Wavelink to distribute amigopod visitor management portfolio

Melbourne, August 12, 2010 – Wavelink Communications, a value-added distributor of business IP, wireless and communication solutions has signed an agreement to distribute amigopod’s Unified Visitor Management solutions. An Australian company, amigopod has rapidly become a global leader in flexible and interactive solutions that simplify the provision and secure the management of visitor access, and has appointed Wavelink to accelerate its growth in Australia.

Wavelink managing director, Ilan Rubin said, “With the explosion in demand for network access by mobile employees, business travellers and the general public, providers of both corporate and public networks are increasingly looking for uncomplicated ways to manage these demands. As wireless LANs and wireless public hotspots are rapidly becoming the preferred means to connect to networks, amigopod’s solutions enable guest access through a simple and effective process and are extremely complementary to Wavelink’s existing wireless offerings.”

The amigopod family of Visitor Management Appliances integrate into existing network equipment and broadband Internet connections to enable a simple and centralised system to manage visitors on both corporate and public networks.

Carlos Gomez Gallego, director of product management, amigopod said, “Organisations need to offer guest access, but with no standard policy in place, it is often complex and time-consuming for IT. In the public access environment, traditional hotspot providers are more service orientated and want to leverage technology that improves the customer experience and loyalty.”

“Our unique Visitor Management appliances ease the complex provision of corporate guest access and provide the gateway to the next generation hotspot. amigopod has had considerable success around the world, not least in Australia, with many high profile customers such as McDonalds, Billabong, Gold Coast Airport. Our valued partnership with Wavelink will help develop and drive new business in Australia.”

Corporate guest access

Visitors to organisations, whether clients, auditors, technicians or maintenance, all expect to connect whenever they visit business premises. Providing Internet access to manage emails, access corporate information resources or read social networking feeds is now a necessity and expectation for guests in today’s workplace, and increasingly this access is being provided via wireless LAN.

As wireless is no longer bound by the walls and business hours of the organisation, controls must be put in place to prevent unauthorised access and also ensure visitors can only access the Internet and not internal IT resources. Similarly, there should be provisions in place to make sure visitors can’t take advantage of the guest network to download large files or impact the Internet performance of corporate users who are sharing the same connection.

amigopod lets reception staff create, edit and manage all aspects of visitor accounts on the guests’ arrival by completing a few details on a web-based form, instead of relying on IT staff in the daily provisioning and management of guest access. An account is created for the guest, and their credentials can be either printed or sent via SMS to their mobile. Guest access can be limited or extended to any time duration. Once the time has expired, the account is removed, the audit trail recorded and further access denied without a new account being created.

Public access

In the public access space, wireless hotspot providers such as retail centres, hotels, sporting venues, airports and hospitals are increasingly looking for the next generation hotspot model to remain competitive. Using some or all free wireless as the market driver, amigopod offers a flexible and interactive marketing platform, letting providers offer value-added and premium services directly to customers and build end user loyalty. With amigopod, customers can manage wireless hotspot access by offering self-registration, merchant billing, advertising services and rich location/brand specific reporting.

About Wavelink

Wavelink Communications (www.wavelink.com.au) specialises in the supply, marketing and support of a range of leading edge IP, wireless and communication solutions. Wavelink distributes a range of products from Cisco, amigopod, Polycom, Digium and Meru Networks.

About amigopod

amigopod is a global leader in Unified Visitor Management solutions for both enterprise and public access deployments.  amigopod builds flexible guest access and identity management solutions helping companies to implement a common and efficient process for providing external users access to their network.

amigopod’s unique universal visitor management and intelligence proposition sets the industry standard for managing corporate access for guests, and is pioneering the next generation of public access hotspots.  The company’s range of Visitor Manager Appliances have been installed in hundreds of customers in over 15 countries around the world including both start-up and established blue chip companies. For further information, go to www.amigopod.com