HotThought

By nature, hotspot management is a problem with great variety. Even with FirstSpot is in its sixth major version (v6), we continue to hear new requirements that we can add to FirstSpot as enhancements. The popularity of smartphone devices and the need to push message/advertisement to client devices further add complexity to the hotspot environment. Every customer seems to have their own unique requirement (login page look-and-feel, tracking model, etc…) for managing their hotspots. Based on our experience, a lot of customers value flexibility in their hotspot solution.

The hardware upgrade path is another important consideration. Due to hotspot growth, hardware failure or even server consolidation (e.g. VM), customers need to change hardware periodically. We believe the above two needs favor a software (rather than a hardware box) approach for most of the hotspot management scenario.