Vendors Give A Jolt To Wi-Fi Hotspots

Falls Church, Va.-based hotspot vendor Young Design, which said it already supplies products to about 800 wireless ISPs worldwide, also plans to provide ongoing technical support to hotspot service providers. The vendor last week announced a deal with hotspot aggregator Joltage Networks, New York, to sell discounted long-range Wi-Fi access points and wireless network cards to hotspot service providers.

Other vendors, such as NetNearU, College Station, Texas, are offering turnkey solutions that provide the hardware and software necessary to roll out, maintain and maximize network resources.

"We provide everything an owner-operator needs to do billing, user management, network operability and revenue reporting," said Cody Catalena, executive vice president at NetNearU.

NetNearU's solution couples a Gentec access point with a customer board that runs software to add and manage users on the network, manage the network, run diagnostics on the network and project revenue, said Catalena.

The company, which has been providing public Internet access via kiosks in hotels and airports for six years, is using its back-end software to help other solution providers take advantage of the growing hotspot phenomenon, he said.

NetNearU charges about $500 for the package, or $400 for the board and software if solution providers want to use a different access point. The company also takes 25 percent of revenue for billing and management services.

The company currently services about 10 to 15 providers that will have launched about 100 hotspot locations nationwide, said Catalena. In addition, NetNearU contracted with hotspot aggregator Boingo Wireless so that its owner-operators can be part of the nationwide Boingo network.

These offers come at a time when Wi-Fi hotspots are rising in popularity. According to a study from Cahners In-Stat Group, the number of wireless access points shipped each year will jump to 3.5 million in 2005 from 1.2 million in 2001. The firm estimates that annual wireless networking card shipments will more than triple to 19.4 million in 2005 from 6.3 million last year.

Craig Plunkett, CEO of CEDX, an East Northport, N.Y.-based network integrator, said he views hotspots as an opportunity to boost revenue in a slow market. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Plunkett said several of his New York-area clients dropped or postponed networking projects, leaving his firm hurting for business.

CEDX chose NetNearU's solution because of the control available in the software and also because of the company's flexibility, Plunkett said. CEDX, which has been researching hotspot technology for two years, has had trouble getting in the door with some other providers, he said.

The solution provider now operates four hotspot locations in New York and is scouting for new high-traffic areas, including one major commuter rail.

"This is going to be more popular than 3G [wireless services," Plunkett said. "It has a lower price point and is more consumer-friendly."

Although many analysts agree that hotspots have great potential to provide high-speed bandwidth services in the United States, Plunkett acknowledges that business is still slow.

"This stuff hasn't spread beyond the core technology users," he said.

But Plunkett believes the technology will eventually take off, and is hoping to generate at least 50 percent of his company's revenue from its hotspot locations.

"We are hoping this will get us off the billable hour and consultation treadmill," he said.

Illustration by Frank Frisari for CRN.