FatPort has unveiled FatPoint, the latest product for setting up a "franchise" Wireless Hot Spot (Thanks to Glenn Fleishman in his 802.11b Networking News [llinked at left] for the pointer.) FatPort is in Vancouver, BC, so I may take that as an excuse to go and visit. (We need a Seattle-area entrant into this market!)
FatPoint joins a long list of equipment/software vendors, and "franchise-ish" Service Providers trying to achieve some scale in the still-in-its-infancy, no-one-knows-quite-how-this-will-all-shake-out Wireless Hot Spot industry. They're coming into a crowded, but still competitive market. I took a close look at the Wireless Hot Spot industry in an article which appeared in the May/June, 2002 issue of Broadband Wireless Business Magazine (linked at left) titled Tracking the Hot Spot Phenomenon. As complete as that article was at the time (modestly, I think it was the most complete look at the Wireless Hot Spot industry to date), it's already out of date because new new entrants are appearing almost weekly, such as FatPoint. Here are some new entrants that I wasn't aware of at the time of the BWB article (thanks to a posting to the isp-wireless mailing list by Allen Marsallis, reformatted by me):
(For grins, I'll add to the above list a "significant" and "out of the ordinary" (not quite yet Wireless) Hot Spot service Provider from the Seattle area - Boeing's Connexion system for in-flight Internet access.)
In his posting, Alan points out that he's developing his own Wireless Hot Spot software to address the unique requirements of the Wireless Hot Spots he plans to deploy in the territory of his existing Wireless ISP, and "hook in" to his existing billing system.
It's instructive to note how vibrant and active the "802.11b Industry" is. It's widely perceived by venture capitalists that the market for 802.11b and related products is the only significant and growing activity in the telecom industry, and they're funding new entrants accordingly. The investments are considerably smaller than a few years ago... a few million dollars versus tens of millions. But many very smart people are converging on the 802.11b since "that's where the money is."
Roaming Lack Of Scale - The problem I see with those mentioned above, and most recently FatPort is that I don't see any path for them to be integrated into a more universal "roaming" system (short of being acquired for obscene amounts of money - unlikely in this funding climate.) The vendors would argue that users don't want roaming, they just want to use Wireless Hot Spots where they find them and/or need them, and will pay whoever provides them however much they want. To some extent, that's true. For example, a cafe offering hot spot access as an amenity - no roaming capability needed there because the billing arrangement would be between the venue and the provider - x amount of user-hours @ y rate = z total bill. But for the moment, roaming is a contest of economies of scale and relationships, and the two winners I see so far, having established the largest number of relationships, are Boingo Wireless and hereUare Communications.
Wireless-equipped PDAs Are The Real Story - I continue to think that the real Wireless Hot Spot story is that PDAs will be 802.11b equipped very soon - the end of 2002 by some predictions. Lots more people will be bringing their PDAs to Wireless Hot Spots than bringing their laptops. Paying each hot spot provider with a PDA will get onerous quick - 16 digit credit card numbers via Grafiti gets a bit tedious. Then again... given the vibrant and hyperactive PalmOS independent developer community, likely we'll rapidly see a secure, somewhat standardized "quickly squirt payment information" applet evolve.
Wireless Hot Zones / CNANs - I also feel that another market opportunity at least as big, if not bigger that's not being addressed to date, will be Wireless Hot Zones, or Commercial Neighborhood Area Networks. Basically the same idea and much the same infrastructure as wireless hot spots, but with "outdoor", higher-powered Wireless Access Point hardware intended for covering apartments, planned communities, outdoor public spaces (parks) and small clusters of homes.
New Links: I only recently discovered David Sifry's SIFRY'S ALERTS weblog which is focused on "The wireless industry, 802.11, Sputnik, and other interesting stuff". It's now linked on the left. Long overdue is the addition of Alan Reiter's Reiter's Wireless Data Web Log, now also linked on the left.
2:57:48 PM 
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