# Guidelines towards Information-Driven Mobility Management
## 4 Mobility in ICN
### Architectural Design Advantages  
ICN integrates several features that are beneficial from a mobility management perspective. To assist in the understanding of such advantages, Table 1 provides an overview on how the different mobility management functional blocks described in Section 3 are supported via the most emblematic mobility management solutions of today. From a mobility management perspective, a first advantage of the architectural design of ICN against its IP-based counterparts is the focus on content, instead of on host reachability. In ICN paradigms, content becomes the addressable entity, instead of a host identifier. Content is also the routing target, which serves better the handover process: there is no need for a database identifier control process, for instance. A second advantage of ICN is its interface abstraction, _Face_. Faces provide a better support for multi-homing, including security [18]. Faces are also relevant in the support of distributed mobility management. The Face abstraction provides the means for applications to seamlessly and securely interact with multiple physical and virtual interfaces, as there is no dependency on interface identifiers or on host identifiers. Adding to the Face abstraction, Forwarding strategies serve better multi-homed devices, as Interest packets can be forwarded having in mind specific requirements for multi-homed \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{p{113.8 pt} p{56.9 pt} p{56.9 pt} p{56.9 pt} p{56.9 pt} p{56.9 pt}} \hline \hline
**Functional Blocks** & **MIP [14]** & **SIP [15]** & **HIP [16]** & **M-SCTP [17]** & **ICN [2]** \\ \hline Identification & IP address (interface) & URI (unique, associated with user) & \begin{tabular}{c} Locator Id \\ (device) \\ \end{tabular} & IP and port & Name prefix (content) \\ \hline Id database control & MAP & Centralised, controlled by the provider. access through the MAP & MAP & None & Not required \\ \hline MAP & Centralised solution, located in the provider premises (HA, access router) & Centralised solution, located in the provider premises Proxy SIP (server) & Centralised solution, located in the provider premises & Centralised solution, located in the provider premises & Not required \\ \hline Binding mechanism & Periodic Binding Update message, MN to HA, MAP or CN & REGISTER & - & - & Pull-based Interest packet approach: on Outbound Proxy or RIP & \begin{tabular}{c} Centralised \\ solution, located \\ in the provider premises \\ premises \\ \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c} Centralised \\ solution, located \\ in the provider premises \\ \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c} Centralised \\ solution, located \\ in the provider premises \\ \end{tabular} & \
\begin{tabular}{c} Centralised \\ solution, located \\ in the provider premises \\ \end{tabular} & Not required \\ \hline Routing/ forwarding & IP based (shortest-path) & Proxy or RIP & Dual, based on translator & IP-based location and on IP &
\begin{tabular}{c} Dual, based on routing, forwarding \\ strategies adapted \\ to mobility \\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline Handover negotiation & Make- before-break, with FMIP access routers & Break- before-make, RE-INVITE message, MN to CN & Make before break & Break before make, requires setup of new TCP connection & No need for consumers; required for producers \\ \hline Resource management & None & None & None & None & Forwarding strategies \\ \hline Security/privacy & Not integrated & Not integrated & Yes, intrinsic to HIP & Not integrated & Yes \\ \hline Handover & Partial, e.g., FMIPv6 & No & No & No \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Mobility management functional blocks, support in different mobility management solutions. environments. Forwarding strategies are based on the information stored in the _Forwarding Information Base (FIB)_ and additional traffic measurement. The _Pending Interest Table (PIT)_ stores Name Prefixes for which consumers expressed interest. Data packets simply follow the state left in the PITs.