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iPass Mobility Expense Calculator Gives Businesses Insight into Hidden Wireless Connectivity Expenses


WEBWIRE

iPass Inc. (NASDAQ: IPAS) a global provider of services that unify the management of enterprise mobility, today announced the availability of its Mobility Expense Calculator: http://www.ipass.com/misc/mobility_expense_calculator.html. Created in response to customer demand, the calculator is an easy-to-use online tool designed to help companies bring their wireless expenses under control by giving visibility into a company’s total wireless connectivity cost.

Mobile users need convenient broadband access wherever their work takes them in order to stay productive and maintain connectivity with customers, colleagues and partners. When not given an adequate solution by their company, mobile workers will go to great lengths to get online—buying day passes or monthly subscriptions at full retail prices and then charging costs back to the company in expense reports. In fact, according to Gartner, up to 70 percent of employee broadband usage is charged back on expense reports, contributing to a substantial and unmanaged mobility “black budget” within the enterprise.

“Mobile working can increase productivity and agility for companies, but costs and risks also increase,” said Eric Paulak, managing vice president at Gartner Research. “As a result, organizations need to get a handle on their remote and mobile connectivity costs without creating a cost management nightmare and missing out on the strategic business benefits mobility can deliver.”

Since most companies do not have the time or resources to perform a full audit of their employees individual mobility expenses, the online iPass Mobility Expense Calculator is designed to allow enterprise IT and finance departments to get an accurate estimate of their mobile access spend simply by answering a few questions about their mobile workforce and then calculating likely expenses based on iPass’ in-depth understanding of mobile usage patterns by different user types and access prices across different geographies.

“Mobility can be a double-edged sword,” said Joel Wachtler, vice-president of marketing and strategy at iPass. “It provides increased flexibility on one hand, but opens companies up to increased cost and risk on the other. Our customers have been asking us for help in quantifying and internally communicating their likely mobile access spend, and with the Mobility Expense Calculator, we’re providing them with a solid starting point.”

The Mobility Expense Calculator is part of a newly created iPass Mobility Central Website that provides businesses and employees with much-needed mobile workforce resources. The complete toolkit can be accessed at http://www.ipass.com/misc/mobilitycentral.html. Other elements of the kit include the iPass Hotspot Finder, iPass Wi-Fi Hotspot Index, which twice a year highlights Wi-Fi usage and the most popular hotspots worldwide, and the monthly iPass Hotspot Bulletin. New tools will be added in the coming months.

For companies looking to centralize their mobility spend and stabilize their cost per user, iPass’ Mobility Management offering announced in July combines the company’s award-winning global access, connection management and device management capabilities into a single package available at a flat monthly rate based solely on active users. With iPass Mobility Management organizations can cost-effectively manage their constantly changing portfolio of mobile connections and devices.

About iPass Inc.
iPass helps enterprises unify the management of remote and mobile connectivity and devices. With iPass software and services, customers can create easy-to-use broadband solutions for their mobile workers, home offices, and branch and retail locations, complete with device management, security validation, and unified billing. iPass offerings are powered by its leading global virtual network, on-demand management platform, and award-winning client software. The iPass global virtual network unifies hundreds of wireless, broadband and dial-up providers in over 160 countries. Hundreds of Global 2000 companies rely on iPass services, including General Motors, Nokia, and Reuters. Founded in 1996, iPass is headquartered in Redwood Shores, Calif., with offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia.

iPass® is a registered trademark of iPass Inc.

* Erik Paulak, Podcast Series: Mobile and Wireless Black Budget. Gartner. May 5, 2006



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