iPass offers Wi-Fi roaming, authentication software to mobile operators

Enterprise networking communications company iPass announced that it will make its Wi-Fi roaming and authentication platform available to service providers as they seek to integrate Wi-Fi networks into their 3G and 4G networks.

iPass counts about 300 network providers around the world that have integrated the company's authentication software. It has primarily been focused on selling enterprises communications services that include global broadband access at more than 518,000 venues, including Wi-Fi. It now has adapted its platform, Open Mobile Exchange, for authenticating all of these users to the commercial mobile network world.

iPass OMX combines a mobile data offload solution with Wi-Fi integrated services for both domestic and international data roaming, allowing service providers to deliver Wi-Fi connectivity that functions like mobile data roaming and automatically connecting users to preferred networks by leveraging iPass's half a million hotspots if they wish.

"We've opened up the authentication fabric for carriers to use to build their own Wi-Fi offerings," CEO and President Evan Kaplan told FierceBroadbandWireless. "We're not trying to sell them the aggregated network. We're selling them the platform to build their own... I suspect in the beginning they will use our aggregate networks and then begin wholesaling with each other."

iPass's OMX has already been adopted by Deutsche Telekom as part of its Wi-Fi Mobilize service announced last month. Wi-Fi Mobilize is a network services exchange for in-country and international roaming services.

iPass's platform can be used by a variety of players, including cable companies and wholesale Wi-Fi providers.

For more:
- see this release

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