Comdex: Cisco announces products to network on the go

LAS VEGAS - Cisco Monday announced networking products that let users access the Internet while on the go.

The networking gear, dubbed Cisco Internet Mobile Office, is designed to give secure, high-speed network access from public facilities.

There are over 300 "hot spot" locations where travelling professionals can access their office networks through secure broadband Internet access, Cisco said. These locations include airports, convention centers and hotels.

Cisco's Internet Mobile Office line includes wired and wireless products. Among the offerings is an end-to-end security product based on the Cisco VPN. With this remote-access computing technology traveling business users can get secure access to their enterprise networks.

Cisco announced several partnerships to get its Internet Mobile Office out. Concourse Communications Group LLC will deploy Cisco's products throughout the world, with a focus on airports. EDS will use Cisco's products and sell them. Several mobile access service providers have said they will use Cisco's hardware.

Alliances with CAIS Software Solutions and iPass are "two critical elements" offering subscriber gateway and roaming technologies, respectively. CAIS Software's iPort technology facilitates the billing settlement of using the Internet on a "pay as you go" method.

In a related announcement Monday, Cisco and iPass announced a Global Broadband Roaming Service providing a single user interface through the iPassConnect and Cisco Secure VPN client software for users roaming across many broadband networks.

Cisco, in San Jose, is at 408-526-4000, or at www.cisco.com/.