Ingram brings 'social Wi-Fi' to Australia

Social Wi-Fi is coming to Australia, with vendor AirTight Networks entering the Australian market through a distribution agreement with Ingram Micro.

"We’ve hired local engineering resources, have stock in country and we’re ready to go," said Steve Choi , AirTight Networks country manager of Australia.

Social Wi-Fi is the practice of offering free public Wi-Fi that requires signing in with social network credentials. The business offering the Wi-Fi can then harness the user's information to target marketing incentives and promotions.

Choi said Australian resellers could now "easily build a multi-tenanted Wi-Fi service for their end users that will appeal to the marketing manager, the chief security officer, the IT guy and most importantly – to the CFO".

Ingram Micro's senior director of enterprise technology group David Lenz said, "AirTight Networks is pushing the boundaries and using cutting edge technologies and ideas".

The Californian vendor also offers wireless security products. The Pentagon enforces its Wi-Fi security policies with AirTight Networks technology, according to Ingram Micro.

"Mobile and wireless security are increasingly a concern for enterprises and AirTight's ability to secure the wireless network, as well as protecting mobile devices from rogue wireless networks, is a key part of that puzzle," said Lenz.

The Australian arm of Ingram Micro recently reported a return to profit after a period of financial struggle, with the chief operating officer Paul Read saying at the time that Australia "rebounded very nicely but it has been a long journey for us".