Neko
Supreme Overlord
Dec 26, 2003, 10:10 PM
Post #1 of 1
(1692 views)
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BELLEVUE, Washington 12/16/2003 - T-Mobile USA, Inc. and iPass Inc. (Nasdaq: IPAS) today announced a landmark distribution agreement that will enable corporations to access the T-Mobile HotSpot network through the iPass virtual network. Now, enterprise IT managers and CIOs can provide their mobile workers with a seamless experience to connect to the T-Mobile HotSpot network through the iPassConnectTM service interface. This agreement stands to accelerate the adoption of enterprise Wi-Fi usage by combining the largest commercial Wi-Fi service in North America with the world’s largest virtual network.
T-Mobile HotSpot, already known as the leader for reliable Wi-Fi choices for business professionals, owns and operates a carrier-class wireless broadband network at airports, airline clubs and lounges of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, Borders Books and Music, Kinko’s and Starbucks coffeehouses. With more than 3,900 convenient locations, the T-Mobile HotSpot network is the largest public Wi-Fi network in the United States. The iPass Global Broadband Roaming (GBR) network, the largest virtual network in the world, spans 24 countries with nearly 3,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in 16 countries as well as over 1,200 Ethernet-enabled venues around the world. This represents T-Mobile’s first Wi-Fi inbound roaming agreement.
Internal T-Mobile research has shown that 88 percent of T-Mobile HotSpot network usage is for business purposes. With this agreement, IT managers will further be able to use the same industry-leading iPass connectivity services that they already supply their mobile workforce to get online using the broad-scale T-Mobile Hotspot Wi-Fi network. The ability for iPass users to access the T-Mobile HotSpot network means that they are using a service that is continuously monitored from a national operations center to ensure customers get optimal performance and reliability. T-Mobile plans to soon deploy the 802.1x security standard across its entire carrier-class Wi-Fi network.
“This new distribution agreement enables corporations to easily connect to our network with the iPassConnect service interface they already use today,” said Joe Sims, vice president and general manager of T-Mobile HotSpot. “This agreement with iPass continues to underscore our strategy of focusing on the enterprise market and meeting the needs of enterprise customers.”
“T-Mobile has been very aggressive in building and promoting what is now North America’s largest single commercial Wi-Fi network,” said John Yunker of Pyramid Research. “By including locations such as airports and Kinko’s, the T-Mobile thinking is right in-line with the iPass business-oriented venue approach to building its virtual Wi-Fi network for the enterprise.”
“The Wi-Fi visions of both iPass and T-Mobile are in synch,” said Ken Denman, chairman and CEO of iPass. “Both companies believe the addition of the T-Mobile HotSpot network to the iPass global Wi-Fi network of business-oriented venues represents a major step closer to the tipping point in the adoption of Wi-Fi by the enterprise.”
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