The International Packet Communications Consortium (IPCC) said today that it has established a new working group to define the reference architectures that will provide feature transparency and seamless mobility across wireline and wireless networks.

The organization made the announcement at the CompTel/ASCENT Convention & Expo in New Orleans.

The working group was founded by the following IPCC members: Alcatel, Brooktrout, Cisco Systems Inc., Convedia, eLEC, NexTel, Sonus, Tekelec, Time Warner Telecom, and UTStarcom.

The IPCC’s Wireless Wireline Convergence Working Group will focus on defining reference architectures for an access agnostic network that will provide feature transparency and  seamless mobility across wireline broadband (DSL, Fiber, and Cable) and wireless media (2.5G, 3G, WiFi, WiMAX). Its work will include mobile handover between 2G/3G and WiFi/WiMAX and IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) within 3GPP. It will investigate other areas where efficiencies may be achieved in operations and capital costs. This working group will also align with the standards bodies such as ANSI, ETSI, IETF, 3GPP, and the DSL and WiMAX Forums to expedite the proposed reference architecture.

“We are at an inflection point in our industry as various packet wireline and wireless networks are converging,” says Michael Khalilian, IPCC chairman and president. “Together with new revenue opportunities, this creates a strong need to address critical technical and business issues. We established this working group to foster industry collaboration in order to find the best solutions in these critical areas in the least amount of time.”