AT&T will begin offering remote wireless access to its VPN services from more than 2,000 access points in at least 20 countries in Q4 2003. To support the service, AT&T will adopt a new WiFi (802.11b) access service from GRIC Communications. The companies said that because there are no standard authorization protocols for the WiFi industry, each wireless service provider has needed to implement their own authorization methodology. GRIC's new service provides a customized integration and interoperability specification that will allow AT&T to implement GRIC's authorization methodology. This specification has the potential to ease administrative issues connected with offering the service.
AT&T plans to extend WiFi access to its entire IP VPN portfolio in 2004. This new capability will enable AT&T VPN Tunneling Service (IPSec) users to access their VPNs wirelessly at speeds of up to 11 Mbps from specified locations, initially planned for Australia, Austria, Belgium, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, the Philippines, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United States and the United Kingdom.
The GRIC network offers 185 access locations in 41 airports; 1,400 access locations in 860 hotels; and 19 access locations in 15 convention centers. Of a total of 2,132 access locations, nearly 1,600 are wireless locations in 14 countries, and more than 500 are hotel Ethernet locations.
AT&T currently uses GRIC to provide remote dial Internet access from more than 140 countries.
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- In December 2002, Cometa Networks, a new company backed by AT&T, Intel, IBM, Apax Partners and 3i, unveiled plans to provide broadband, wholesale, wireless Internet access based on 802.11 technology nationwide. Cometa Networks will offer its wholesale services to other telecom service providers, ISPs, cable companies and wireless carriers. Hot-spots will be deployed in partnership with major national and regional retail chains, hotels, universities and real estate firms. AT&T will provide network infrastructure and management.
