What if “free Wi-Fi” was really free? And safe?

Monday, June 7th, 2010 Chris Witeck, Director Product Marketing

AT&T’s announcement that Wi-Fi is free for their customers in NYC’s Time Square adds to the perception that a mobile worker can work from anywhere. Free Wi-Fi is continually popping up, particularly as we move into the summer season and increased travel. Enterprises should be happy that their employees have additional choices to help keep the business running.

Our customers are saying that they are glad to have an option to offload the costs of 3G, whenever and wherever possible, but there are other costs. One is safety and another is hassle. Now, customers are asking us for free Wi-Fi, but as a safer alternative.

• What if – IT admins didn’t have to worry about scams or malware to infect PCs and steal data?
• What if – mobile employees didn’t have to wade through multiple screens in order to access the free Wi-Fi, with every provider asking for different information and passwords?
• What if – IT admins could rest easy knowing that the anti-virus software booted up and the VPN was connected before a mobile employee accessed a critical corporate database?
• What if – mobile employees could quickly and easily get connected and working, just by opening their laptop?
• What if – IT admins could push a connection preference to these safer, free Wi-Fi connections to save on 3G costs?

Maybe our customers are on to something…

Tags: enterprise mobility, mobile workforce, wi-fi access