Wayport inc. announced it has raised $20 million through a private placement that it plans to use for strategic acquisitions and to accelerate deployments at hotels, airports, McDonald’s restaurants, UPS stores and other venues.
Wayport offers wireless high-speed Internet service in more than 3,000 locations, and the company said more than 6 million paid customer connections have occurred at Wayport hot spots to date. “The momentum with our large-scale deployments has shown that our venue partners see value in the differentiated services we offer to their customers and that our neutral host strategy and strategic roaming partnerships drive the maximum number of customers to their venues,” said Dave Vucina, chief executive officer of Wayport.
The company also announced Robert Kroll has been hired as vice president and general counsel. Kroll has served as legal consultant and acting general counsel to the company since April 2001.
In other Wi-Fi news, various deployments have been announced this week, demonstrating the growing pervasiveness of the technology.
- Wavelink Corp. announced the Pinellas County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office deployed a Wi-Fi network in a large jail facility to support the use of wireless devices and applications by deputies and other staff to monitor inmate health and well being, provide access to inmate records and photos, record inmate locations and support voice-over IP communications.
- Ottawa Wireless Inc. launched a city-wide Wi-Fi network in Grand Haven, Mich. The network, which covers the city’s 6 square miles and provides coverage 15 miles into Lake Michigan, also offers VoIP capabilities.
- Airimba Wireless, which offers high-speed wireless Internet services to residents of multi-dwelling units, announced it is offering services in Athens, Ga., and opened a store there to support local customers.
- Proxim Corp. announced Korean automobile manufacturer Hyundai Mobis has deployed a large-scale secure enterprise Wi-Fi network across its 90 warehouses in Korea. The network uses more than 1,500 Proxim ORiNOCO access points to allow the company’s employees to wirelessly access mobile data applications via personal digital assistants to check inventories and to plan more efficiently.
- 3Com Corp. announced strategic alliances with vendors Aptilo Networks, IP3 Networks, Nomadix, PatronSoft, Pronto Networks and SolutionInc Ltd. to develop Wi-Fi solutions. “Whether a customer is seeking simple authentication for a wireless hot spot or enhanced roaming capabilities between different technologies, such as Wi-Fi and GPRS/UMTS networks, 3Com and the new strategic alliance vendors can provide tested and proven solutions,” 3Com said in a statement.
