MCI Extends Wireless Footprint With Boingo

MCI is offering additional high-speed wireless access points and the ability to access information from a PDA through a roaming agreement with Boingo Wireless.

From MCI’s press release:

With the addition of more than 2,000 global wireless hot spot access points to its existing 600 U.S. Wi-Fi locations, MCI is able to provide customers with the tools necessary to conduct business from almost anywhere in the world.

“MCI is committed to making our remote access solutions simple and secure for our customers,” said Nancy Gofus, senior vice president MCI marketing. “By expanding our hot spot capabilities internationally and making it possible for workers on-the-go to remain connected, our customers no longer worry about missing important messages no matter where they are.”

MCI Remote Access customers will be able to access corporate networks, applications and email from a personal digital assistant (PDA). By expanding MCI’s Access Manager client to work on a PDA, customers can access the same features and functionality they have come to expect from their remote access solution on a personal computer. Adding PDA accessibility to MCI’s Remote Access solution allows customers to take the functionality of their PC out of the office in a handheld device.

Through its roaming agreement with Boingo Wireless, MCI has expanded its Wi-Fi remote access capabilities to more than 2,600 global hotspots including hotels, airports, restaurants and convention centers. MCI plans to add an additional 3,000 wired and wireless hotspot locations in 2004.

With the expansion of MCI’s Wi-Fi access locations, business customers will be able to access MCI’s Remote Access services from a wireless connection or PDA in more than 19 countries including, Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom and South Africa later in 2004. Utilizing high-speed wireless hot spot connections or a PDA allows remote users to remain connected without having to worry about incurring long-distance or international calling fees or finding a place to connect a personal computer. In addition, MCI Remote Access customers benefit from having one supplier for technical support and a consolidated bill for all access charges.

By integrating wireless, dial-up, DSL, Ethernet and PDA access points into MCI’s Access Manager client, customers experience a seamless solution to launch a VPN client, authenticate access and manage user profiles. The new MCI Access Manager client includes improved hot spot integration to automatically discover and configure wireless access on the end user’s PC and identify locally available MCI hot spots. MCI’s VPN solution allows customers to securely connect in more than 140 countries, and when combined with other MCI security features give customers a highly secure end-to-end connection.

As a recognized leader in IP solutions, MCI provides its Remote Access customers with access to MCI’s global IP backbone – the farthest reaching IP network based on company owned Points of Presence (PoPs). MCI has received numerous awards for its network solutions including recognition by the SANS institute for MCI’s security procedures.