New WLANs are sprouting that hope to take advantage of the logistical and social awkwardness of P2P (person-to-person) interaction in a wide variety of venues. Business networking potential aside, the real excitement revolves around the mating market. But will people pay?

August 06, 2001

A hot new app will debut at the Wireless World 2001 trade show in New York in late September. If "Venue Maitred" flies there, it might be an indication of the kind of products that are going to help make mcommerce a reality.

Developed by Innovative Information Systems in Ft. Lee, N.J., the new application brings a suite of wireless information tools to conference-goers and other travelers.

The software functions in part like a simple wireless local-area network. Say a hotel guest wants to know where to buy a necktie: the guest could switch on a pocket PC and access a list of local retail stores through the Venue Maitred network. On a bigger scale, Baltimore tourism authorities are looking at deploying a Venue Maitred network throughout the city's Inner Harbor tourist area. While in the Inner Harbor area, visitors could use their portable devices to access information about local museums, restaurants, and other attractions.

But analysts are most excited about the product's person-to-person potential.

"People come to trade shows to look at new technologies, but networking is always a big part of that experience," explained Ram Balani, CEO of both Innovative Information Systems and Venue Maitred. "Now, it is easy to network with exhibitors, but how do you network with people who are just other attendees? Up to now it has been very randomly done - you walk around with business cards. We are going to change that."

Those attending Wireless World 2001 will be able to create profiles of themselves prior to the conference. Once the show gets under way, participants will then be able to browse profiles of fellow attendees and send messages to select contacts -- all from their PDAs.

Denny Eaton likes that idea. "It is a terrible challenge to manage your time when you go to a trade show. What they have here is something that could make that experience vastly more productive," said Eaton, executive director of Info River Valley, a nonprofit agency working to spur the tech industry in the Hudson River area.

"I may want to find people who meet a certain profile, but only while I am in this temporary situation, and this [application] gives you the ability to do that," said Eaton.

Balani's business plan calls for venues such as hotels and conference centers to pay for the deployment of Venue Maitred networks, and Eaton said this seems plausible to him, since the software's person-to-person potential could be a selling point for these facilities.

"This seems like a real service that the venue could offer to me that would make me want to use that venue or to return to that venue in the future," he said.

The chairman of Wireless World 2001, meanwhile, sees an even bigger potential here.

Hotel schmotel, says Jonathan Sarno. Think: Dating potential.

"I could see Hooters or college bars setting up a wireless LAN, or cruise ships," he said. "If people had more pocket PCs and every bar has a wireless LAN, you could be walking down the street and you might pass a bar, search the profiles of the people there. You see that there are 30 girls with certain vital statistics, all looking for someone like you. It is amazing, the implications it could have."