Patent ID: 8107483

Claim:
A method for use in facilitating, via a communication network, the communication of user information between a plurality of host computers and a plurality of wireless communication devices operative via a base station of a mobile communication network, the communication network including a front end subnet and a core network, the front end subnet including a network entry point device and a plurality of tunnel servers co-located in the front end subnet, the tunnel servers being connected between the network entry point device and the core network, the method comprising the acts of: operating to receive, by the network entry point device, a plurality of tunnel requests from the host computers, each said tunnel request being associated with one of the wireless communication devices operating in the mobile communication network; operating to communicate, by the network entry point device, in accordance with one of a round-robin assignment technique and a load balancing technique, the plurality of tunnel requests to the tunnel servers co-located in the front end subnet; establishing, by the tunnel servers, a plurality of tunnel connections between the host computers and the tunnel servers in response to the tunnel requests received in accordance with the round-robin assignment technique or the load balancing technique, each said tunnel connection being associated with one of the wireless communication devices operating in the mobile communication network; and allowing the user information to be communicated, via the communication network through the tunnel connections established with the tunnel servers co-located in the front end subnet, between the host computers and the wireless communication devices operating via the base station of the mobile communication network.