UMA or Unlicensed Mobile Access, along with GAN or Generic Access Network are a new technology that will

probably become one of the major drivers in cellular mo bile communications. The new technology allows convergence between mobile and fi xed line communications systems, providing the possibility for users to have jus t one number and one phone for the telecommunications requirements. UMA / GAN promises to offer new opportunities to users, mobile operators and man ufacturers alike. Thus UMA could be one of the major drivers for the mobile tele communications industry in the near future providing revenue from new sources as well as providing an upgrade path for existing users. Drivers for UMA fixed-mobile convergence The level of mobile use has grown rapidly around the globe. Particularly in west ern countries where users have access to both fixed and mobile services there ha s been a growing desire to use just one phone for all their services. With acces s to wireless connectivity rising from the increased use of DSL lines to the hom e as well as wireless coverage in work place and in wi-fi hotspots there is the possibility of using a variety of short range wireless connectivity, and chiefly 802.11. An additional factor is that IMS and VoIP services are now becoming far more wid espread and this raises the possibility of using a single user interface and con necting the phone either over the cellular network, or by using wireless connect ivity through Wi-fi access points - the system choosing the optimum service. With users providing a definite push to generate the technology for this fixed-m obile convergence, UMA is bound to be a growing technology. UMA and GAN There are two terms associated with the convergence technology namely UMA - unli censed mobile access and GAN - generic access network. Both are virtually the sa me, and indeed the phones that are being marketed are being described as UMA pho nes. UMA was the first term to be used. The UMA Industry Forum was founded by a dozen leading cellular companies. However to ensure that there was standardisation a key element required for the success of UMA, the work was introduced into 3GPP under the GSM EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN) group. The standard was ratifie d in April 2006 as TS43.318 release 6 and this included the term GAN - Generic A ccess Network. Although GAN is the term that is used within GERAN to describe the technology, i t is not seen as much outside the 3GPP environs. Instead the term UMA has been u sed for much of the marketing of these products. However in essence both terms, GAN and UMA can be used to describe the technology. Introducing UMA / GAN to a network The introduction of UMA / GAN by a network operator is relatively low cost and s traightforward. While GSM and UMTS require relatively expensive and complicated backhaul circuits as well as costly base stations, the addition of UMA only requ ires the users to additionally utilise their existing broadband connections. This means that the network operator only needs to introduce one major element t o the network. This is the UMA Network Controller or UNC. This can be considered as being much like a Base Station Controller (BSC) but for the UMA functionalit y. One side of the UNC is connected to the Internet giving connectivity for the WLAN access points, and the other side of the UNC uses a standard A interface fo r the circuit-switched communications through to the mobile services switching c entre (MSC) and a Gb interface for the packet switched connectivity through to t he serving GPRS support node (SGSN).

Although UMA and GAN are effectively the same, in GAN parlance slightly differen t terms are used. GAN refers to the UNC as the GAN Controller (GANC). By using the UNC or GANC, it means that when a device hands over from a GSM to a WLAN, it appears to the core network as just a different base station.