Mobile IPv6 enables IPv6 mobile nodes to continue a session using a given "home address" in spite of changes in its point of attachment to the network. These changes may cause delay, packet loss, and also represent signaling overhead traffic on the network. The MIPSHOP WG has so far worked on two technologies to address these issues. Hierarchical Mobile IPv6 (HMIPv6) reduces the amount and latency of signaling between a MN, its Home Agent and one or more correspondent nodes. Mobile IPv6 Fast Handovers (FMIPv6) reduces packet loss by providing fast IP connectivity as soon as the mobile node establishes a new point of attachment at a new link. The MIPSHOP WG will continue to work on HMIPv6 and FMIPv6, and the necessary extensions to improve these protocols. The MIPSHOP WG will also identify missing components that are required for deploying these protocols and standardize the necessary extensions. The WG will also address using these protocols to provide fast handovers for network-based mobility management protocols like Proxy Mobile IPv6. The IEEE 802.21 Media Independent Handover (MIH) working group aims at providing services to assist with handoffs between heterogeneous link-layer technologies, and across IP subnet boundaries. MIH services can be delivered through link-layer specific solutions and/or through a "layer 3 or above" protocol. MIPSHOP will define the delivery of information for MIH services for this latter case. A L3 based mechanism to identify a valid information server is also required. The MIPSHOP will work on developing a protocol for transport of MIH services information and mechanisms for discovering the MIH server. Security for the transport of MIH information will also be addressed. The MOBOPTS Research Group in the IRTF is chartered to work on optimizations related to Mobile IPv6 and IP handoffs among other things. The MIPSHOP WG will take mature proposals from the MOBOPTS group and standardize them in the IETF on a case-by-case basis. The MIPSHOP WG will also consider and standardize optimizations for the Mobile IPv6 protocol and IP mobility in general. Scope of MIPSHOP: The working group will work on: 1. FMIPv6 Mobile Node - Access Router security using the AAA infrastructure Currently MIPSHOP has produced a standards track protocol for setting up security between the mobile node and access router for security FMIPv6 signaling messages. However, the protocol depends on SeND (Secure Neighbor Discovery) to be available on the mobile node and the access router. An alternate mechanism that leverages the AAA infrastructure would be useful. Many target systems where FMIPv6 is likely to be used use a AAA infrastructure to authenticate and authorize network access. The working group will work on a Informational document describing how the AAA infrastructure could be used for setting up security associations between the mobile node and the access router. 2. Prefix Management for point-to-point links with FMIPv6 Using FMIPv6 over point-to-points like requires some additional considerations with respect to managing and allocating prefixes for the mobile node on these point-to-point links. Therefore the WG will work on an Informational document to address the issues. 3. Handover optimizations when Proxy Mobile IPv6 is used for handovers Proxy Mobile IPv6 (PMIPv6) is a network-based mobility management protocol where a node in the access network, called the Mobile Access Gateway (MAG) handles mobility on behalf of the mobile node. It has been proposed to use FMIPv6 to optimize the handover in terms of reducing the packet loss and transferring relevant context from the old MAG to the new MAG. The working group will also work on other optimizations like the use of a transient binding cache entry for improving a PMIPv6-based handover. 4. Work on protocols and extensions for transporting information related to IEEE 802.21: The work includes the layer 3 protocol for transporting MIH related information and DHCP and DNS extensions for discovering the information servers.