Abstract: Systems and methods for handovers with simplified network topology are disclosed. In a first embodiment, a method is disclosed, comprising: at a coordinating gateway during a handover of a mobile device from a first base station to a second base station, receiving a first handover request from the first base station; discarding a first shared security key received in the first handover request; sending a tunnel switching request to a core network node; obtaining precursors for a second shared security key from the core network node in a response to the switching request; sending a second handover request to the second base station with the precursors to calculate the second shared security key for securing a data connection for the mobile device following the handover; deriving the second shared security key from the obtained precursors at the first base station; and deriving the second shared security key from the obtained precursors at the coordinating gateway.

Abstract: Systems and methods for handovers with simplified network topology are disclosed. In a first embodiment, a method is disclosed, comprising: at a coordinating gateway during a handover of a mobile device from a first base station to a second base station, receiving a first handover request from the first base station; discarding a first shared security key received in the first handover request; sending a tunnel switching request to a core network node; obtaining precursors for a second shared security key from the core network node in a response to the switching request; sending a second handover request to the second base station with the precursors to calculate the second shared security key for securing a data connection for the mobile device following the handover; deriving the second shared security key from the obtained precursors at the first base station; and deriving the second shared security key from the obtained precursors at the coordinating gateway.