Connection to Access Networks

3GPP EPC encompasses various access technologies and provides a coherent support for the communication over these multiple access networks, transparent to the applications on both the mobile device and on the service provider side.

OpenEPC Rel. 1 is able to offer support as core network for the various wireless access networks. However, the project stems from the R&D domain and is still at its first stage, thus a complete integration with the real access technologies is not yet available. On one hand this means that alternative solutions, like transparent tunneling over commercially-available access networks, are provided, which would significantly reduce the start-up costs of the testbeds setups. On the other hand OpenEPC project will prioritize deep access network integrations based on customer needs. As such, please contact us with your requirements on specific reference points with Radio Access Technologies and we will get back to you with predictable roadmaps and concrete offerings.

For the connection to access network, under the control of the OpenEPC testbed, like WiFi, OpenEPC considers that link layer tunneling is available, thus the procedures are executed as specified by 3GPP for trusted non-3GPP accesses without access control. Support for Femtocells technology as well as 3GPP deep integration with 2G/3G/4G interfaces will be added on customer demand as to enable a complete testbed including a vast majority of access networks.