First step toward an IP-based VHE

The Virtual Home Environment (VHE) appears as a key concept for the 3/sup rd/ generation mobile networks such as the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). It promises mobile users the ability of accessing a large range of personalized services, whatever the location or the terminal. In fact, it allows the global service portability! Among other services, Internet/intranet applications are of course attractive targets. In parallel to the works on the VHE realization, the ongoing studies in the different standardization bodies (3GPP, 3GPP2, MWIF, IETF, 3GIP) indicate that the future telecommunication systems will be IP-based. If SIP and H.323 are natural candidates for voice over IP (VoIP) applications, Mobile IP could play an important part for the mobility management in those new generation networks. This IETF protocol allows transparent routing of IP datagrams to mobile nodes in the wide Internet. The purpose of this article is to describe the P920 VHE trial and how Mobile IP can be used as the mobility management protocol for an All-IP network, to offer a Web-based VHE and seamless services across different access networks (fixed LAN, WLAN, cellular, etc.). First, we give an overview of Mobile IP and the P920 vision of the VHE concept is then presented.