User Needs

Today’s Internet access users have constantly evolving needs,
which are being driven by the rapid commercialization of emerging
technologies.

Internet Use Growing Rapidly
Over the past decade, Internet use has exploded. Today, the
travelling public has compelling business and personal needs for
needing frequent Internet access while away from home or the
office. Such reasons include sending and receiving email;
accessing and searching Company databases and Internet web
sites; sending, receiving and editing sales presentations and other
documents; video conferencing; on-line banking; on-line stock
quotes and research; buying and selling stocks; on-line shopping;
etc. And, the travelling public expect the same high-speed,
broadband Internet access as they are used to at home and at work.

High Speed Internet Access is Surging
Around the world, market acceptance and growth in high speed,
broadband Internet access is surging. Many users with slower “dial-
up” access are converting to broadband.  In the US, by 2005, there
will be an estimated 36 million residential broadband access
subscribers, exceeding the number of dial-up subscribers for the
first time. Many of these subscribers will be users that will have
converted over from slower “dial-up” access to broadband access
provided by high-speed digital subscriber lines (“DSL) or cable
Internet access. These impending market changes are affecting all
industry players, large and small. Microsoft Corp.’s Internet services
business, MSN, recently announced that it was shifting its focus
from dial-up to the fast growing, broadband Internet access market.

Dial-up Access Limits Productivity
Dial-up access is just too slow for many of today’s applications, and
especially for business travellers given its limitations on productivity.
While technically possible, dial-up Internet access for business
travellers, handled by either logging onto a local “dial-up” ISP or by
using a long-distance telephone line connection, is simply not
practical for all but the most urgent needs.

Wi-Fi Acceptance Growing
A further interesting development in Internet access and use is the
recent emergence and rapid commercialization of wireless-fidelity
(“Wi-Fi”) technologies. This is a result of the adoption, worldwide, of
the IEEE 802.11 standards on wireless local area networks
(“wLANs”). The key drivers here are: Wi-Fi’s high-speed broadband
capabilities, the comparatively low cost (as compared to “current”
wired networks) to set-up and run Wi-Fi local area networks, the
rapid spread of inexpensive Wi-Fi cards and devices, and Wi-Fi’s
use of “free” radio telecommunications spectrum (i.e., there are no
licensing fees, unlike the cellular industry).

Business Travellers
The needs of today’s business travellers are not well served by
today’s “mass-market” Internet service providers (“ISPs”), which are
set-up to serve monthly subscribers whose Internet access is
always from the same physical “wired” location at their home or
office location. Nex is in the business of meeting the travelling
public’s transient, “public use” Internet access needs.