Boingo Wireless expands Wi-Fi services in German airports

Boingo Wireless, a leading software and services provider, is happy to announce that it has agreed to manage and operate Boingo Wi-Fi services at three of the ten busiest airports in Germany: Berlin-Tegel (TXL), Nuremberg (NUE), and Stuttgart (STR).

Once the services are launched in spring of this year, Boingo will be the first and only international Wi-Fi service provider at each airport. The three major German airports are said to serve more than 30 million passengers every year, and are gateways to Germany’s government, industry and technology hubs.

In a statement, Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH Head of IT Knut Deimer said: “The launch of Boingo’s Wi-Fi services will provide our travelers with a familiar option for global Wi-Fi access. Boingo’s success in leveraging their neutral host roaming platform to maximize accessibility will help our passengers stay productive while in transit.”

Meanwhile, Boingo Wireless VP of International Markets Bjorn Thorngren noted: “These airports serve the techy-savvy international traveler who needs to stay constantly connected, making them strong additions to Boingo’s growing portfolio of European airports. The launch of our services at these airports will help our customers and roaming partners cost-effectively navigate international data connectivity without incurring exorbitant mobile data charges.”

Boingo will make use of its “Boingo Hotspot” SSID and fully control the customer experience to guarantee high-speed and reliable Internet service for travelers from all over the world. Boingo’s Wi-Fi services include authentication, roaming access and support to ensure a good quality connection for all users.

The Wi-Fi services of Boingo in the three German airports will also be available to the company’s roaming and platform service partners, such as Korea Telecom, LGU+, NTT DOCOMO, Orange France, Skype, Telefonica and Verizon, which wholesale Wi-Fi access from Boingo and deliver self-branded Wi-Fi to their customers as part of its existing services. Access plans offered by Boingo at all three airports include Boingo Europe Plus, which provides unlimited Wi-Fi at more than 200,000 hotspots across Europe, Middle East and Africa region; and Boingo Global, which provides flat rate access anywhere in the world. Hourly and day passes will also be available for purchase.

Recommended additional reading: 

• TeleCommunication Systems, Cellfind expand business partnership to provide LBS in Africa

Air Greenland employs Blue Sky Network’s New SkyRouter

Helicopter and fixed wing operator Air Greenland has chosen New SkyRouter -- a fleet management portal from Blue Sky Network.

Serving the aviation, land and marine sectors, Blue Sky Network is a leading provider of satellite tracking and communication solutions. The company’s New SkyRouter is a cloud-based solution that will guarantee constant connectivity with mobile assets that may be deployed in distant locations.

In a company statement, Air Greenland charter manager Hans Peter Hansen said: “ Blue Sky Network’s New SkyRouter combined with their variety of product offerings provides us something others simply cannot -- constant fleet connectivity. Given our flight routes to some of the most distant northern areas, we need the most reliable solution available; Blue Sky Network and Iridium make that possible.”

The charter services of Air Greenland serve the Arctic aviation, mineral exploration and offshore search-and-rescue operations. By working closely with Blue Sky Network’s Iridium Satellite-based products, New SkyRouter will help Air Greenland aircrafts and helicopters that travel in the northernmost latitudes stay connected. With this new development, Air Greenland fleets will have a reliable communication and fleet management solution that provides advanced tracking technologies and pole-to-pole connectivity with remote assets.

The D1000 aviation series hardware of Blue Sky has been integrated with the New SkyRouter, providing reports on GPS position, take-off/landing, altitude and on/off gate. This kind of system aids fleet managers to control their aircraft especially in case of aviation emergencies.The crew can send an alert to New SkyRouter to inform fleet managers the soonest possible time.

Recommended additional reading: 

• NASA reveals SpaceX Dragon’s launch date to resupply Space Station

Bypassing iPhone Lockscreen With A "Trick"

A flaw in the new Apple iOS has been discovered and perhaps needs an immediate fixing.

Just recently, Apple released an update on their operating system (iOS 6.1.1) as the fix for iPhone 4S users' 3G connections. However, the fix this new iOS provides was immediately followed by another flaw that needs fixing. Apparently, the update allows bypassing of the phone's lockscreen easily.

