Paris-Wide Wireless Internet Hotspot ''Wi-Fi'' Pilot
Launched by City's Transport Authority, RATP Based on Cisco
Technology
The Regie Autonome Des Transports Parisiens Selects Cisco Systems
to Provide Wireless Internet and Interconnection Technology in Trial
that Could Put Paris at Forefront of Public Hotspot Service Delivery
in Europe
Cisco Systems announced that it is working with Naxos, one of two
telecommunications subsidiaries of the Regie Autonome des Transports
Parisiens (RATP), the Independent Paris Transport Authority, in a
WiFi (wireless fidelity) test of local area network points deployed
in the city's metro stations. The project, named WIXOS (for Wi-Fi
eXtensible aux Operateurs de Services), is a potential precursor to
the roll out of a metropolitan area network that will be used to
ensure the development of hotspots for wire-free Internet access
with minimum visual and environmental impact on the French capital.
Paris has one of the densest metro systems in the world,
comprising 400 stations with an average distance of just 550 meters
between each one. The wireless network is supported by a Cisco Metro
Ethernet switching architecture, which runs over part of the 40,000
kilometers of optic fiber cabling controlled by Telcite, RATP's
other telecommunications subsidiary.
The transport authority believes it may be able to use this
infrastructure to build a city-wide Wi-Fi network that could be used
by French Internet service providers to offer on-the-move Web and
email access to their customers. The aim is to allow both
street-level and underground commuters to log onto the network
whilst traveling with a laptop and/or a PC to or from work, as they
would from their offices or homes, and access emails, surf the Web
or pick up location-specific information such as travel news. Among
others, the service is expected to be of great value to travelling
business people, who could do much more work while out and about and
would no longer need to return to the office to pick up messages in
between meetings.
The WIXOS pilot network, which is linked to a data management
platform supplied by Cap Gemini Ernst & Young France, is made up
of 24 Cisco Aironet 1200 Series Wi-Fi access points arranged one
pair to a station and concealed behind infrastructure furnishings
such as the metro sign. These are linked by a Gigabit Ethernet loop
with one Catalyst 2950 Series switch at each station except for
Chatelet, where a Catalyst 3550 Series intelligent Ethernet switch
acts as the hub of the network.
Click here for full RATP Wi-Fi
Story!
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This Week's Wi-Fi HotSpot News:
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GRIC and Nexon Asia Pacific in Strategic Agreement to
Market Global Access and Wi-Fi to Australian Enterprise
Customers |
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Companies Plan Joint Promotions of Wi-Fi Services to
Australian Businesses
GRIC Communications, a leading provider of Internet-based
mobile office communications solutions, and Nexon Asia
Pacific, a leading information, communication and technology
(ICT) service provider, announced a strategic alliance to
offer global access including Wi-Fi to Nexon's corporate
enterprise customers in Australia.
Nexon, whose customers include some of Australia's largest
companies and government departments, as well as Fortune 500
companies doing business in Asia, will offer GRIC's global
access services to its corporate customers, along with its own
suite of IT services which includes access, hosting, managed
VPN and consulting. Building on their existing resale
agreement, the two companies agreed to actively cooperate to
encourage Wi-Fi usage among enterprise customers through joint
promotions, seminars, and other marketing and sales
activities.
"Our agreement with GRIC allows us to provide our
enterprise customers with the ability to stay connected and
productive when they are working away from their offices,"
said Barry Asaf, President and Chief Executive Officer of
Nexon. "Best of all, they have the assurance that they will
always have the ability to gain that access using the latest,
highest-speed technologies available, such as Wi-Fi."
Click here for full Gric Wi-Fi
story!
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PicoPoint Establishes Agreement with SmartLink Telecom
to Enable HotSpot Roll-Out in Kuwait, Jordan and the United
Arab Emirates |
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SmartLink Telecom, a leading telecom company located in
Kuwait chooses PicoPoint to deliver a fully managed and
centralised back-office solution required to activate HotSpots
throughout Kuwait, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. The
agreement was signed during the WLAN Event that was held last
week in London.
"We recognize that the wireless market in the Middle East
is largely untapped at this moment, says Abdel Samara, Deputy
Managing Director of Smartlink Telecom. Areas such as Dubai,
Kuwait and Jordan have professional travelers and local
end-users who require broadband access to wireless networks.
We are committed to deploying a large scale roll-out, knowing
that PicoPoint's outstanding back-office solution will enable
us to focus on providing carrier-grade installations at
HotSpot locations."
"Entering into an agreement with SmartLink Telecom provides
us with a crucial entry point into the Middle East", comments
Ben van Dongen, CEO of PicoPoint. "We are very pleased that
such as qualified organization has decided to commit to our
turnkey solution. SmartLink Telecom's experience will ensure a
smooth deployment in key locations. Their knowledge and
understanding of the local market is of high importance in
building and maintaining lasting business relationships in
this region."
Click here for the full PicoPoint Wi-Fi
Story!
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Legend to Bundle Green Packet's SONbuddy Wireless
Community Networking Solution in All Wi-Fi
Notebooks |
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Green Packet Solution Allows for Peer-to-Peer, Self-
organizing Connections In Legend Laptops Without the Need for
a Fixed Network
Green Packet, a leading developer of intelligent roaming
infrastructure and wireless network solutions, announced that
Legend, the leading IT enterprise in China, will bundle Green
Packet's software platform SONbuddy in all its Wi-Fi notebook
computers -- the Lenovo A820 and the Lenovo E360.
SONbuddy, an intelligent software platform enabling
Wi-Fi-equipped devices to form spontaneous, self- organizing
networks (SON), automatically seeks, organizes and maintains a
peer-to-peer and peer-to- multi-peer ad hoc community based on
user-defined preferred search parameters. These self-healing
and self-optimizing properties allow Legend notebook users to
communicate even in the absence of any fixed wireless
infrastructure such as network hotspots.
Click here for full Green Packets Wi-Fi
Story!
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BWireless Zones Launch Wi-Fi in the Heart of Toronto's
Financial District |
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Bosnjak, founder and CEO of BWireless Zones, Inc., and the
BWireless Group of Companies announced the opening of three
new high-speed wireless Internet hotspots, in Toronto's
Financial District and Ottawa's Parliament District.
As part of its national rollout, BWireless Zones, Inc. is
offering Free high-speed wireless Internet access at all
BWireless locations until the end of 2003, with plans to
launch 102 additional BWireless zones by years end.
In a recent report, Gartner Dataquest estimates that there
will be 300,000 such Internet access locations servicing 50
million users worldwide by 2006. "Wireless is part of our
lives whether we're out in the public, at work or just
relaxing at home," says the 36-year-old entrepreneur.
Click here for the full BWireless Zones
story!
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