NetMotion Wireless Customers Implement Policy Management to Control Wireless Data Access
Seattle, Wash., August 25, 2004—NetMotion Wireless Inc., the market leader in mobility management software, today announced the deployment of its Mobility Policy Management module by several new customers, including the public safety departments of the City of Aurora, CO, Port of Seattle, WA, and the City of Orlando, FL. Each has recently installed NetMotion Wireless' Policy Management software—an add-on module for NetMotion Mobility XE—to control wireless data usage, and to manage specific workgroups, users and devices.
Like other Policy Management users, each of these new customers rely on wide-area wireless data services from cellular carriers, such as AT&T Wireless, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon Wireless in combination with Wi-Fi (802.11 access). The NetMotion Wireless Mobility Policy Management module provides application-level policy capabilities necessary for IT managers to centrally control application traffic by wireless network type, network speed, employee profile, or device.
"The increasing proliferation and quality of wireless data networks, particularly wide-area network options, is finally making it possible for leading organizations to arm their mobile workers with fully functional computing resources in the field," said Steve Cullen, CEO of NetMotion Wireless. "We make it possible for network administrators to effectively manage those resources."
The City of Aurora, the third largest city in Colorado with nearly 300,000 residents, created a mobile data communications network that includes Wi-Fi (802.11) access at refueling stations, which are convenient locations for its entire fleet. Wide-area network services provided by AT&T Wireless, T-Mobile and Sprint also deliver connectivity to mobile workers anywhere in the field.
"Before our deployment of Policy Management from NetMotion Wireless, technicians were spending at least three hours, multiple times per week, repairing individual systems due to malicious data downloaded from the Internet," said Michael Bedwell, public safety systems manager with the City of Aurora, CO. "By quickly creating a policy to rule out general use of Internet Explorer, even when connected to a high speed network, we were able to save tens of hours in labor and repair expenses each week."
Bedwell went on to add that, prior to Aurora's deployment of Mobility Policy Management, indiscriminate use of the Internet by mobile police and fire personnel had caused a 100-fold increase in wireless network traffic. With Policy Management, that increase was quickly reversed.
The Port of Seattle Police Department relies on NetMotion Mobility to ensure secure, real-time mobile access to state and federal criminal databases and mission-critical applications. Port police have seamless and reliable connectivity across multiple wide-area wireless networks in a 30-mile radius, including Wi-Fi (802.11 access), and Sprint wide-area network coverage. Because they use the Mobility Policy Management module to limit high bandwidth applications to Wi-Fi, Port Police control wide-area network costs and ensure faster connection speeds to these databases and applications.
When the city of Orlando's public safety department discovered they could trade 19.2 kbps CDPD network speeds for the higher data transmission rates of GPRS, they deployed Mobility XE so existing applications could be used on the new network. Building on sample policies included in the Mobility Policy Management module, the city of Orlando now easily and reliably controls access to specific applications. According to Mark Crain, senior manager for systems and networks at the City of Orlando in Florida, "Before we had NetMotion Wireless' Policy Management module, wireless mobile clients were restricted to a one-size-fits-all configuration model. Using NetMotion's device classes we can more efficiently customize groups of users regarding access to a variety of resources, like the Internet."
Each of these departments is among more than 420 organizations using NetMotion Mobility XE™ to ensure true mobility throughout their wireless environments. For more information about how Mobility Policy Management ensures that wireless network usage and performance are aligned with corporate policies, a Policy Management white paper is available for download at www.netmotionwireless.com.
About NetMotion Wireless, Inc.
NetMotion Wireless is the developer of Mobility XE, an easily deployed, software-only mobile computing solution that enables mobile workers to get connected and stay connected to mission-critical applications over wireless networks. NetMotion Mobility XE enables mobile workers to operate as effectively on wireless networks as they do on wired ones - with secure, uninterrupted access to the same data and applications available on their desktop PCs. More than 420 leading organizations now use Mobility to eliminate the frustration and complexity of managing their mobile computing deployments. The company has won more than 20 awards, including Technology of the Year (Wireless Networking) from InfoWorld magazine, Business Product of the Year from the WSA, and Investors' Choice/Most Likely to Succeed at the Technologic Partners' Wireless Ventures conference. For more information about NetMotion Wireless or its products, please visit www.netmotionwireless.com, call (206) 691-5500, or write 701 N. 34th Street, Suite 250, Seattle, Wash. 98103.
