PowerCloud Adds New Services to Cloud-Powered Wi-Fi Platform

By Laura Stotler
TMCnet Contributing Editor

PowerCloud Systems (News - Alert) has added new functionality from technology partners to its CloudCommand Wi-Fi Platform. The company, which specializes in cloud-powered networking for businesses that support connected mobile guests, has added application and analytics functionality to its offering.

Technology partners Cloud4Wi and Swarm are among those contributing integrated social marketing, customer engagement and analytics solutions to the PowerCloud platform. The company now offers advanced and affordable mobile marketing services and has also transformed Wi-Fi connectivity into a platform for revenue-generating services, making it more valuable to clients interested in extending services to their guests.

The cloud-powered Wi-Fi-as-a-service platform may be implemented on a private Wi-Fi network and offers a quick ROI, since customers can instantly transform wireless access into a means for generating revenue through the new integrated applications.

"Providing Wi-Fi for customers is actually a revenue opportunity for businesses, as well as an opportunity for customer engagement, but many businesses continue to treat Wi-Fi as a cost burden," said Jeff Abramowitz, CEO of PowerCloud Systems. "By implementing a wireless network capable of delivering other mobile applications, not only are they meeting their customers' needs, they can improve customer engagement and get real-time information about their business in exchange for providing this Internet access."

The partnership with Cloud4Wi enables businesses to turn their Wi-Fi networks into customized hotspots that act as a platform for monetizing bandwidth via additional services. It includes a customizable portal branded for businesses as well as a variety of apps and services that may be content-driven, marketing-focused or authentication-based. Web apps and services may also be dynamically activated to enhance the end-user experience or provide customer intelligence.

"We're excited to partner with PowerCloud because the flexibility and scalability of their platform makes it easy to manage multiple Wi-Fi networks, thus reducing TCO,” said Andrea Calcagno, CEO of Cloud4Wi. “We are delivering solutions both in Europe and the USA and the customers are excited to offer next-generation Wi-Fi services using Cloud4Wi and PowerCloud."

Swarm Mobile’s partnership and integration with PowerCloud adds a presence API to the CloudCommand platform. This uses Wi-Fi data from mobile devices to provide a suite of presence analytics and when combined with transaction data, it offers actionable information and marketing services to retail and hospitality operators.