Google cancels free airport WiFi

Google is ending its programme to provide free WiFi in US airports, states Computing.co.uk.

The company says it will pull the plug on nearly all of the 54 wireless networks it was sponsoring, as well as an in-flight Internet partnership with Virgin America.

The free service was offered in addition to the built-in wireless programmes already in use at certain airports and airlines. Three of the participating airports; Burbank, Boston and Seattle, have decided to extend the life of the WiFi networks through the remainder of the year.

AT&T has begun touting investments in its 3G HSPA network, which the company believes will give it the ability to handle increased traffic from mobile devices, reports PC World.

COO John Stankey says the company was investing $2 billion on improving its wireless network in 2010, and that it would construct roughly 2 000 new cell sites to expand its coverage.

The company explains that a big part of its wireless network upgrade will come through its transition to HSPA 7.2 technology, which the company expects will cover 90% of its 3G network by the end of 2011.

Netgear has unveiled its ProSecure UTM5, a scaled-down version of its existing ProSecure UTM (unified threat management) product line-up, priced for 5-user networks in small to medium-size enterprises (SMEs), says eChannelLine.

UTM appliances have been gaining popularity in enterprise-class IT because they can wrap advanced firewall, anti-spam, anti-virus, and anti-spyware functions in one package, and vendors have been slowly releasing UTM appliances for the SME market.

The Netgear ProSecure UTM5 offers the same security features of the UTM10 and UTM25 - Web and e-mail scanning and content filters, hourly automatic signature updates of over one million malware signatures, and advanced spam filtering and firewall features - but cuts down on the supported bandwidth to make the price more compelling to businesses with smaller networks.