IEEE 802.21

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The IEEE 802.21 standard for Media Independent Handoff (MIH) is an IEEE standard published in 2008. The standard supports algorithms enabling seamless handover between wired and wireless networks of the same type as well as handover between different wired and wireless network types also called media independent handover (MIH) or vertical handover. The vertical handover was first introduced by Mark Stemn and Randy Katz at U C Berkeley.^[1] The standard provides information to allow handing over to and from wired 802.3 networks to wireless 802.11, 802.15, 802.16, 3GPP and 3GPP2 networks through different handover mechanisms.

The IEEE 802.21 working group started work in March 2004. More than 30 companies have joined the working group. The group produced a first draft of the standard including the protocol definition in May 2005. The standard was published in January 2009.