Mobile software uses any available wireless link

A PACKAGE, Zafari Mobile, created by the team that produced the Connect software for Vodafone, claims to solve remote access problems for corporate users. It talks directly to Wi-Fi, GPRS and 3G PC cards and chipsets.

Written in Microsoft .Net, this package is much better than rivals at identifying all available wireless networks - not just the ones which your access aggregator wants you to see. According to Andre Axford, CEO with Zafari's creator - Cutting The Wires (CTW) - his company's software can be embarrassingly efficient.

Sitting in a cafeteria associated with a company that shall remain nameless (Chipzilla), Axford says Zafari detected a Wi-Fi network using non-broadcast APs [Access Points]. Similarly while pitching to the CTO with a major corporation, Zafari found an AP which an employee had hidden under his desk - confident that it would remain undetected.

With their background at Vodafone, the CTW team are also familiar with utilising 3G - and even HSDPA - as a route to the corporate VPN. The company even supports EAP - SIM, a means of user verification based on details stored on a SIM card (as phone in cellular phones).

Now that it has established customers, CTW is seeking to expand by selling through systems integrators. Its main competition, Axford agreed, comes from access aggregators like iPass. The latter's software won an award at the recent 3GSM Barcelona show. Strange. The INQ has always struggled to get a connexion via iPass. µ