| Type | Public (NASDAQ: IPAS) |
|---|---|
| Founded | California, United States (July 1996, as iPass Alliance) |
| Headquarters | 3800 Bridge Parkway, Redwood Shores, California |
| Key people | Evan Kaplan, CEO Steven Gatoff, Vice President and CFO Barbara Nelson, CTO Steven Wastie, Vice president, Marketing and Strategy Bill Garvey, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary |
| Website | iPass.com |
iPass, a commercial company, unifies the management of remote and mobile devices and connectivity. It provides Internet services to business users working remotely (away from their home office, region or country) by integrating Internet connectivity with management of VPN and other third-party security applications. The typical end-user is a mobile worker with a laptop computer, Windows Mobile or other handheld device. Founded in 1996, iPass (NASDAQ: IPAS) is a public company headquartered in Redwood Shores, California. It maintains operations in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
iPass end-users can connect to more than 100,000 Wi-Fi hotspots and Ethernet venues in more than 160 countries throughout the world.[1][2] The client software, iPassConnect can also be used to connect to mobile broadband network services such as HSUPA, EVDO, 1xRTT, GPRS and UMTS. In areas lacking wireless and wired broadband access-points, iPass's legacy dialup service can be used, in which one calls a local or toll-free phone number that connects to the Internet. In May 2008 iPass started to offer in-flight Wi-Fi on certain flights.[3]
The iPass Mobile Office service allows IT managers to monitor and manage end-users' Internet connections, which would be otherwise invisible if end-users used the native wireless connection manager embedded within their operating systems. End-users have a single account enabling them to securely connect to the Internet anywhere in the world.[1]
Outside of the US, iPass markets largely to an enterprise customer-base[4] - typically through channel partners such as Orange Business Services, Deutsche Telekom and Cable & Wireless, or through value-added resellers. Within the US, iPass sells directly to enterprise customers as well as making use of channel partners such as Sayers and iRoam. End-users based in the US were previously able to sign up for the consumer offering directly from the iPass web site,[5] but effective July 13, 2010, the company ceased accepting new individual iPass customers and accepts only businesses.[6]
In practice, iPass operates through a massive organization of billing agreements with local providers, together with ongoing updates to the client-software application.