iPass builds Wi-Fi exchange to expand operators' data offload reach

As carrier Wi-Fi gains steam, a whole new sector of mobile Wi-Fi services and products is emerging to support it. Along with the expected carrier-grade access points and management software, vendors are starting to supply specialized gear and services designed to replicate the features of the wide-area cellular network for a technology that was originally intended for home and business wireless connectivity.

One of those companies is iPass, an enterprise mobile broadband provider, which has developed a carrier Wi-Fi exchange for operators looking to expand their Wi-Fi mobile data offload footprint as well as collect a little revenue from their peers. Called iPass Open Mobile Exchange (OMX), the platform builds off of the enterprise authentication and settlement software iPass uses to mobilize remote workforces, expanding its capabilities to operators looking to track and manage smartphones and other mobile devices across global Wi-Fi networks and bill them for data access.

While mobile operators negotiate their own deals with Wi-Fi roaming partners, OMX acts a clearing house, allowing operator A to connect to a single platform, which then connects operator A to roaming partners B, C, D and so on. Operators can establish multi-tier policies for access, for instance designating preferred roaming hotspots, which devices will automatically connect to when in range, or premium data roaming services, which a customer can opt into when outside of a carrier’s wide-area or Wi-Fi network. Whatever billing policy the operator adopts, iPass manages the behind the scene transaction, allowing operators to charge one another per customer or per megabyte consumed or implement mutually beneficially joint-roaming agreements.

Where iPass has an edge is in its vast network of partners. Through all of its enterprise agreements, iPass links to half a million hotspots and carrier access points around the globe. For enterprise remote users, iPass essentially connects remote users to their corporate LANs, authenticating them to their home IT systems. In the case of OMX, the carrier becomes the enterprise and customers are registered to their subscriber management systems. Rather than use Wi-Fi as a remote access technology, carriers use it as a mobile data offload technology, making it a supplementary network to their 3G and 4G mobile broadband networks.

On the equipment side, there’s been a lot of specialized gear targeting mobile offload Wi-Fi deployments. Outdoor coverage vendors like Ruckus Wireless, BelAir Networks and Wavion have built their businesses off of high-performance ruggedized access points designed to be mounted on buildings, lampposts and even buried underground. BelAir has designed access points that hang from the cable operators hybrid coax-fiber lines, solving both outdoor placement and backhaul problems simultaneously (CP: BelAir stakes its claim in small cells). Now Cisco Systems has gotten into the specialized carrier equipment business.

Cisco today announced an access point specifically designed for mobile data offload in stadiums and other entertainment venues. Called the Aironet 3500p, the high-performance access point uses a high-density direction antenna to focus a Wi-Fi hotspot’s full capacity into a concentrated area—right into the cheap seats. Furthermore, Cisco’s CleanAir interference detection technology allows it to position multiple access points in the same venue where they can focus on different seating sections without interfering with one another.

The solution seems tailor made for Verizon Wireless, which earlier this year revealed it planned to use Wi-Fi on a limited basis to augment its 3G and LTE capacity in large venues (CP: Verizon to offload 3G/4G data through free Wi-Fi hotspots).