Boingo weighs in on Wi-Fi

Boingo Wireless helped pioneer the Wi-Fi services market when it launched two years ago. Now the company links 42 wireless LANs operated by others to give users Internet access at speeds of up to 11M bit/sec around the world. Boingo also develops software that the company says lets 150,000 users sniff out available hot spots and provides encryption. Network World Senior Editor Denise Pappalardo recently spoke with Boingo President David Hagan about Wi-Fi and his company.

On Wi-Fi hype: "The hype is great. Two years ago there wasn't much interest or awareness, and now there is obviously keen interest. That makes it easier to call large carriers and talk about partnering."

What customers want: "Enterprises are looking to make their mobile employees, their extended enterprise, more productive. Dial-up, to me, is not a very good solution. I'm a traveler, and I've used dial-up for years. I cut the cord and will never go back. You're seeing the same thing in the enterprise. They have dial-up solutions generally today, and they're looking to augment that and then ultimately replace that with Wi-Fi. You see that happening at a pretty rapid pace.

What enterprises want is a secure remote solution. Fiberlink [which sells Boingo's offering to businesses] has a policy management platform that combines with Wi-Fi and their dial-up solution so employees have connectivity wherever they go."

Who's buying: "The strong market for Wi-Fi right now is the business traveler. This market is split almost down the middle between people who have an individual ability to make a decision with software on their laptop and those that are corporately controlled. If you work for a larger company, then it's probably corporately controlled. For people who work for small companies, they can make an individual purchase decision."

Who will win at Wi-Fi: "The big brands. Companies that already have a varied service model whether wireless or wired. They can [bundle Wi-Fi] with existing offers."

Pricing: "We pioneered the 'connect day' concept. A user can connect at a location and use as much as they want, even go off and go back on, for a 24-hour period. We have priced that on a wholesale basis to our provider partners and at a retail level. Customers don't want to feel like a clock is running, and they don't want to figure out how large the files are they are looking at.