Sputnik continues to focus on hotspot market: Sputnik began its life as a way to embed management control in an access point's firmware, but as the market has evolved, they've honed in more and more on the needs of small to medium network operators running hotspots and managed networks. Although they have enterprise customers, their particular expertise allows an operator or business to scale a network with the same management console and very little upfront investment for the sophistication of their tool, especially when compared with Cisco WLSE or AirWave, which are cost effective for installations of hundreds of access points in corporate campuses.
The latest addition to the hotspot arsenal is Sputnik Premier, which allows a hotspot operator to set up PayPal (no extra charge) and credit card payments (via a separate account with their partner Aria) in a bundled arrangement. This puts them in closer competition with companies like NetNearU, AirPath Wireless, and Pronto Networks which provide complete OSS (Operations Support System) for account management, billing, and cross-customer network roaming and fee settlement.