management of enterprise mobility, today announced that it has integrated 3G wireless capabilities into its iPass Branch Office and iPass Retail Office managed network services. Three new services, Wireless Jumpstart, Wireless Backup and Wireless Primary, take advantage of iPass’ nationwide 3G data coverage to provide branch offices and retail locations with an affordable and easy-to-deploy complement to wired connectivity.

“In today’s economic climate, companies need to maximize their operational effectiveness—they can’t afford to have customer-facing sites offline,” said Piero DePaoli, director of global product marketing at iPass. “By unifying multiple connection technologies, we provide our customers with a simple, low-cost way of getting stores online quickly and cost-effectively keeping them continuously connected.”

Many companies, especially retailers, need branch offices launched more quickly than DSL, cable, or T1 lines can be installed. Today they are forced to either delay the opening, or resort to slow dial-up services to get connected—both of which can result in lost revenue and a sub-standard customer experience. With Wireless Jumpstart, new branch locations can use 3G technology to quickly and easily get critical systems and in-store applications online. The service can be used as a temporary approach or, using the Wireless Primary service, as a permanent solution. This can be especially useful in situations where delivering wired broadband is either not possible or cost effective, or where the office actually moves from place to place.

Additionally, branch and retail locations should have backup connectivity to ensure business continues in case their primary link fails. Today, that backup is often dial-up, which is usually too slow to support today’s business applications. The Wireless Backup service lets branch offices use 3G to maintain a broadband connection to business critical applications at all times, minimizing the risk of operational downtime or poor customer service.

About Branch Office and Retail Office services
The iPass Branch Office service provides branch offices with fully managed IP VPN connectivity, complete with end-to-end SLAs and standardized CPE provisioning, backed by the industry's most extensive coverage across North America. Customers have access to more than 150 providers of DSL, cable, T1, and 3G technologies to ensure communication between branch locations and central corporate resources.

iPass Retail Office is a PCI-compliant service based on iPass’ virtual network. The service provides managed high-speed broadband to retailers to connect stores, reduce expenses, enable new applications and improve the overall customer experience.

Information Source:    Business Wire