The Cloud customers can now get authenticated using SIM cards: Transat Technologies enables the service. SIM-based authentication is already being used by some hotspots in Europe and is expected to be a widely used authentication method there. Because Europeans use GSM for their cell phone technologies, they are already used to the concept of the SIM card. They can use the same SIM card for their cell phones and for hotspot authentication, which also means they could receive a single bill for both services.

Some of the early SIM-based WLAN authentication solutions are pretty rudimentary. They involve the user sending a message from their cell phone to get a code that allows them to access the WLAN. But the more sophisticated solutions include a SIM card reader on a laptop. The SIM card authenticates the user but also applies encryption and security to the communication between the client and the network. That is likely the offering Transat is delivering for The Cloud.

At the CTIA Wireless I.T. show last fall I talked to a handful of companies that are touting SIM-based authentication tools, including some of the big SIM card makers. While they're looking for a U.S. market, most weren't terribly bullish that the authentication method would take off here because people aren't widely used to the concept of using SIM cards. Even GSM users in the U.S. don't often realize that they have a SIM card.