New Wireless Broadband Internet For 20 Million Air Passengers In Sweden




Aptilo, Cisco and HP partnership delivers a public standardised wireless broadband solution that covers the entire Swedish airport network

STOCKHOLM, -/January 16, 2006 - Wi-Fi Technology News/-Luftfartsverket (LFV), the Swedish Airports and Air Navigation Service, has invested in a new wireless broadband service for all of its 16 civil airports in Sweden, providing travellers with access to the Internet throughout the airports? facilities.

Known as Visitors Access, the service is available to the estimated 20 million passengers who use the Swedish airport network every year, providing them with access to emails or even critical business data. Further flexibility to the customer is offered through a variety of user payment methods, including credit card, voucher or via the user?s telephone account. The technology has been delivered by a strategic alliance including HP, Cisco and carrier networks provider, Aptilo.

?The solution allows us to offer all our travellers the ability to connect to the Internet, regardless where they are from and how they wish to pay,? says Maria Wall Petrini, Head of Strategic Business Development, Stockholm Arlanda Airport. ?We are also able to target information and use the system to send out work orders to the airport?s staff, as well as providing the airlines with a channel to use when ordering maintenance and other kinds of support services in a much faster and efficient way.?

?Our respective strengths have been successfully combined in this partnership,? says Paul Mikkelsen, vice president sales EMEA, Aptilo Networks. ?With Cisco?s well approved and broad networking portfolio, Aptilo?s software that handles the logistics, and HP?s long experience with public broadband solutions, we were able to create a solution that responds to all requirements and which can be rolled out across Europe.?

The solution that was chosen by LFV is based upon infrastructure hardware from Cisco, Aptilo?s service platform and implementation, with management and support by HP. It is the result of a close strategic partnership between HP, Cisco and Aptilo, bringing together the expertise of the three organisations, to drive the implementation of public wireless access in projects throughout Sweden. Visitor Access is a standardised offering based on tested and approved technologies, which allows for the entire implementation process to run smoothly. The solution leverages HP?s global portfolio of wireless products and services to enable large communities to meet rapidly changing demands and provide their stakeholders with greater flexibility and adaptability.

?Our requirements for a wireless broadband solution are threefold - flexibility, scalability and that both the services and the network can be managed centrally,? says Victoria Str?m, project manager at LFV. ?We wanted a solution that is easy to expand along with the development of new technologies and customer demands.?

Being a standardised solution, Visitor Access is easily implemented in large scale deployments, and adapted to suit the requirements of both passengers and airport stakeholders alike.

?LFV was well prepared with a clear strategy from the start, which has helped them to review their entire infrastructure in one step,? says Dan Lundeborg, line of business manager Networking, HP Sweden. ?They have created their own network and ensured total control in return. This is a huge advantage, both in terms of costs and quality.?

?The customer orders a specific functionality and we deliver it. There will be a lot of these solutions in a variety of public spaces in the future ? even in train and bus stations ? anywhere people would like to leverage from waiting for their departure,? says Per ?kerstrand, head of sales, Cisco Systems.

About HP
HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company?s offerings span IT infrastructure, global services, business and home computing, and imaging and printing. For the four fiscal quarters ended Oct. 31, 2005, HP revenue totaled $86.7 billion. More information about HP (NYSE, Nasdaq: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.

About Aptilo Networks
Aptilo Networks was founded in 2001 and develops and markets system solutions for public access that enable users to connect through wireless broadband WiFi/WiMax networks (hotspots and Metro Scale networks) with the help of authentication, often for a fee. Aptilo solutions are in operation in over 30 countries in North America, Europe and Asia, implemented by large telecommunication operators, hotel chains, airports, enterprises and municipalities.

Aptilo is headquartered in Stockholm, with offices in Oslo, Dallas and Kuala Lumpur. The company?s major owners are its management and personnel, as well as Engelsberg, Skanditek and Birdstep of Norway. For additional information, please visit http://www.aptilo.com

About Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com.