IEEE 802.11F-2003

To develop recommended practices for an Inter-Access Point Protocol (IAPP) which provides the necessary capabilities to achieve multi-vendor Access Point interoperability across a Distribution System supporting IEEE P802.11 Wireless LAN Links. This IAPP will be developed for the following environment(s): (1) A Distribution System consisting of IEEE 802 LAN components supporting an IETF IP environment. (2) Others as deemed appropriate. This Recommended Practice Document shall support the IEEE P802.11 standard revision(s).

IEEE P802.11 specifies the MAC and PHY layers of a Wireless LAN system and includes the basic architecture of such systems, including the concepts of Access Points and Distribution Systems. Implementation of these concepts where purposely not defined by P802.11 because there are many ways to create a Wireless LAN system. Additionally many of the possible implementation approaches involve concepts from higher network layers. While this leaves great flexibility in Distributions System and Access Point functional design, the associated cost is that physical Access Point devices from different vendors are unlikely to inter-operate across a Distribution System due to the different approaches taken to Distribution System design. As P802.11 based systems have grown in popularity, this limitation has become an impediment to WLAN market growth. At the same time it has become clear that there are a small number of Distribution System environments that comprise the bulk of the commercial WLAN system installations. This project proposes to specify the necessary information that needs to be exchanged between Access Points to support the P802.11 DS functions. The information exchanges required will be specified for, one or more distribution Systems; in a manner sufficient to enable the implementation of Distribution Systems containing Access Points from different vendors which adhere to the recommended practices.

New IEEE Standard - Inactive-Withdrawn. Recommended practices for implementation of an Inter-Access Point Protocol (IAPP) on a Distribution System (DS) supporting ISO/IEC 8802-11:1999 and IEEE 802.11™ wireless local access network (WLAN) links are described. The recommended DS utilizes an IAP that provides the necessary capabilities to achieve multi-vendor Access Point (AP) interoperability within the DS. This IAPP is described for a DS consisting of IEEE 802® LAN components utilizing an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Internet Protocol (IP) environment. Throughout this recommended practice, the terms ISO/IEC 8802-11:1999, IEEE 802.11, and IEEE Std 802.11-1999 are used interchangeably to refer to the same document, ISO/IEC 8802-11:1999, and its amendments and supplements published at the time this recommended practice was adopted.