We have examined the efficiency within wireless acces options for mobile devices and discovered that a classical pitfall is revisited. As with the proliferation of services in the portfolio of incumbents, leading to a number of coexisting so called stovepipes, we see an isomorphic phenomenon evolve in multimodal mobile devices, leading to an inefficient development of vertical stack technical solutions for each different mode. It is the first time we found the optimal technical and commercial fit, i.e. the internal device solution and external service provider solution respectively, with tremendous benefits for the end user. Migration from vertical towards horizontal solutions, the tilting on device level, not only decreases costs but also hugely increases the flexibility for the introduction of new customized solutions. This paper outlines a unique technology called XAS that enables automatic access selection for a requested service, based on qualifiers such as available bandwidth, provided QoS and connection costs. Clever implementation of this system will extend commercial utilization further than access selection only. This system will also enhance the performance of existing devices in terms of standby time and security . In addition, it will open vast opportunities to introduce new and exciting services based on the location of the user. The outlined solution is not merely a theoretical exercise, but already has been built in a realistic pre-commercial demonstrator with which promising results have been obtained. Lucent Technologies has filed a patent for the concept of this system.@en

Networks are omnipresent and universal. Mankind, for example, forms a social network. Today, information and communication technology (ICT) exponentially accelerates the interaction between the human nodes of this global service network. In that way, ICT appears to evoke a phase transformation, similar to the physical phase transitions of a thermodynamic system which characteristise the transformation of matter. Finding that networks are omnipresent and universal, gives a cause for optimism! Indeed, we can profit from the network knowledge in the ICT sector by translatind this knowledge horizontally to, for example, other nodes in the sector network of our economy and society. Transferring the knowledge vertically to networks on other aggregation levels, such as the human network, could reward us with astounding insights into the developments for the next 100 years. In addition, awareness of the possbile scenarios for the 21st century, and keys for the choice between and control of them, come within reach. In this article, we postulate these exciting visions by travelling through time and on different aggregation levels, discovering some maverick phenomena of transient networks that deepen our understanding of the relevant riddles of our existence. The relatively new ICT sector, enabling connections between all communicating entities, obviously plays a crucial multifold role in this game.@en

Wireless broadband in trains in a today's topic of interest for many technology vendors and entrepeneurs. Railway travelers are very enthusiastic about these services.. However, it is not so obvious to make the businesscase go and ly. There are several reasons for this, the first one is obvious: where so the revenues come from? Do railway travelers want to pay for these services and how many users are expected on a daily basis? The second reason concerns technology. Broadband technology such as WiMAX is not yet mature. In this paper, a strategy is proposed for introducing wireless broadband, i.e. internet broadband access in trains, taking into account both the Commercial Portfolio (CPF) and the added services to end-users and business support processes. Broadband applications in trains can be seen as an extra services making public transport more attractive. Dynamic traffic information makes traveling times more predictive; time is better utilized with an office VPN connection or with streaming entertainment. In addition, a combination can be made with the railway operator's business processes for example remote surveillance (vandalism, terrorist threats) and the online engineer. Finally, motorways and railway sections are often co-located. It is possible to strategically place base stations that services can be provided to other modalities and market segments. We will demonstrate a novel independent test and its performance from which new results are presented. The test set-up deals with both layer-2 and -3 handover from different vendors, in which the focus is specifically on the deals performance of centralized versus decentralized intelligence in combination with 802.11i security mechanisms. Furthermore,a business case scenario is presented, based on a net-present value calculation. We conclude that there are definitely business case scenario is presented, based on a net-present value calculation. We conclude that there are definitely business opportunities for broadband applications in trains!@en

Three major trends; an ever growing need for bandwidth, an increasing demand for real-time high QoS broadband value added services and the tendency to enjoy nearly all of these services wirelessly, lead us to reconsider the benefits of packet-switched networks and inspire us to look for alternative network options. A revolutionary approach is to revert to circuit switching in casu to all-optical switching and routing, in order to obtain highly efficient routing and fast transmission. In this paper we explore the possibilities and requirements with regard to this solution.@en