Boingo's New Open Source Toolkit Enables Public Wi-Fi On Handsets And Other Mobile Devices

Revolutionary Boingo Embedded Initiative Aimed at Hardware and Chipset Manufacturers; Commercial Licensing Options for Wi-Fi Toolkit Also Available

SANTA MONICA, Calif – May 17^th, 2006 – Boingo Wireless today announced the Boingo® Embedded Wi-Fi Toolkit, an open source software package that enables developers to integrate Wi-Fi connection management to any Wi-Fi hotspot – including the more than 45,000 public hotspots that are part of the Boingo® Roaming System – into small form factor devices such as dual-mode phones, VoIP handsets, mobile gaming consoles and other portable devices.

The Boingo Embedded Wi-Fi Toolkit and supporting documentation are now available on SourceForge.net (http://boingowifitool.sourceforge.net) in BREW, Linux, Windows Mobile 2003 and Windows Mobile 5 versions. Additional documentation and test tools are available at the Boingo Embedded website (http://www.boingo.com/embedded).

The Boingo Embedded software is designed for service providers, OEMs, ODMs, and Wi-Fi chipset manufacturers that develop Wi-Fi equipped devices and want to enable global roaming on commercial hotspot networks. Potential customers include mobile operators, MVNOs, VoIP providers and other service providers that can benefit from Wi-Fi access in public places. The toolkit has been delivered to numerous partners, including Accton, Broadcom, E28 and Kyocera Wireless. (See separate release.)

“Today’s mobile devices are increasingly Wi-Fi enabled, but none had a simple option for utilizing public hotspots until today,” said Dave Hagan, president and CEO of Boingo Wireless. “Whether capitalizing on the broadband speeds of a Wi-Fi hotspot for streaming video, VoIP calls, multi-player gaming, uploading vacation photos or downloading music from online stores, users will now be able to extract maximum value from their devices whether they’re at home, in the office or in tens of thousands of Boingo hotspots around the world.”

“The sheer number of mobile devices that will be able to connect via Wi-Fi in the coming years is astronomical,” said Niels Jonker, Boingo Wireless CTO. “Our open source code base allows the development community to self-manage the process of making their products eminently more usable in public Wi-Fi spaces.”

The Boingo Embedded Wi-Fi Toolkit enables detection, association and authentication to public Wi-Fi signals, and incorporates power-saving logic for recognizing known signals to minimize unnecessary connections that waste battery power. It employs a modular architecture to simplify porting and adapting to the manufacturer’s application needs. The software provides a cost-effective alternative to cellular data networks in handsets and other mobile devices, allowing operators and MVNOs to optimize cost and performance efficiencies. The product line works with the Boingo Embedded Configuration Server, which allows service providers to remotely provision devices and update configuration files and policies over the air.

“The explosive growth of Wi-Fi enabled devices in the marketplace, along with increased interest from service providers in accessing the Boingo network, led us to the concept of the Wi-Fi toolkit,” said Colby Goff, senior vice president of network strategy and business development. “Making it open source was a natural evolution of that concept to ensure the code could easily proliferate across numerous platforms.”

Licensing Options
The source code for the Boingo Embedded Wi-Fi Toolkit is available under both open source and commercial licensing to meet the needs of hardware partners. The toolkit is available under the Lesser General Public License (LGPL) open source license, which requires republication of toolkit modifications back to the open source community. The Application Abstraction Layer and Platform Abstraction Layers are licensed under the Apache 2.0 open source license, which doesn’t require republishing and allows hardware manufacturers to retain the proprietary nature of their hardware interfaces and GUI frameworks.

The open source software can be integrated into handsets without incurring a license fee, lowering the development cost to handset providers. A commercial license is also available for those handset vendors or service providers that want proprietary features that are unique to their devices or require a closed source option. Under the commercial licenses, changes to the code are not required to be republished to the open source community.

45,631 Reasons to Use Boingo
Boingo gives business travelers the best choice of Wi-Fi hotspots by combining 45,000 locations from more than 130 leading Wi-Fi operators into one worldwide network. Boingo users can connect to any of these locations with a single Boingo account using Boingo's free Wi-Fi client software, which combines nearly 500 network names into one "Boingo Wireless" network to simplify identifying and connecting to commercial Wi-Fi networks.

Boingo also partners with service providers to allow their users to access these hotspots through its Boingo Platform Services program. The program provides partners with access to this network, customized client software, and a full suite of back-office billing, roaming, mediation and clearinghouse services to allow them to offer their own Wi-Fi service quickly and cost effectively. To date, Boingo has announced Platform Services partnerships with BT Infonet, Earthlink, Fiberlink, Sprint, Verizon Business, Skype and Telecom Italia.

About Boingo Wireless
Boingo Wireless, Inc. is an ultra-high-speed wireless Internet service available in tens of thousands of locations such as hotels, airports, cafes and other public places in dozens of countries throughout the world. The Boingo Roaming System comprises hundreds of Wi-Fi network operators, which are accessible through Boingo's connection software for laptops, PDAs, dual-mode phones and other embedded devices. The software -- available in SDK and white label GUI versions -- makes finding and connecting to Wi-Fi networks point-and-click simple, improving productivity for people on the go by enabling their device of choice for Wi-Fi roaming authentication. With the largest aggregated Wi-Fi network in the world, coupled with best-in-class software solutions for both laptops and portable devices, Boingo helps carriers and ISPs keep their customers connected with a high-quality broadband wireless connection. More information about Boingo is available at http://www.boingo.com.

Boingo is a registered trademark of Boingo Wireless Inc.

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