The San Diego Telecom Council Announces Free Public WiFi Access - " I'll Have a Salad and The Auto Channel"

- The Sorrento Valley Food Court's Tech Rich Area Made Richer -

SAN DIEGO, March 12 -- The San Diego Telecom Council (SDTC), the premier organization promoting growth of the region's telecommunications industry, today announced their first public hotspot at the Sorrento Valley Food Court. Visitors to the food court will be pleased to learn that free high-speed wireless Internet access is now available.

All that's needed is a laptop or PDA equipped with an 802.11b (WiFi) compatible card. Open your web browser, follow login instructions posted on-site, and you are on the web -- it's that easy!

"The Sorrento Valley Food Court is a frequent lunch location and meeting place for local business workers and students," said Marco Thompson, Chairman of the San Diego Telecom Council and CTO, Wind River Services. "With over 40 restaurants and thousands of people entering the food court per year, the addition of wireless Internet access will be warmly welcomed."

This new service is being supported in part by equipment donations. Texas Instruments donated the access points and KC Tandoor provided the access point location. Luce Forward provided the legal work; PRTM provided project management and Red Door Interactive provided web pages, artwork, continued quality assurance and online promotions. Special thanks to David Ahlgren for his time and contributions to the project. Additionally, AirShare.org, AllEther Networks and Patrick Tudor donated numerous hours to this project.

The WiFi access point is connected to the Internet through a DSL line from SBC. "SBC is extremely pleased to partner with the San Diego Telecom Council in promoting new applications for using our DSL technology," said John Osborne, Director of External Affairs, SBC. "Our hope is that creating 'hot spots' will make it easier for busy San Diegans to take advantage of the latest technological advances."

"With San Diego being THE wireless capital of the world, our academic and industry leadership in wireless is unmatched. However, we have not been as progressive as other cities in getting WiFi out there," said Cathy Pucher, Director of Americas Wireless Communication Sales, Texas Instruments. "We had to change that. As a result, the SDTC launched the WiFi Coalition to help put San Diego on the WiFi map. The WiFi Demonstration network is one of the Coalition initiatives. In addition, we have launched a WiFi Special Interest Group which meets 4 times per year and draws over 600 people."

The WiFi Coalition expects to make free wireless Internet access available at all SDTC programs within the remaining year among other initiatives to further proliferate the use of WiFi in San Diego.

About the San Diego Telecom Council

As a broad-based coalition of communications-related companies, service providers, professional trade groups and organizations within the public sector, the San Diego Telecom Council (SDTC) is working to position the San Diego region as a world center for innovation in telecommunications. The SDTC provides members a forum for the sharing of information and opinion on emerging industry standards and markets, offers networking and strategic partnering opportunities, serves as a lobby to impact policy and legislation, and assists in recruiting telecommunications companies, professionals and investment to San Diego. For additional information, please call 858/535-5135, or visit www.sdtelecom.org .

For further information, please contact Kira Jenkins of The San Diego Telecom Council, +1-858-535-5137, kjenkins@sdtelecom.org.