The Summer Games in Beijing: the Ultimate Hotspot

Man who waits for roast duck to fly into mouth must wait very, very long time.
—Chinese proverb

Any first-rate athlete knows that success doesn't simply come to those who wait. As an individual, you have to plan, prepare, and sweat to earn it. And in team events, there must be cooperation and precise coordination.

This summer, a half million visitors from around the world will join as many as two million Chinese citizens to see the world's best athletes compete in the Summer Games in Beijing. iPass has teamed up with China-based Coordinate Technologies Communication Limited (CTCL) to provide world-class coverage for this historic event—as well as to meet the day-to-day needs of people living and working in one of the world's largest and fastest-growing economies.

CTCL is a systems integrator that provides the Wi-Fi roaming hub for leading Chinese carriers. iPass' relationship with CTCL will provide athletes, attendees and businesses with seamless connections from all Summer Game locations. That includes all events taking place in Beijing as well as those to be held outside the Chinese capital, namely football (in Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Shenyang, and Tianjin), equestrian (in Hong Kong) and sailing (in Qingdao). The CTCL network infrastructure has completed iPass' Enterprise Ready Certification, which ensures reliable access and compatibility with enterprise systems.

The games, which take place from August 8 to August 24, 2008, feature a grand total of 37 venues and 302 events, with the opening ceremony scheduled to begin on 8/8/08 at 08:08:08 pm Beijing Time at the Beijing National Stadium. (As you might have guessed, 8 is a lucky number in Chinese culture.)

In addition to stadiums and arenas where the games will take place, the iPass-CTCL partnership covers numerous airports in China including the Beijing airport, as well as Starbucks coffee shops and conference centers in Shanghai and Beijing, and more than 400 hotels including hotels from the Shangri-La and Crowne Plaza chains.

Not only do the CTCL locations beef up iPass' already substantial presence in China; these new locations add to the world's largest active business-class Wi-Fi network of over 100,000 broadband venues including 83 of the world's top 100 airports. The iPass network provides a single user experience in 160 countries using 3G mobile broadband, over 100,000 Wi-Fi hotspots, hotel Ethernet and other access methods. And now, just in time for the Summer Games in Beijing, iPass'coverage in China is far more extensive than ever before.

What's more, the current list of connection locations in China represents the first phase of a larger rollout that will include the entire CTCL network. In total, iPass now has over 2,800 active wireless broadband locations available across China and Hong Kong, representing more than half of all available commercial Wi-Fi hotspots*. Add to that the nationwide mobile broadband and dial-up footprint that iPass offers and you can be sure that, if you're traveling to the Summer Games or nearly anywhere else in China, we've got you covered.

* Source: www.jiwire.com

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