Wi-Fi carrier iPass has extended its reach to 50 million global hotspots following a tie-up with wireless software company Devicescape.
iPass has integrated Devicescape’s Curated Virtual Network (CNV) into its global Wi-Fi network, bringing access to approximately 20 million additional worldwide hotspots.
According to iPass, Devicescape’s platform uses a cloud-based machine learning process to discover the best available amenity Wi-Fi locations, combining multiple hotspots into a single network that is then controlled in real-time.
The US-based company said the partnership means it now has access to approximately two-thirds of the world’s 78 million public Wi-Fi hotspots.
[Read more: Fon tops 15 million Wi-Fi hotspots worldwide]
iPass CEO Gary Griffiths said: “Our alliance with Devicescape is significant not only in moving iPass customers closer to ubiquitous connectivity, but also in setting the stage for global Wi-Fi accessibility for the Internet of Things.
“We’re proud to soon be able to offer our customers access to over 50 million hotspots around the globe. With a global population of over 7 billion data-hungry people, and estimates of over 28 billion smart devices in use by 2020, seamless global connectivity delivered via a standard format and user experience will be fundamental.”
According to research house ABI, the number of installed Wi-Fi access points is on track to hit 400 million by 2019 thanks to the emergence of voice over Wi-FI and Hotspot technologies.