In Motion Technology expands mobile hotspot offering into Toronto region

The hype of anywhere broadband Internet access expanding beyond fixed locations such as households, coffee shops, airport lounges and hotels through a combination of Wi-Fi and cellular networks is now one step closer to becoming a reality as it hits the streets in the back of limousines. The move follows the launch of similar services on commuter trains in Canada and the United States (RoW, July 9/03; RoW Update, Sept. 2/03). Vancouver-based In Motion Technology Inc. believes the corporate transportation market represents significant potential for mobile Wi-Fi and as such has inked agreements with two of North America’s largest limousine operators. On September 16, In Motion announced that it was bringing its mobile hotspot service to the Greater Toronto Area through a deal with Rosedale Livery Ltd., Canada’s largest corporate transportation company. That agreement follows an earlier one with the world’s largest limousine operator, Carey International Inc. (RoW, Aug. 26/03). Carey is backed by Ford Motor Co. "We see In Motion as enabling business professionals to be productive even while in transit by making Internet hotspots truly mobile, and we see the executive or corporate transportation space as being an excellent (way) to prove the point," In Motion’s president Kirk Moir tells Report on Wireless. There is some data to back up the claim that mobile Internet access and mobile access to email is a key component in business decision-making. A recent study conducted by IDC for U.S.-based Groove Networks states that 90%-95% of business communications and collaboration takes place via email. The report goes on to discuss some of the pitfalls associated with email and the need for more effective collaboration tools such as those offered by Groove, but implicit in the report is that the need to stay connected is paramount in today’s business environment. If an executive stays connected while traveling in a vehicle, then not only is his/her productivity increased, that of the entire organization is enhanced, Moir explains. "It’s the ultimate of what Intel talks about in the unwired business lifestyle. As far as we’re concerned there’s no better place to do that than in the back of a car stuck in traffic. … Transforming that in-transit downtime into an opportunity for connected productivity is really what we see our service being about," he says. The company’s service offering is a combination of a mobile Wi-Fi gateway and acceleration and service management software. In Motion’s patent-pending architecture is designed to provide an accelerated bridge between Wi-Fi and 3G networks. Wi-Fi has been hyped as providing 11 Mbps download speeds, but in a mobile environment where there is a network handoff between the hotspot and the digital cellular network, download speeds are reduced. The package offers average download speeds of about 80 kbps and will likely be upped to the 90-100 kbps range in the near future, says Moir, adding that even faster download speeds are possible. He relates a story about being at a trade show with limo operator Carey last month in Dallas where he was achieving download speeds of 130 kbps. The Vancouver firm has opted to work with CDMA operators in Canada and the United States because in addition to some network complexities with GPRS, the upper end download speeds of CDMA 1XRTT networks are faster than GPRS networks, Moir explains. It has tested its gear and service with Telus Mobility and Bell Mobility in Canada, and Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless in the U.S. In Motion opted to use Telus Mobility’s network in the GTA to connect to the Internet for the Rosedale agreement and Verizon Wireless serves as the Internet backbone connection for Carey. Not only does the executive transportation market have substantial upside in promoting use of Wi-Fi, the relationship limousine operators have with their customers eases billing concerns, Moir explains. "One of the advantages of this market is that there’s already a firm billing relationship between the passenger in a Carey car in Chicago for example and Carey. In that space, 70% of Carey’s traffic is on account." The company has a dual approach to achieving revenue. If the corporate transportation company wants to own the whole system, In Motion will charge a monthly fee. Or, In Motion can deal with the network operations side and gain revenue through incremental passenger fees. Moir says the company is not looking to sell the hardware and walk away, but it wants to help its customers deal with the IT issues associated with the service. It prefers to deal with IT operations, while letting its clients do what they know best - serving customers. "Particularly in the commercial transportation space, be it the corporate limousine market or the train market, these guys aren’t necessarily in the business of being IT professionals," Moir says. "They’re not looking to increase the size of their IT organization, they’re looking to keep it steady or have it trimmed down as a percentage of their business. So on the commercial side, we see it really as a managed service offering that we will continue to move forward with. In the other markets, that really depends on the dynamics of those markets. If we go after government, we would expect another organization to be doing the facilities management work." Wi-Fi coming to a vehicle near you Moir believes that just as air conditioning has become a standard option in most vehicles, Wi-Fi will make its way into automobiles as well. "It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when," he says. "Is it two years, five years or 10 years before this becomes a fairly pervasive thing in automobiles? I would have never expected DVDs and TV screens to be parts of your average minivan purchase. But having just purchased one, that’s a major selling point." In Motion is particularly well-positioned to move in that direction if it so desires, as its relationship with Carey - owned in part by Ford - would give it the opportunity to have its equipment and service installed in Ford automobiles on an OEM basis. Moir admits that it’s a possibility, but not yet a blip on the company’s radar screen. "We really want to go out and not necessarily go after that route right now. We want to go out and prove that this is going to make a measurable difference in the way people select travel services."

In Motion Technology expands mobile hotspot offering into Toronto region

News | 09/23/2003 4:00 am EDT

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