RoamBOSS Metro meets the needs of many metro area requests for proposals (RFPs) for broadband wireless service. A hosted platform, RoamBOSS Metro enables metropolitan areas to provide a wireless network that is "open," or a "neutral host" network. This type of network allows access for both public and private users (i.e. city employees) while permitting end-users that are subscribers of different service providers to easily roam onto the metro network.

"The neutrality of Airpath's RoamBOSS Metro platform is a "must have" for municipalities putting RFPs out now," said Bryan Thompson, president of RedMoon, Inc., a city-wide Wi-Fi systems developer. "Cities can now deploy a single, seamless solution that leverages both the OSS platform for local and transient subscribers and adds roaming capabilities for customers of other service providers. The benefits are clear--increased municipal revenues and enhanced tourism all while satisfying the communication needs of residents and commuters."

RoamBOSS Metro combines the robust OSS needed to provision and manage large-scale wireless broadband networks with the roaming and interconnect engine of Airpath's InterRoam hosted platform, which facilitates and manages wholesale roaming agreements. With RoamBOSS Metro, wholesale roaming management of the network fabric is facilitated through an elegant web-based interface that enables exposure to multiple service providers for fast and seamless interconnects. The underlying InterRoam roaming engine also performs the dynamic filtering required to match vendor specific attributes necessary to establish immediate roaming connections. For municipalities with existing OSS solutions, RoamBOSS Metro easily and seamlessly integrates, enabling the city with valuable roaming support. Because RoamBOSS Metro is hardware agnostic, cities are able to deploy wireless technology today and easily migrate to higher speed wireless technologies in the future.

"The requirements that are coming from cities are increasingly demanding RoamBOSS Metro's capabilities," said Al Levy, president of Summit Technologies, an enabler of city-wide Wi-Fi services. "RoamBOSS Metro's magic is that it enables ISPs to provide their subscribers with roaming capabilities, allowing end-users to take their local broadband accounts with them on the road."

RoamBOSS Metro is the only metro solution in the industry that combines OSS, roaming and clearinghouse capabilities in a single platform. The RoamBOSS Metro hosted platform enables network providers and carriers to deploy neutral host and multi-purpose wireless networks that can support multiple service providers, and multiple roaming agreements, while delivering traditional OSS functionality.

"With RoamBOSS Metro, cities now have a neutral host platform on which to easily deliver wireless broadband access to residents, city employees and transient roamers throughout their areas," said Airpath CEO and Founder Todd Myers.

The RoamBOSS Metro hosted platform includes support for:

• Neutral host environments
• Multiple hardware platforms and multiple wireless technologies
• Multi-provider networks
• Policy-based access, end-user rating and Class of Service (COS)
• Multi-lateral roaming
• Private and public networks
• A cellular telephony-like model where there is one network owner/operator with open access to others

The RoamBOSS Metro hosted platform benefits:

-- Network operators/providers, by enabling increased network utilization through access to a large roaming end-user base.
-- Service providers, by enabling them to offer new services such as bundled Wi-Fi roaming, increasing revenue and enhancing customer retention. Service providers also have the ability to attract new subscribers without existing Wi-Fi roaming accounts, as those users roam into the metro area.

By Robert Hoskins

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