Seamless Roaming

Seamless Roaming is a promising technology trend for embedded systems designers. The Gartner Group predicts that there will be over 200,000 public WLAN (wireless LAN) hotspots and over 75 million users of those hotspots by the year 2008. An international framework called IRAP, or International Roaming Access Protocols, will improve service in three key areas providing safer, simpler, seamless connectivity for wireless users worldwide. This paper will cover improving these three key areas and describe embedded systems opportunities for new devices like Mesh Access Points and Voice over WLAN phones, as well as replacement devices like Smart Phones that could result from these improvements.