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HarborLink Network News & Events
October 11, 2006
From
http://www.greensheet.com
Hotspots
becoming merchant-friendly?
Google put the hot in
hotspot recently, when it
made citywide wireless
Internet access available to
its entire home base of
Mountain View, Calif. The
Wi-Fi (standard 802.11)
network covers 12 square
miles, and any device with a
wireless card can access it.
Other companies have
announced or already
installed similar networks
in other cities. And several
of them use a revenue model
based on delivering
advertisements to users'
browsers.
These announcements pose the
question, Can merchants use
free Wi-Fi networks for card
processing? The answer is
yes ... and no.
Yes, because one company
working with VeriFone is in
the final testing stages of
such a system that, come
November, could bring free
Internet access to merchants
in Dayton, Ohio, for card
processing.
And no, because most free
citywide wireless networks
will lack the service,
support and security to
ensure the kind of
failure-proof system
merchants need.
That said, free wireless
could still give ISOs and
merchant level salespeople (MLSs)
a trial system. They could
use loaner equipment to show
merchants the benefits of a
wireless network.
It provides a demonstration
alternative, without extra
costs or red tape, to
convince merchants to go
with a full-scale
implementation of wireless
equipment, said Scott Holt,
Director of Marketing for
ExaDigm Inc., which sells
the Wi-Fi-capable XD1000 and
XD2000 POS terminals with
modular antennas.
When systems mesh ...
The Mountain View system,
which Google is replicating
in San Francisco for
EarthLink Inc., has a mesh
topology: 380 access points
blanket the city, so if one
node goes down, the others
can "shoulder the load,"
said Chris Sacca, Head of
Special Initiatives for
Google.
The nodes operate off three
point-to-multipoint
connections. The Wi-Fi
system is omni-directional.
Although it is not
enterprise-class, it will
not be shut down regularly
for maintenance. For
businesses that require
always-on system
availability, paying an
Internet service provider
for a dedicated line makes
more sense, he said.
Google's home-base network
will have security features
that other citywide networks
will not share. For example,
although anyone can operate
a Secure Sockets Layer
session over a Wi-Fi
network, Mountain View users
can take the added
precaution of downloading
virtual private network (VPN)
software Google designed
specifically for this
network. The VPN software
does not require a password
and runs in the background,
encrypting the data before
sending it over the network.
EarthLink's San Francisco
system, which will be
point-to-multipoint, rather
than omni-directional, will
offer two tiers of service.
The first tier will be
Google-branded free Internet
access at 300 kilobits per
second. EarthLink will sell
a second tier of dedicated
lines, ranging from one to
three megabits per second,
to businesses as a DSL
replacement. This will give
San Franciscans
service-provider choice,
Sacca said. Tier two will be
more interesting to
merchants, since it will
bring more consistent access
to business applications
such as inventories and
customer resource
management, he added.
From San Francisco to
Dayton, Ohio
VeriFone is working with an
unnamed hotspot provider in
San Francisco, as well as
HarborLink Network LLC in
Dayton. In both cities, free
Internet access will take a
novel approach for
merchants: segmented
traffic, according to Steve
McRae, Director of Solutions
Delivery for VeriFone. In
the Dayton trials, VeriFone
determined that transmission
of financial information
through an unprotected
network was a stumbling
block, as was quality of
service.
"You can expect only so much
from a free service," McRae
said. HarborLink agreed to
segment traffic for
merchants and to block
unauthorized access to
transmitted data. The
service to merchants is
still free, but they must
buy device support from
VeriFone.
The idea came from a
Dayton-area MLS who had read
about HarborLink's pilot,
which currently covers one
square mile of the city with
free Wi-Fi Internet service
using the wireless mesh, or
omni-directional, topology.
"That processor knew there
was a product out there that
could utilize wireless and
got us together with [VeriFone],"
said Rick Tangeman,
President of HarborLink.
At the end of August, Dayton
officials notified
HarborLink that its proposal
to extend the free service
citywide had been accepted.
The expansion will encompass
55 square miles, including
the Dayton International
Airport in Vandalia. The
network uses an advertising
revenue model, delivering
ads to browsers when users
log on. VeriFone Wi-Fi
terminals will not receive
the ads.
'Count me in'
When Darin Cronebach,
Director of New Business
Development for the
Dayton-based ISO Descomm,
first heard that VeriFone's
Omni 3750 might be used by a
restaurant chain that
contracts with HarborLink,
he wanted to provide the
payment processing services.
"I thought, 'What a nice
combination deal we could
sell,'" Cronebach said. "If
you can package processing,
wireless connections and
throw in the manufacturer,
you've got everything you
could possibly need."
Three companies working
together have a better
chance of closing a merchant
deal than going one by one
to sell parts of a system,
he said. Pricing
arrangements are still to be
determined, but would likely
take the form of a
percentage or residual to
HarborLink on the back end.
HarborLink has discussed
pricing models and
payment-system requirements
with a few merchant service
providers, which would want
varying levels of
partnership with the
company, Tangeman said. ISOs
are looking for advantages
they can sell to merchants,
he added.
When HarborLink spoke with
merchants, applications that
drew interest included
restaurant payment at the
table and outdoor sales
capability; one college-area
client expressed interest in
using the VeriFone terminal
to verify ages on driver's
licenses as patrons come in
the door, Tangeman said.
The segmentation of merchant
traffic gives each terminal
its own virtual local area
network session for each
transaction. VeriFone gave
HarborLink specifications
required to ensure secure
transmissions. "In effect,
we would authenticate that
device to make sure its
credentials are
appropriate," Tangeman said.
Merchants should still use
encryption to enhance
security.
HarborLink is in discussions
with 13 other communities to
provide free hotspots, from
the suburbs of Dayton to
other municipalities in Ohio
and California, he said. In
each community, the hotspot
will target the business
district.
A merchant's utopia
In October, VeriFone and
Netopia Inc., a broadband
equipment and services
provider, will make
available a bundled
pay-at-the-table service to
merchants, McRae said. The
pay-at-the-table capability
will ride on top of
Netopia's access point
router and network. As part
of that bundle, New Edge
Networks will install the
DSL circuits and
connections.
Merchants using VeriFone
Wi-Fi-enabled terminals (the
Omni 3750, or the
battery-operated, modular Vx
610 or Vx 670)
will be able to sell or give
to their patrons an hour's
worth of Wi-Fi service at a
time. This gives merchants
another revenue-generating
or rewards opportunity; the
service can be offered as an
incentive during off-peak
hours.
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