LayerOne, the distributor for Option Wireless and Intellisync in South Africa, has recently launched the new Option Wireless HSDPA card to the SA market. The card, which provides speeds of up to 1.8 megs download, is the same card that Vodacom has launched in its own HSDPA offering, just not branded as Vodacom.
LayerOne provides synchronisation solutions for corporate users using laptops to access e-mail and other applications with the use of Intellisync Mobile Suite. The card is a natural extension of the services provided to clients from a mobile point of view as all clients need to access the Internet before they can access an application.
Says Stuart Hardy, MD of LayerOne: "Even though the data card is same as the Vodacom HSDPA card and comes from the same manufacturer, there are a few differences such as the fact that the card is not network locked, meaning you can use it on the Vodacom, MTN or Cell C network. The card is also available as an outright purchase from LayerOne or Internet Solutions, allowing clients to use them as part of a private APN with reverse billing."
Aside from selling the card outright, LayerOne bundles the HSDPA card with its synchronisation technology which is Intellisync for laptops. The Intellisync service allows laptop users to get access to e-mail, files and backend data and there are currently no less than 7 000 users using this service in SA today. The new HSDPA card means that when users are in metropolitan network they will get higher speeds than they did on GPRS.
"We have already run out of stock from our first shipments and are landing more cards in two weeks which is also basically sold out. The main reason for this is that we are selling the cards at a better rate than the networks and not limiting the cards to a specific network which has better long-term benefits for all clients. At this point we are dealing on a volume order basis only with corporate clients because of this period of high demand. This is one of two HSDPA products that we have launched, the other being an HSDPA router which will be available in two months time," concludes Hardy.
Share