What needs to be done in order to bypass someone else's iPhone is by holding down the power button and abort emergency call and you are in. This iPhone hacking how-to's is instructed in a YouTube video posted by a blogger who named themselves as videosdebarraquito. Said video has 662,744 views as of the moment.

Confirming the vulnerability of iPhone's lock screen flaw, an Apple spokesperson said that the company plans to issue a fix in a future software update, no timeline has been specified, though.

See also: Android Phones More Prone To Hacking

Hughes shows off satellite-powered wireless 4G/LTE at JIFX 13-2

The Joint Interagency Field Exploration field event at the Naval Postgraduate School in California recently hosted a demonstration of satellite-powered high-speed wireless 4G/LTE courtesy of Hughes Network Systems.

Hughes showed its government and military customers how wireless 4G/LTE transmissions can enable real-time video on-the-move, push-to-talk (PTT) communications, and situational awareness through high-speed satellite connectivity.

JIFX 13-2 investigated new data capabilities that can fulfill the requirements of combatant commanders and federal agencies. These data capabilities allow warfighters and emergency responders to complete their missions. However, they have been hard-pressed to find small, interoperable devices that can deliver real-time video communications while on the move.

Government R&D organizations, academia, and private industries hoped to find these devices and other crucial technologies at the JIFX event. Such technologies would boost their military capability, help cut down on costs, and allow them to team up with partner nations and organizations.

Recommended additional reading:

• ASTA aiding migration of SATCOM customers from Indigo Telecom

LTE industry set for huge growth in 2017, says Juniper report

Juniper Research presented a new study predicting that 4G LTE operators can achieve revenues exceeding $340 billion in 2017.

According to 4G LTE: Subscribers, Devices, Infrastructure & Service Revenue 2013-2017, the entire LTE industry (2G, 3G, and 4G) achieved $75 billion of revenues during 2012. The industry had also gained more than enough momentum during the past year to trigger an extended growth spurt.

Additionally, the enterprise segment initially commands the highest number of subscribers and profits in the LTE industry. But Juniper says the increasing volume of consumer subscribers will exceed the number of enterprise subscribers come 2015.

Juniper also believes that the consumer segment will merely account for less than half of total revenues. The vast majority of revenues will go to North American and Far Eastern markets, specifically China.

Recommended additional reading:

• BringCom, partners form new company to upgrade, manage Djibouti Teleport
• Beam prepares delivery of  Inmarsat marine satellite terminals to MSN

Ericsson to introduce new content delivery network platform

Telecom equipment and data communication systems provider Ericsson announced that it will be offering a new unified content delivery network (CDN) solution to address the switch of global consumers to broadband mobility. The Ericsson Media Delivery Network solution combines the delivery of managed and unmanaged content over fixed and mobile networks.

With this new solution, it enables operators to access the media value chain with profitable video delivery. It also allows enterprises and content providers with economical accessibility and quality of experience throughout networks, enabling the delivery of video, web content and application downloads.

In a company statement, SVP and Head of Business Unit Support Solutions Per Borgklint said: “Yesterday our mobile devices were telephones, today they are everything; out TVs, our banks, our conference rooms. The recent Ericsson Mobility Report shows that mobile data traffic will grow 12 times by 2018, and this is only the start of the tremendous transformation we will witness. The Ericsson Media Delivery Network solution breaks the boundaries of traditional CDN solutions, optimization, velocity of service, and monetization opportunities.”

You may also want to read: 

• Datasat Communications offers new wave of TETRA network services for mining

New SES satellite capacity powers VimpelCom data services, 3G rollout in Russia

SES will be providing Russian mobile operator JSC VimpelCom with additional satellite capacity from its NSS-9 satellite for the next three years. VimpelCom will use the new capacity to optimize their 3G networks and deliver high-quality data services to corporate clients in the Kamchatka, Magadan, and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky regions in eastern Russia.

VimpelCom is one of the biggest mobile operators in Russia. It leverages satellite capacity to link together the nodes of its transmission network in harsh and remote regions that lack terrestrial infrastructure.

The NSS-9 satellite' comprehensive coverage over Russia allows SES to support VimpelCom as the latter expands its 3G networks and extends data services to customers in the Russian Far East and East Siberia.

Recommended additional readings:

• Elara Comunicaciones achieves second highest growth for teleports in 2012