Quiconnect

May 10, 2003

Quiconnect secures additional seed funding

Quiconnect announced it has completed initial funding and launched a unique solution to bring profitability to the fast growing Wi-Fi market.

The company has successfully completed its seed funding round, the proceeds of which have been used to develop and launch proprietary software and services that facilitate access to multiple wireless data networks.

"Most laptop PCs will be connected to the Internet using Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) technology by the end of 2004", say Intel Corporation. Wireless data networks, known as "hotspots", are being installed in airports, hotels, train stations, cafes and other public locations around the world. New investment in Wi-Fi services is soaring: 296 wireless start-ups attracted more than $2.8 billion last year alone, according to Thomson Venture Economics.

Troy Simoni, Founder & CEO of Quiconnect, stated, "Demand is high and money is being pumped into infrastructure, but adoption and usage have been disappointingly low. Wi-Fi has yet to deliver what recent hype has promised to mobile Internet users, primarily due to a highly fragmented market and cumbersome connection procedures".

Quiconnect fills a critical gap in the market by adding a service layer on top of existing Wi-Fi infrastructure. Proprietary software enables business travellers to log on to any hotspot simply and easily - dramatically increasing adoption. This clear strategy generates revenue from users, and spawns incremental business for wireless internet service providers (WISPs) by helping users easily connect their laptop PCs through local WISPs to the Internet, to their email and to company intranets.

Quiconnect offers three main products, which work together or independently, to allow business travellers to effortlessly roam onto local Wi-Fi hot spots around the world. Built with the business traveller in mind, Quiconnect’s solution is designed to overcome the difficulties faced today with adoption of Wi-Fi. Accessing hotspots operated by different WISPs today requires manually setting and resetting laptop configurations, entering credit card details, ‘finding’ the local WISP, etc. Quiconnect’s solution combines client side and back-end software which address the inherent complexities of using Wi-Fi in a mobile roaming environment, particularly for business travellers who have special requirements, and makes using Wi-Fi effortless.