The cooperation between Nokia and Signa Services opens new roads in bringing Nokia's wireless LAN solutions to corporate users. It will also support mobility operators and wireless Internet service providers (WISPs) in accelerating roll out in hotspots.
With the agreement, Signa Services will offer its service portfolio including installation, maintenance and consulting services to facilitate faster and easier entry into the growing public wireless LAN market.
"With this agreement comes an excellent business opportunity for the Nokia Operator Wireless LAN solution to reach a much wider market to meet the growing demand from customers," says Kimmo Kaitala, General Manager,Operator Wireless LAN, Nokia Networks.
"With this agreement comes an excellent business opportunity for the Nokia Operator Wireless LAN solution to reach a much wider market to meet the growing demand from customers," says Kimmo Kaitala, General Manager,Operator Wireless LAN, Nokia Networks.
"The public wireless LAN service is on the verge of a major boom in demand - it has been predicted that more than 100,000 hotspots will be in operation globally within the next four years," he adds.
"The desire to realise productivity increases and cost savings is driving the uptake of WLAN in offices, schools, public hotspots and other professional environments, and forecast numbers for the size of these market sectors are very large," said Joe Musgrave, V.P. Signa Services .
"The desire to realise productivity increases and cost savings is driving the uptake of WLAN in offices, schools, public hotspots and other professional environments, and forecast numbers for the size of these market sectors are very large," said Joe Musgrave, V.P. Signa Services .
"Considering Nokia's brand strength and proven products, and our experience of over 15,000 enterprise WLAN installations world-wide, we are looking forward to offering professional sectors a best-of-breed solution and capturing a healthy share of these
markets," he adds.
Public wireless LAN offers wireless connectivity services to the visitors of so-called hotspots in public buildings such as airports, hotels, conference centers, as well as corporate premises. Business travellers using any Wi-Fi-certified wireless LAN card can access the Internet and their corporate intranet wirelessly at high-speed. Wi-Fi certification ensures the interoperability of wireless devices using the IEEE 802.11b standard.
It is crucial for mobility operators and wireless Internet service providers to stake their claim early in order to ensure their market presence. This is ever more important since the number of hotspot locations will become limited as competition increases for the most attractive places.
The Nokia Operator Wireless LAN solution supports a variety of business models and existing wireless LAN cards as well as new multimode terminals. This solution also supports various types of authentication, such as SIM based authentication used by mobile operators and the RADIUS type of authentication typically used by WISPs, making the solution an attractive future-proof choice. SIM-based authentication enables service providers to offer their customers the convenience of buying a single data subscription that provides access to GSM data, GPRS and public wireless LAN services with laptops and multimode terminals. It also means that service providers can take advantage of the 25,000 roaming agreements between the members of GSM Association, giving their customers immediate access to hotspots around the globe.
It is crucial for mobility operators and wireless Internet service providers to stake their claim early in order to ensure their market presence. This is ever more important since the number of hotspot locations will become limited as competition increases for the most attractive places.
The Nokia Operator Wireless LAN solution supports a variety of business models and existing wireless LAN cards as well as new multimode terminals. This solution also supports various types of authentication, such as SIM based authentication used by mobile operators and the RADIUS type of authentication typically used by WISPs, making the solution an attractive future-proof choice. SIM-based authentication enables service providers to offer their customers the convenience of buying a single data subscription that provides access to GSM data, GPRS and public wireless LAN services with laptops and multimode terminals. It also means that service providers can take advantage of the 25,000 roaming agreements between the members of GSM Association, giving their customers immediate access to hotspots around the globe.
Signa Services is a hardware-neutral professional services organization built on a track record of 20+ years of wireless LAN implementation and support. The company provides total wireless LAN project management, from analysis and design through to user support and all points in between, to companies around the world. Signa Services is part of Psion Teklogix' Global Solutions Group, a leading wireless solutions provider in industrial environments. Visit www.signaservices.com for more information.
Nokia is the world leader in mobile communications. Backed by its experience, innovation, user-friendliness and secure solutions, the company has become the leading supplier of mobile phones and a leading supplier of mobile, fixed broadband and IP networks. By adding mobility to the Internet Nokia creates new opportunities for companies and further enriches the daily lives of people. Nokia is a broadly held company with listings on six major exchanges.
Contact information:
Global Communications Department, Nokia Networks
Tel.+ 358 7180 38193
Email networks.communications@nokia.com
www.nokia.com
EMEA & Asia Pacific
Liza Loughman
Psion Teklogix
+44 (0) 1235 443030
liza.loughman@psion.com
www.psionteklogix.com
North America
Ted Zwibel
Psion Teklogix
+1 905 813 9900
ted.zwibel@teklogix.com
www.psionteklogix.com