MAP-transfer mechanism

A method of transmitting signalling information between two co-located signalling points of a Public Land Mobile Network. Signalling messages are formulated according to the Mobile Application Part (MAP) protocol and are passed to an adaptation layer which determines whether or not an IP address is available for the destination signalling point. If an IP address is available, The MAP messages are transmitted between the two signalling points using a packet switched data network, otherwise an SS7 network is used to transport the messages.