wireless networks, Ericsson has opened a new era of wireless IP. Being based on existing and emerging industry standards, the real-time routers will enable operators to reap the full benefits of all-IP networks—for example, the routers feature a dual IPv4/IPv6 stack for optimum scalability and security, an advanced quality-of-service mechanism for delay-sensitive traffic, hardware accelerators that yield outstanding performance, automatic configuration for reduced operational expenditure, and operation on a true telecommunications-grade platform with no single point of failure.

The Internet protocol is making its way into wireless networks. Having been enhanced in terms of efficiency and quality-of-service support, the Internet protocol has matured and can now be used to transport services in wireline as well as wireless systems. Nonetheless, the use of IP on the fixed network side of wireless systems puts special requirements on networking equipment, such as IP routers, base stations, radio network controllers and gateways. The authors describe Ericsson’s real-time routers, which have been specifically designed to cope with the special conditions of wireless networks, including network synchronization, narrowband links, and applications that are sensitive to delay.

[First published in Ericsson Review no. 04, 1999]