Cometa partners with iPass for WLAN hotspot access

Cometa Networks has signed its first partner in an ambitious plan to set up a network of 20,000 public access wireless LAN hot spots in the next two years.

As Cometa begins building the first of these IEEE 802.11, or Wi-Fi, sites later this year, iPass will include access from the locations as part of its Global Broadband Roaming Service for enterprise users. As iPass customers automatically update the iPass client software on their laptops, the update will incorporate the Cometa hotspot locations.

Cometa was launched in December as a start-up company by AT&T Wireless, IBM and Intel, to create a nationwide net of wireless access points.

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Cometa Networks has signed its first partner in an ambitious plan to set up a network of 20,000 public access wireless LAN hot spots in the next two years.

As Cometa begins building the first of these IEEE 802.11, or Wi-Fi, sites later this year, iPass will include access from the locations as part of its Global Broadband Roaming Service for enterprise users. As iPass customers automatically update the iPass client software on their laptops, the update will incorporate the Cometa hotspot locations.

Cometa was launched in December as a start-up company by AT&T Wireless, IBM and Intel, to create a nationwide net of wireless access points.

For iPass, Cometa is just one more service partner, such as Wayport and Megabeam. These partners provide Wi-Fi access locations, Internet access and backhaul connections. Behind the scenes, iPass handles all the authentication, billing and settlement for the providers, and markets its service directly to enterprise companies.

Customers open an account with iPass, and load the iPass client application on their laptops. The application lets iPass users, regardless of which partner's physical network is being used, to see the same graphical interface that lets them connect securely, usually via a VPN, to their corporate backbone.

"We'll take the Cometa [Wi-Fi] infrastructure and make it part of the iPass virtual network," says Jon Russo, vice president of marketing for iPass, Redwood Shores, Calif. "It extends the number of useable hotspots, the user continues to see only the iPass user interface."

Cometa has two parts to its plan, says Cometa COO Joe Gensheimer. One is to deal with real estate owners, such as regional or national convenience store chains, gas stations, and restaurants. He says Cometa will split the costs with these partners to install the hotspots and, possibly, some kind of revenue-sharing plan. IBM will install the wireless LAN gear, and AT&T Wireless will handle the initial authentication and work with local carriers for DSL or T-1 connections.

The second part of Cometa's plan is to sign deals with telecom carriers that want to add a wireless LAN service to their data offerings.

Gensheimer says that some number of Cometa-built hotspots, while bearing the logo of a particular carrier or retail chain, may end up working like today's ATM machines, which can handle a broad range of different brands of ATM cards and credit cards. "We're neutral," he says. "There might be five people connecting to one hotspot. A Sprint customer will think it's a Sprint hotspot, the iPass customer will think it's an iPass hotspot, and an AT&T customer will think it belongs to AT&T."

Cometa's initial goal is to deploy 5,000 hotspots in the top 10 U.S. metropolitan areas by early 2004, and an additional 15,000 by late 2004 or early 2005.