Juno Online Services, Inc. (Nasdaq:JWEB) announced today that it will offer Metricom's (Nasdaq:MCOM) revolutionary Ricochet mobile access solution to its millions of subscribers nationwide, enabling Juno users to access the Internet via laptop or portable computer from anywhere within the Ricochet coverage area -- even while in transit.
Wireless access through Ricochet represents a new way for consumers to access Juno Express(SM), Juno's recently launched high-speed broadband service. Juno Express also offers DSL access through a relationship with Covad Communications.
Under the terms of its agreement with Metricom, Juno will become one of the first Internet access providers to offer full Web access through the Ricochet network. Initial deployment of Metricom's service is currently underway in 21 market areas covering 80 million people, with commercial availability scheduled to begin in late summer. Metricom expects to grow Ricochet to cover 100 million people by the summer of 2001. Users will be charged a flat-rate subscription fee for the 128 Kbps service, with no roaming charges or other costs involved.
"We are excited to be working with Metricom to expand the ways our subscribers can use Juno," said Charles Ardai, Juno's president and CEO. "Our goal is to make it possible for anyone to access Juno anywhere, at a speed tailored to their own requirements. This relationship is an important step toward that objective. Ricochet opens the door to options never before available with high-speed, always-on connections that let people break free from the confines of a single location."
Ricochet will use a network of microcell radios that are typically attached to streetlights or utility poles to deliver a mobile information solution at more than twice the speed of a standard 56K dial-up connection. Users will simply attach a small wireless modem to their laptop; the Ricochet radio network will then detect and route signals coming from the laptop into its microcellular meshed network, and then out to the Internet.
"Juno will be an important part of the Ricochet roll-out," said John Wernke, Metricom's senior vice president for marketing and sales. "Juno has one of the largest Internet audiences and a terrific reputation for reliability and speed, two of the primary considerations we kept in mind through the more than 200 man-years of development that went into Ricochet's creation. The combination of Ricochet's completely mobile access and Juno's popular Internet service is one we think will excite a lot of people."
Ricochet's frequency-hopping technology, packet-switched networking, and mesh architecture are designed for robustness and reliability, as well as a high level of security for information traveling over the network. As a result of this architecture, Ricochet will offer the fastest mobile wireless access speeds, always-on connections, flat-rate pricing, no metered roaming fees, and true mobility to 70 mph. At performance levels rivaling wired connections, Ricochet will set you free from your desk.
[ Home | Contact | MobiChat | Experts database | Let's do it ]
Comments to the content of this page can be posted on the MobiChat discussion group