NEW YORK — AT&T, Intel and IBM have teamed with investment companies Apax Partners and 3i to advance the deployment of wireless-LAN hot spots across the United States. The five companies announced on Dec. 5 that they have formed a company, Cometa Networks, that will roll out domestic access points to enable public-access WLAN wholesaling services to carriers, ISPs, cable operators and others.
Interest in moving WLAN technology from an in-building connectivity platform to a local- and metro-access scheme has been a hot button for the wireless industry this year. Cellular operators worldwide have been toying with establishing WLAN networks in hot spots. Starbucks and other retailers have also worked to bring WLAN connectivity to the masses. And countless ad hoc WLAN networks have popped up around the country that offer free connectivity to users.
One problem with public WLAN access is roaming. While hot spots have emerged in certain areas, roaming across WLAN networks is no easy task.
To enable nationwide roaming, some companies, including Sky Dayton's Boingo Wireless operation, have worked to corral hot spots under a centralized billing structure. But that model is limited to the companies that sign up with the company offering the billing.
Cometa plans instead to establish its own WLAN network and then wholesale it out to carriers and Internet service providers that would then retail it to customers. The startup thus promises a system in which users can keep existing sign-on procedures, e-mail addresses, IDs, passwords and payment methods, regardless of whether they access the Internet via a corporate virtual private network, ISP or other provider.
Cometa will roll out its WLAN network in 2003. According to chief executive officer Larry Brilliant, the company will establish more than 20,000 access points throughout the country by 2004.
The access points deployed will support 802.11a and 802.11b services. They will also support emerging 802.11i security standards, in particular the 802.1x authentication mechanism.
AT&T will provide network infrastructure and management solutions during the buildout. IBM will deliver wireless site installations and back-office systems. And Cometa will work closely with Intel to ensure that the WLAN network works well with Intel's emerging Banias processor platform — a mobile CPU, slated for release in 2003, that supports WLAN capabilities.
Cometa will focus its initial deployment efforts in top 50 metro areas across the country. Target deployment areas include retail chains, hotels, universities and airports.
