Northern Telecom, Novatel complete first successful cellular inter-system handoff

Mobile Phone News, Oct 26, 1989

NORTHERN TELECOM, NOVATEL COMPLETE FIRST SUCCESSFUL CELLULAR INTER-SYSTEM HANDOFF

Earlier this week, Northern Telecom Inc. engineered the first successful cellular mobile telephone inter-system handoff, conforming to the IS-41 industry cellular system networking standard. The test was accomplished in Edmonton, Alberta between switching systems manufactured by Northern Telecom and NovAtel. Prior to this test, calls normally would be disconnected because past cellular technology did not allow for handoff between systems from different vendors.

The handoff occurred during a telephone call from a vehicle traveling between areas served by a Northern Telecom DMS-MTX system in Edmonton and a NovAtel 800 C M system in Calgary. The subscriber was able to continue his call without interruption.

Handoff procedures were strictly governed by IS-41 standards for intercellular system communications as specified by the Telecommunications Industries Association (TIA) TR45.2 subcommittee. The ability to provide enhanced cellular services and capabilities such as nationwide roaming and feature transparency, data services, ISDN-like capabilities, corporate networking and advanced database services across multi-vendor systems will depend primarily upon standardized networking.