Stoke & Trustive Partner To Research Seamless Mobile Broadband Internet Services

April 15, 2009 - PRLog -- Mobile broadband gateway provider Stoke, Inc. and WiFi Internet access provider Trustive have formed a partnership to research new technology architectures and business models that will facilitate a seamless mobile broadband data experience for an increasingly mobile workforce.

For the frequent business traveler, accessing wireless broadband coverage is a challenge to the user’s patience and wallet.  The hourly fees charged by hotspot operators are inflexible, location-specific and high.  Even with the pending clampdown in the European Union on excessive roaming charges, staying connected as a business traveler is an expensive, unpredictable and inconvenient task, requiring repeated web browser logins.

“Stoke and Trustive believe that we can combine our technologies to provide the frequent international traveler with the same a seamless wireless broadband experience regardless of whether that wireless access is within their home operator’s network, or the café hotspot in an airport three time zones away,” said Barry Hill, Vice President of marketing at Stoke. “Mobile operators currently target their services primarily on domestic customers and at the moment, subscribers who move outside of the operator’s coverage area are basically on their own.”

Christian VanGhelder, Managing Director of Trustive commented that “with the success of the iPhone and new mobile devices that allow access through WiFi and 3G as well as the advent of  Voice over IP and high quality video and streamed media, so called ‘data traffic’ has increased significantly. This rise in demand for mobile broadband services can lead to potential traffic performance issues for mobile operators. Now, additional considerations also need to be taken into account for the future; the emergence of new mobile devices with larger screens, new chipsets (with 3G, WiFi and WiMAX embedded),  operators’ financial ability to improve the current infrastructure and most importantly perhaps, the existing “unlimited” mobile packages that are the proving to be the catalyst for discussions regarding new architectures and new business and operating models that will be able to provide a seamless user experience whilst taking full advantage of the design point of each of the available technologies beyond the traditional stovepipe view.”

Stoke and Trustive offerings
Trustive gives travelers extensive WiFi coverage by combining the hotspot locations of more than 70 leading WiFi hotspot operators in 65+ countries into one unified, global network of more than 90,000 hotspots and allowing Trustive customers access to these locations through a single username and password. Stoke provides mobile broadband offload and coverage solutions enabling operators to improve service delivery economics, coverage and subscriber satisfaction. Stoke’s gateways provide exponential improvements in session density and cost per bit for carriers.  As a result, operators have an immediate means of adapting and scaling their mobile broadband infrastructure to meet the surging demand for data, within the constraints of sharply reduced capital expenditure budgets.  

Stoke and Trustive believe that as usage patterns change, carriers must develop new models that enable them to provide a well-priced and reliable service for the increasingly mobile business user.  The two companies will investigate mechanisms to provide mobile broadband operators with a level of control and accounting - beyond common client and authentication - that will provide both savings and incremental revenue streams to the operator.

Areas of research will include:
•   Media independent handover of data sessions between different wireless networks (i.e. WiMAX, HSPA, and WiFi)
•   Automatic connection and authentication regardless of the operator or network type
•   Seamless application operations while mobile
•   Exploring multi-access, multi-radio networking potential with trends in mobile broadband behavior
•   Cost minimization through wireless connection arbitrage
•   Alternate wireless access as part of a 3G offload strategy
•   The operators’ competitive advantage of multi-network access service bundles.


About Stoke
Stoke develops carrier-class mobile broadband gateways specifically engineered to enable mobile and converged network operators to maximize the economic returns of their 3G mobile networks. For more information, visit http://www.stoke.com.
Contact: Mary McEvoy Carroll, + 1 408 691 4283, mary@sandhillcomms.com

About Trustive
Following 5 years of heavy investment and the conclusion of strong roaming agreements with 70+ hotspot operators in 65+ countries, Trustive is now able to offer a seamless service that is both reliable and competitively priced across a unified and ever expanding network of 90,000 WiFi hotspots. For more information, visit http://www.trustive.com.
Contact:   Emma Oldfield-Reeve, +33 486 877 998, emma@trustive.com