Monday, June 30, 2003		Guest Speak

Hotspots and toll gates for mobile offices
Sunil Bhatt

IN the backdrop of today’s changing global business environment, the word "mobility" has assumed a new dimension. It has extended beyond the concept of top executives travelling across the world, finalising important business deals. The fact that information has become an important corporate asset, the access to it anytime and anywhere has become very important. Therefore "mobility" in today’s business parlance is virtually carrying one’s office along, while travelling across the globe. Thus, a corporate network is only useful if it is convenient and accessible to authorised users, wherever they are working. The network should help enterprises enable secure, Ethernet speed connections to the Internet in "Hotspots", or popular locations, frequented by business travellers including airports, hotels, convention centres, and other public places.

This would mean implementation of a solution that would enable enterprises to build a unified communications infrastructure to connect to the Internet. The solution should include fast and easy access to wireless connections at mobile hotspots, convenient billing and settlement services. With this kind of a network infrastructure, mobile executives should be able to establish the connections wherever and whenever they need. All they would need to do is carry a wireless LAN adapter for fast access to broadband Internet.

Such a solution’s architecture would consist of switches in the wireless environments that communicate with the service provider’s broadband services management gateway. This gateway would in turn act as a "toll gate" that provides network access to end users. Besides, this gateway should be able to deliver customised wireless access and management services to mobile professionals on the move from a standard Web browser. Apart from connecting Hotspot users to the Internet via a router that provides high-density, dedicated access to the public network the gateway should also be able to handle call accounting, authorisation, reporting, policy and management functions and deliver localised content to multi-user locations.

One of the major grouses of such mobile office applications is billing for the connectivity as it becomes difficult for enterprises to consolidate and disburse payments for different service providers. The mobile office solutions should provide enterprises with the flexibility to use third party settlement service that consolidates access charges from multiple networks into a single bill providing seamless roaming facilities to mobile executives. In order to bring this into practice enterprises must establish agreements with the third party settlement aggregators to perform consolidated billing for their Wireless hotspots. By aggregating services from ISPs who administer hotspots, third-party settlement services can deliver roaming services and centralised billing that provides convenience for mobile professionals and cost savings for the companies they work for. These third-party settlement systems authenticate each user for network access and generate one integrated bill per company. Third-party settlement providers for hotspots can enable organisations to negotiate corporate relationships and pricing agreements that cover access for their mobile employees.

The use of such broadband service gateways will enable service providers to efficiently provision and bill for wireless access by acting as "toll gates". Ideally in such a situation, the broadband service management gateway has to issue an IP address to mobile users when they attempt to connect to the Internet. It should then authorise users or connect them directly to the Internet or ask them to authenticate. With this kind of a broadband service gateway, service providers can also configure the gateway with a set of IP addresses that are open for anybody to use at a particular hotspot thereby enabling free Internet access to users.

The broadband service gateway should also be able to track access time by gathering information from a Radius server and able to collect, consolidate, and report billing information. This gateway can then be used as a front end billing mechanism at hotspots for Internet access. In hotels, for example, the gateway would function as a front-end billing mechanism, enabling the hotel to bill a mobile professional for their Internet access, if desired.

This type of broadband service gateways can also function as customised information portals in airports, hotels, convention centres, or other public places. For example, in an airport hotspot, service providers can use localised portal capabilities of this kind of a broadband services gateway manager to deliver information about rental cars, shuttles or local attractions at no charge to users as part of a "Walled Garden." This Walled Garden would grant network users access to limited information prior to authentication. If they choose, users can agree to pay for more extensive broadband services. In a hotel, the gateway may also act as an electronic concierge, providing information about local weather, restaurants, or special events.

Even as organisations are thriving to find out ways and means to capitalise on the information deluge, continuous amassing of this kind of an infrastructure may provide true mobility to executives travelling across the globe.