A practical method for achieving portable communications in the Internet context

Abstract

In the realm of the Internet, each host has a unique identifying IP address. This address is location-sensitive, and conventional routing algorithms impose further restrictions on the portability and mobility of hosts. The aim of portable communications is to allow a movable host to communicate with others in the Internet wherever it moves to. To achieve this mode of communication, the portable host can be dynamically assigned a temporary IP address in a guest network. For other systems to locate and send IP datagrams to it, the portable host must be able to be referenced via an unchanging domain name. This paper explains the technical details of a practical method of achieving portable communications in the Internet. This method aims to provide maximum compatibility with current IP systems and to minimise the number of new services required.