http://www.wirelessnetworksonline.com/article.mvc/TNS-Wi-Fi-Solution-Prepares-To-Relieve-Data-0001

I came across this article some time ago. I was fascinated with Transaction Network Services’ solution to something I recall I thought was a problem.

The problem I am referring to was the Wi-Fi hotspot. Understand that when Wi-Fi was being launched years ago as an indoor wireless solution to cellular coverage issues, the problem was that each user had to register in most every hotspot they entered and wished to access. Think about it, let us say you enter a coffee shop that is using T-Mobile’s hotspot technology and then the same user goes to another coffee shop in another city but same franchise that is using Make-Believe Carrier XYZ’s hotspot technology. Here is the rub, the user needs to re-register in the other coffee shop’s hotspot, even though it is the same coffee franchise but is using different carrier. In other words, there was no roaming.  I thought this would be a problem,  The marketing folks proved the engineers had nothing to worry about because the act of registering every time you enter a coffee shop is not considered a problem.

However, what if someone came up with a way to enable Wi-Fi roaming? The TNS proposal/technology may look like a solution in search of a problem but it is not. Roaming is one of the greatest inventions of the cellular age. The act of being able to make or receive calls anywhere and anytime without having to dial a roaming port number was one of the greatest telecom accomplishments in the last 20 years. Keep in mind, this act I am referring to also included transferring authentication information and billing related information. This enabled cellular to grow by leaps and bounds.

Now imagine doing the same thing for Wi-Fi. As Dan Dooley, CEO of TNS, has noted the cellular carrier will be able to integrate the millions of Wi-Fi hotspots into their respective cellular networks. Think of what TNS has done as paramount to cellular roaming. Carriers can now treat Wi-Fi hotspots as a single big hotspot within their own network; an extension of the cellular network.

I guess I should give credit to Cisco and the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) because their work and standards work were critical to making this happen. One could make the case TNS’s Next GenerationHotSpot technology is the result of Cisco’s unified messaging platform work of the last 20 years. However, I have to give TNS the credit for implementing the total solution. Developing a solution is often like piecing together multiple technologies (made by other parties) to come up with a single sellable service.

Many investors may say: “so what”. My response is: “you don’t get it”.

TNS’s new technology innovation is BIG. TNS will be able to do more than relieve data pressure off of the cellular networks, it has just enabled the cellular carriers to integrate the hotspots into the networks not for just data but also voice.  Service integration and network integration are key to a carrier's success.