Editing GPRS (section)

== History ==
GSM was designed for voice, not data. It did not provide direct access to the Internet and it had a limited capacity of 9600 bauds per second.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~lewis/teaching/Tik-111.htm | title=Tik-111 }}</ref> The limitations of [[Circuit Switched Data]] (CSD) also included higher costs. GPRS opened in 2000<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1UW7Y6zj17wC&dq=gprs+2000&pg=PA32 | title=Internet Management Issues: A Global Perspective: A Global Perspective | isbn=9781591400158 | last1=Haynes | first1=John D. | date=July 2001 | publisher=Idea Group Inc (IGI) }}</ref> as a packet-switched data service embedded in the channel-switched cellular radio network [[GSM]]. GPRS extends the reach of the fixed Internet by connecting mobile terminals worldwide.

GPRS was established by [[European Telecommunications Standards Institute]] (ETSI) in response to the earlier [[CDPD]] and [[i-mode]] packet-switched cellular technologies and is integrated into GSM Release 97 and newer releases. It is now maintained by the [[3rd Generation Partnership Project]] (3GPP).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Welcome to the World of Standards! |url=https://www.etsi.org/index.php |website=ETSI}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=3GPP – The Mobile Broadband Standard |url=https://www.3gpp.org/ |website=3GPP}}</ref>

{{anchor|CELLPAC}}The CELLPAC<ref name="Walke-Mende-Hatziliadis_1991" /> protocol developed 1991–1993 was the trigger point for starting in 1993 the specification of standard GPRS by ETSI [http://www.gsma.com/aboutus/history SMG]. Especially, the CELLPAC Voice & Data functions introduced in a 1993 ETSI Workshop contribution<ref name="Decker-Walke_1993" /> anticipate what was later known to be the roots of GPRS. This workshop contribution is referenced in 22 GPRS-related US patents.<ref>Program “Publish or Perish”, see [http://www.harzing.com/pop.htm] returns to a search for P. Decker, B. Walke, their most cited paper that unveils US patents referencing that paper.</ref> Successor systems to GSM/GPRS like W-CDMA ([[Universal Mobile Telecommunications System|UMTS]]) and [[LTE (telecommunication)|LTE]] rely on key GPRS functions for mobile Internet access as introduced by CELLPAC.

According to a study on history of GPRS development,<ref name="Walke_2013"/> [[Bernhard Walke]] and his student Peter Decker are the inventors of GPRS&nbsp;— the first system providing worldwide mobile Internet access.