From Interworking to Hybrid Access Systems and the Road toward the Next-Generation of Fixed-Mobile Convergence

Abstract

The ever increasing service demands, flexibility needs, and business opportunities have led broadband operators to explore strategies for implementing access agnostic core networks. The hybrid access system is one such strategy that helps operators to deliver higher bandwidth and more reliable services to their subscribers. This article provides a tutorial overview of hybrid access systems describing the main business drivers and use cases before analyzing the hybrid access architecture and the main functional blocks, including policy control. In addition it provides an overview of the main hybrid access approaches considered in IETF, 3GPP, and BBF. Finally, it considers the next generation of 5G converged networks, analyzing the main challenges that have been raised by the work toward hybrid access systems.