UPS delivers public-access Wi-Fi to its retail outlets

Computerworld - United Parcel Service Inc. has decided to dip into the booming public-access Wi-Fi market with a test of the service at 66 of its retail outlets -- The UPS Store -- in Chicago.
Nick Costides, retail technology group manager at Atlanta-based UPS, said the company will use the Chicago Wi-Fi test, which starts Sept. 16, to gauge customer interest in the service. If demand is there, UPS would then roll the service out to more than 3,000 domestic locations.
UPS operates another 1,000 retail outlets internationally, and Costides said he has an eye on taking public access Wi-Fi global. "Everything we do has a global view," he said.
Memphis-based FedEx Corp., UPS's rival in the package delivery field, has looked at offering public-access Wi-Fi but has seen little customer demand for it, according to Ken Pasley, director of wireless business development for FedEx business services. FedEx isn't pursuing public-access Wi-Fi service at its stores or at customer service counters at hubs or stations because those outlets are essentially package drop-off and pickup sites.
UPS retail operations are built around the Mailboxes Etc. chain UPS acquired in 2001, with most of the locations now rebranded as The UPS Store. Besides offering packaging and shipping services, some UPS stores offer copying and computer rental services. Costides said UPS hopes to use technology such as Wi-Fi to make the stores into "branch offices for road warriors."
UPS said it believes mobile workers, such as sales personnel and repair technicians with UPS national shipping accounts, are a natural target for the service.
Public-access Wi-Fi uses industry-standard 802.11b wireless LAN technology to provide an 11Mbit/sec. wireless connection to the Internet for users within a 100- to 300-foot range of the Wi-Fi access point. Many airports, hotels and restaurants, including the McDonald's Corp. chain, have embraced public access Wi-Fi, and Datamonitor PLC, a London-based research firm, predicts an explosive growth in Wi-Fi hot spots, from 31,000 this year to 135,000 worldwide by 2007.
Because UPS retail stores are operated by individual franchise owners, the company needed inexpensive and easy-to-install hardware, Costides said. It tapped the Computer Systems Group (CSG) of Toshiba Corp. to provide its hot spot in a box system for the Chicago test. John Marston, U.S.-based vice president of business development at Toshiba CSG, said the company sells its hot-spot hardware for $199 and provides back-end billing and authentication services through a partnership with Accenture Ltd.
Toshiba also promotes the service through its SurfHere Wi-Fi network, which also includes Wi-Fi-equipped McDonald's outlets in Chicago