Web-based Guest Printing Service To Be Marketed to Wayport-enabled Locations
Austin, TX and Kitchener, ON - August 18, 2004: Wayport, one of the world's largest providers of high-speed Wi-Fi wireless and wired Internet access in more than 3,000 locations including hotels, airports, McDonald's and other retail brands, has selected PrinterOn Corporation's Guest Printing Service with a multi-year marketing and affiliate sales agreement to offer Web-based printing to Wayport-enabled locations.
Wayport will offer the Web-based PrinterOn Guest Printing Service to expand the mobile office by enabling hotel guests to print directly from the comfort of their guestrooms to a hotel printer without the need for drivers or other software.
"Wayport is constantly looking for ways to provide the most comprehensive Internet services and mobile office capabilities for our customers, and PrinterOn's Guest Printing Service is a perfect addition to our suite of offerings to help round out the user experience, " said Jack Alton, vice president of sales for Wayport. "We teamed with PrinterOn because of their similar emphasis on providing a high-quality, convenient service and their deep understanding of the hospitality customer and industry needs."
Wayport and PrinterOn will work together to market and sell the service to Wayport's hotel locations. Wayport's 50-person sales team will offer PrinterOn services as an option for new and existing accounts.
"Wayport and PrinterOn have a common goal of improving business office necessities for connected travelers by providing leading high-speed Internet access and printing technology," said John Kaarid, director of business development for PrinterOn. "This agreement enables each of us to provide the best possible offerings for our clients and to service them more efficiently."
A key challenge for hospitality venue owners is determining which type and brand of printers and device drivers to use in order to provide the most flexible and compatible printing service for guests needing to print from a variety of hardware and software systems. PrinterOn's Guest Printing Service solves this problem. "Our relationship with PrinterOn provides the tools for our hotel partners to add simple, secure, controlled printing to public wireless networks as a value-added service for their guests," added Alton.
Venue owners and hotel managers can add a printer of most makes and models to their Wayport Internet-enabled or Wi-Fi location, and register this printer with the PrinterOn service. Users can then easily print to the printer without the need to install printer drivers or software. PrinterOn's services let users print Web pages, email messages, email attachments and documents from a wired or wireless notebook or wireless PDA to a printer located centrally in a hotel, airport, convention center or any other public place frequented by business travelers.
About Wayport, Inc.
Wayport is one of the world's largest providers of high-speed Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) wireless and wired Internet access for business travelers in more than 3,000 locations, including more than 800 major hotels, such as Four Seasons, Loews, Wyndham, Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton, Doubletree and Embassy Suites; Wi-Fi wireless Internet access in six major airports: Dallas-Fort Worth, Seattle-Tacoma, San Jose, Austin-Bergstrom, Oakland and Buffalo Niagara; and Wi-Fi service at McDonald's and other retail brands. At airports, travelers also can take advantage of Wayport's 16 Laptop Lane® airport business centers, which feature private offices with high-speed Internet access and other business services, as well as mobile devices and accessories for sale. To learn more, please visit www.wayport.net.
About PrinterOn Corporation
PrinterOn specializes in mobile printing services. PrinterOn's Guest Printing Service provides a customized Web-based printing service for in-room remote driverless printing. The PrinterOn Guest Printing Service is now actively in service in over 70,000 rooms across North America. PrinterOn is an endorsed vendor for Hilton Supply Management and Choice Hotels International. The guest printing service can be found in all Hilton Garden Inn and Doubletree Hotels as a standard guest amenity. PrinterOn also offers mobile printing services for Wi-Fi hotspot printing and wireless PDA viewing, faxing and printing. PrinterOn is based in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, and has been delivering award-winning document handling solutions for 20 years. Visit PrinterOn at www.printeron.net.
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Media Contacts:
Carola Donsig
PrinterOn Public Relations Manager
519-748-2848 Main
519-896-8476 Direct
cdonsig@printeron.com
Amy Shields
GCI Group Public Relations for Wayport
512-542-2839 Direct
512-560-8861 Cell
ashields@gcigroup.com
(c) Copyright 2004 Wayport, Inc. All rights, reserved. Wayport®, Laptop Lane®, Wayport & Design®, and Laptop Lane & Design® are all registered trademarks of Wayport, Inc. PrinterOn, PrintWhere and PrintAnywhere and the PrinterOn logomark are trademarks of PrinterOn Corporation. All other product names may be trademarks of their respective companies.
"Safe Harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
This release contains forward looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the impact of competitive products, services and pricing, product/services, demand and market acceptance, new product development, business strategies of the Company or its competitors, reliance on key strategic alliances, availability of raw materials, changes in technology, the regulatory environment, fluctuations in operating results and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's prospectus or in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
How many locations does Wayport have to date?
Wayport has Wi-Fi wireless and wired high-speed Internet access in more than 3,000 locations including hotels, airports and McDonald's and other retail brands in select cities nationwide.
What are the terms (dollar amount and specific length) of the agreement?
TBD and likely confidential when they are finalized.
How does the marketing aspect work? Will Wayport market this to its hotels or will PrinterOn do the marketing?
The Wayport sales group will refer Wayport-enabled properties to PrinterOn. When a hotel expresses interest in the solution, Wayport will forward a referral sheet to PrinterOn. PrinterOn will then step in to present, sell, install and support the service in the hotel.
What does the service cost a hotel venue and will that impact the cost of using Wayport's service?
The cost to the property is $595.00 for one printer per year with other discounted pricing options available for additional printers. Once the service is available, the hotel guests will still need to connect to Wayport's Internet service to access the PrinterOn interface and subsequently print.
Will Wayport only offer this at hotels or are there plans to offer this to airports, McDonald's, etc.?
The immediate, obvious fit is in the hotel (both at the front desk and/or in a Cyber Center). Wayport and PrinterOn will review other opportunities if they make sense.
Are Wayport-enabled properties charging guests for access to the PrinterOn service?
It is up to the hotel whether or not they want to charge for the service or not. PrinterOn tells us that the majority of their current hotel customers don't charge their guests for the service. They offer it as a free service in an effort to differentiate themselves from their nearby hotel competitors. Again, whether guests are charged or not for this service, they still have to pay to connect to the Internet first. So, neither model affects Wayport.
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