Announced rather quietly earlier in the summer, it looks like Toshiba’s
Computer Systems Group (CSG) hotspot initiative is ready for phase two.
The company seems poised to give the push toward increasing the number of public
hotspots in the U.S.
The fist part of the strategy was the June release of the Toshiba Wireless
Broadband Hotspot, a $199 piece of plug-and-play hardware a location owner can
stick on their broadband connection to provide instant 802.11-based surfing
for customers.
The latest announcement has Toshiba and iPass integrating their products. Toshiba hotspots
will offer full support for universal client software of the iPass Global Broadband
Roaming (GBR) service. In addition, Toshiba’s hardware will follow the generic
interface specification (GIS) that iPass hopes will become a standard for
WLAN roaming at all hotspots using smart client software.
"[Toshiba is the] first big brand getting into the provider space,"
says Dave Ballard, Senior Manager of Business Development at iPass. He feels
that Toshiba’s hotspot network "validates the [hotspot] business model."
By integrating, Toshiba’s managed hotspots will be added to the iPass ‘phonebook’
of supported public access locations. iPass users will in turn be able to get
to corporate networks while on the road at any Wi-Fi location powered by Toshiba’s
products.
Toshiba’s access controller hardware, a simple box with a port for the broadband
connection, a power cord, and a couple of lights, is apparently not much to
look at, according to John Marston, VP of Business Development at Toshiba CSG.
But, he says, that just makes it all the easier to setup and use.
Fast deployment is what Toshiba wants, thus the simplicity and the low price
(similar products from Nomadix, Colubris, and Pronto cost hundreds more). Toshiba
CSG’s Product Development VP, Oscar Koenders, has been previously quoted as
saying the company would like to see 10,000 hotspots in the United States by
the end of 2003. But the company is faced with a "chicken and the egg"
quandary: even with millions of Wi-Fi capable devices out there, there’s not
enough hotspots for them all — yet not enough people will start to use hotspots
until more are deployed.
Their first phase of rolling out the Toshiba wireless network is to get setup
with potential hotspot operators — the entrepreneurs who will get the training
on how to install and maintain the equipment. Those operators will then be sent
forth to bang the drum and sell Toshiba hotspot equipment to location/venue
owners (the usual hotels, airports, coffee shops, etc.) in their local area.
Once a Toshiba hotspot is installed, all traffic through it comes back to the
Toshiba network operations center (NOC), which takes care of the authentication,
authorization and accounting (AAA). All revenue is split 50/50 — half to Toshiba,
the other half to be split between the hotspot operator and the venue owner
as they see fit.
How much is charged to the end users is up to the location owner, but Toshiba
also offers guides lines on pricing.
"Location owner are in a better spot to determine that price," says
Marston. "They’ll be registered hotspot owners with Toshiba. They’ll get
sales, with installation, maintenance left to the (hotspot) operator."
Toshiba hopes this hotspot-operator-to-location-owner sales method will help
push Wi-Fi hotspot adoption, similar to cable companies pushing cable modems
to home owners. "We’ll eventually offer a retail product you can do a self
install with," says Marston. For today’s market, however, there isn’t enough
awareness. "It would just gather dust today," he says, assuming they
could even get a big retailer like Best Buy to give up the store shelf space.
For now, anyone looking to get a Toshiba hotspot for their location will be
referred to a Toshiba hotspot operator in their area. Marston thinks the hardware
might be available direct from Toshiba’s Web site by the end of the year.
Ultimately, why has a big name like Toshiba even bothered to become a wireless
ISP at all?
"We’ve always been into mobility products," says Marston. "We’ve
continued to drive innovation in mobility. Clients, if they can’t get on the
Internet, are not nearly as useful. Hotspots are part of that vision."
iPass’s Ballard thinks that Toshiba could be the boulder starting the hotspot
avalanche. "The advantage Toshiba has is a mature distribution channel
and a name in the industry," he says. "They’ve got aggressive expectations."
Eric Griffith is the managing editor of 802.11 Planet.
