Vendors To Team On Metro Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi equipment vendor Tropos Networks and backoffice support system vendor Pronto Networks said Monday they will work together to develop metro-scale wireless hotspots.

Metro hotspots, which provide coverage for wide areas, are gaining momentum and already are in place in municipalities such as Cerritos, California and Chaska, Minnesota. In addition, New York City has said it intends to place create a municipal hotspot for use by public agencies.

The two companies said in a statement Monday that they already have worked together in the Cerritos and Chaska deployments. Tropos sells the hardware, such as specialized outdoor access points, that create the wide-area hotspots and Pronto's carrier-grade system enables tracking of hotspot users and billing when appropriate.

The new partnership formalizes the arrangement so that the two will continue to work together as more municipalities deploy wide-scale hotspots. In particular, the vendors say they will provide a single, end-to-end solution to system integrators that are actually deploying the municipal hotspots.