There is a new player on the wireless remote access field. The company has actually been around for a number of years, but only in the fixed line market. The company calls itself Aramova (formerly known as Rockstar Software; I liked the old name better).

I spoke with them recently to find out why they feel there is room for yet another player. After all, they're joining a field that already includes:

• iPass
• GoRemote (formerly GRIC)
• Boingo
• Wayport
• PCTEL

To some extent, Aramova had little choice but get into the wireless market. Fixed line carriers want to start offering their subscribers wireless packages and if Aramove doesn't offer them a solutiion, a competitor certainly will. This highlights yet again the blurring between fixed and mobile networks and the increasing level of competition between companies that up until recently rarely ran into one another.

On Monday, Aramova will announce a deal with Dutch mobile carrier KPN. The carrier is going to use Aramova's technology to provide remote connectivity across GPRS, UMTS and Wi-Fi networks.

According to the forthcoming press release "KPN customers will be able to simply connect to the Internet through their laptops using a dedicated PCMCIA card or GPRS/UMTS handset without encountering the complexities associated with the installation or configuration of their hardware, choosing the right network, switching between these networks, or enjoying value-added services.  KPN will soon be introducing numerous non-voice products and business services for their customers, which will be enabled through Aramova’s advanced mobility solutions."

What I find particularly interesting about the KPN deal is that KPN had also been working with iPass. I asked Aramova how they managed to win out over iPass and they cited a number of factors, such as flexible software and "network agnostic" subscriber software clients. I sitll need to follow up with KPN to learn more, but I think the most relevant advantage is that Aramova provides only the software, not the network, while iPass provides both. So KPN can buy Aramova's client software and then strike deals with any number of network providers, including iPass even. Looking ahead, I wonder if iPass will struggle to sell in to carriers because they compete to some extent with the carriers. After all, iPass has great success selling its network to enterprises, the same folks that carriers also want to do deals with. Aramova, by staying out of service provider business, is free of that overhead.

I have not tested Aramova's software client yet. I have been testing the iPass client and have found it very usable and the network is by far the largest I've seen so far.

More of these "client wars" in the weeks ahead...