Wireless network having a virtual hlr and method of operating the same

A communication network comprising:

• a public network including a public wireless network with a public mobile switching center;
• and
• a corporate network including:
• a plurality of corporate wireless networks located at a plurality of sites, each of the corporate wireless networks coupled to the public MSC, and each of the corporate wireless networks having a physical home location registry (HLR);
• an internet protocol (IP) network coupling the physical HLRs of each of the plurality of corporate wireless networks to one another;
• an operation management controller (OMC) coupled to the public MSC;
• an HLR management routing function coupled to the OMC and to the physical HLRs of each of the plurality of corporate wireless networks via the IP network;
• and
• wherein the HLR management routing function is configured to route access requests from the OMC to the physical HLRs, and the OMC is configured to manage each of the physical HLRs to provide a single virtual HLR for the plurality of corporate wireless networks.

In a corporate network including a plurality of corporate wireless networks located at a plurality of sites, a number of the corporate wireless networks having a physical home location registry (HLR), a method of operating the corporate network to provide a single virtual HLR for the plurality of corporate wireless networks, the method comprising steps of:

• coupling the physical HLRs to one another via an internet protocol (IP) network;
• coupling an HLR management routing function to the physical HLRs of each of the plurality of corporate wireless networks via the IP network;
• coupling an operation management controller (OMC) to the HLR management routing function;
• and
• configuring the HLR management routing function to route access requests from the OMC to the physical HLRs, and configuring the OMC to manage each of the physical HLRs to provide a single virtual HLR for the plurality of corporate wireless networks.