Bridgewater Systems Introduces Enhanced Wi-Fi Capabilities
/The Wi-Fi Technology Forum/- Bridgewater Systems„·, a provider of dynamic IP and data service fulfillment and assurance solutions, today introduced Wi-Fi roaming capabilities to its AAA Service Controller, enabling service providers to offer intelligent Wi-Fi roaming services to their enterprise customers.
Wi-Fi roaming enables subscribers to connect at hotspots as they choose, using a single account, even if their service provider does not operate the hotspot directly. Service providers that deploy the new feature may own the hotspots and/or have roaming agreements with individual hotspot owners or other service providers. Wi-Fi roaming enables them to offer a simple, transparent roaming access service to subscribers.
According to Karl Toompuu, product manager for Bridgewater Systems, ¡§Employee roaming can be expensive, difficult to monitor and pose a security issue. Wi-Fi roaming enables enterprises to know which users are roaming, determine their individual expenses and ensure they are operating securely.¡¨
Wi-Fi roaming is an enhancement to the 802.11 module that Bridgewater Systems introduced within its AAA Service Controller in 2002. AAA Service Controller provides authentication, authorization and account management for user access, based on the RADIUS protocols. The 802.11 module includes 802.11 authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA), revenue collection and formatting capabilities.
Wi-Fi roaming offers a number of benefits to service providers, including:
„h Provides intelligent roaming to enterprise customers
„h Offers enhanced security levels for hotspot roaming
„h Generates more revenue from existing hotspots
„h Allows secure (Extensible Authentication Protocol) EAP-based authentication
„h Optionally allows enterprises to maintain employee data store
Individuals attending Wi-Fi Planet show in San Jose, CA, can obtain more information on Wi-Fi roaming at Booth #121 from December 3 through 5. Wi-Fi roaming will be available in the first quarter of 2004. Pricing varies and is based upon an expected return on investment of less than one year.
About Bridgewater Systems (www.bridgewatersystems.com)
Bridgewater Systems provides dynamic IP and data service fulfillment and assurance solutions that enable service providers to generate profits from their networks while enhancing customer loyalty. The modular Bridgewater Systems product suite extracts greater value from existing operations support systems (OSS), business support systems (BSS) and network assets to enable service providers to realize new revenue sources. Unlike traditional OSS vendors, Bridgewater Systems' proven products deliver on-demand dynamic IP and data services, offer extensive revenue capture capabilities, provide out-of-the-box value and can be deployed in weeks -- instead of months.
Bridgewater Systems solutions are currently deployed by top-tier global service providers such as Verizon Wireless, Bell Mobility, ICG Communications, Covad and Telia. Founded in 1997, Bridgewater Systems is a privately held company.
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