Sputnik returns to part of its roots with the SputnikNet Express offering: The company started out with software for turning old PCs into hotspots in an affiliated network, but discovered its aggregation management software--tools to manage large numbers of access points through a central interface--was the valuable part. In the last two years, they added SputnikNet offerings which allow centrally managed hotspot networks with back-end charging. This latest Express addition costs nothing and is meant for stand-alone free hotspots that benefit from a splash page and other straightforward features.
Install Sputnik Agent on an appropriate access point, reflashing the firmware, or purchase such a unit from Sputnik. Configure your splash screen, choosing whether users see Google or Yahoo localized content, or no local content. And, bingo, you have a branded page with no authentication required that offers a screen of local content.
This software also allows you to choose to include PlaceSite, software developed for local community interaction.
This new service seems to have Sputnik Going Head-to-Head with their own loyal customers and giving away for FREE what their customers have built their businesses on… namely reselling sputnik products and service to the cafe's, restaurants and the hospitality industry in general.
Sputnik is now providing content-rich, customizable & branded hotspots to individual business at no charge and seem to have forgotten that at the same time, they advertise on their home page comments from the companies that have grown profitable sputnik hotspot networks built upon selling the same service to these same types of businesses.
How can their loyal customers continue in their business models when the software provider will not only directly market to their target base, but also provide the same or similar service at no charge?
If Sputnik wants to ensure customer loyalty, competing with and undercutting their customer base is not the way to do it. This will only encourage them to find a difrent solution or build their own.
They have not thought this through. They need to decide who is their target market, WISPs and Hotspot network operators or the café’s. I believe that it is a conflict of interest by trying to be both.
Jimmy Kay,
Chicago
Jimmy,
We don't compete with our customers with SputnikNet Express.
Our customers typically provide complete Wi-Fi network services to the venue customers they serve - for example, installation, support, customization (of captive portals, authentication), remote monitoring, and management. They often manage multiple Wi-Fi venues.
With SputnikNet Express, we now have a free service that enables single-location venues to offer branded free Wi-Fi, but it doesn't come with any of the value-added services mentioned above.
If anything, we're competing with free, wide-open APs that don't provide any branding for the venue other than the name of the SSID. SputnikNet Express provides these types of venues with much better control over branding. We'll continue to offer Sputnik Control Center software and the paid versions of SputnikNet to customers who build, operate, and support more sophisticated Wi-Fi networks.
Our announcement with smartBridges shows that we are also committed to improving our products at the other end of the spectrum, i.e. for WISPs who are providing large-scale Wi-Fi networks.
Thank you,
Dave LaDuke
CEO, Sputnik