The Cloud Hotspots O2

LONDON -- The Cloud, the leading wireless broadband network operator, today announces its strategic partnership with O2, a leading mobile operator, having developed and delivered a comprehensive WLAN offering for the company. The Cloud has provided O2 with a fully managed WLAN solution that forms an integral part of O2’s next generation mobile business solution and includes the hosting of major service platforms, support for multiple and innovative authentication options, the provision of WLAN access across a growing estate of almost 5000 sites, and the integration of other third party networks.

George Polk, CEO, The Cloud said: “This is exactly what The Cloud was formed to do – provide a turn-key solution to carriers, allowing them to quickly and cost-effectively bring WLAN services to market. By bringing the resources of The Cloud Carrier Services, our UK network and our RoamPoint team to bear on the challenge, we have met O2’s demanding requirements and delivered on time and on budget a key component of the O2 Connection Manager solution for wireless data mobility.”

The Cloud has enabled O2 to launch its WLAN offering with extremely limited integration and development demands on O2’s core systems. The Cloud manages all the services necessary for the successful operation of O2’s WLAN offering, including hosting, user authentication and provisioning, service management, billing processing and integration with O2’s billing systems, and end-user experience management. This is the first deployment by The Cloud Carrier Services (CCS), the full service platform for wireless broadband service creation and operation, launched by The Cloud earlier this summer. O2’s WLAN service is fully integrated with the O2 Connection Manager, a software interface that enables laptops to automatically access GPRS, 3G and WLAN depending on the location of the customer.

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