(For those new to the column, Forward Migration is our term for companies moving from Wintel machines to Macs — or at least adding or increasing the number of Macs they use. A Forward Migration Kit is an overview of Mac OS products for a particular occupation, such as photography, optometry, etc.)
Last Friday MacCentral told you about Axcess, which develops custom accounting and executive information systems, has expanded its custom database software design base to include satellite Internet services that are fully compatible with Mac and PC systems. However, there’s another company, Location Connect that’s been doing Mac compatible, satellite Internet access a while longer than Axcess, though they don’t have the on-board-aircraft solution of the latter.
Sorry, but Location Connect’s not targeted to general end users. Their primary business is, as the name implies, providing Internet connections “on location” in venues from convention centers to hotels to places that can only be described by longitude and latitude. The service, launched early in 2000, provides on-site Internet event support for the hi-tech, hotel and Hollywood communities.
Location Connect — which is equipped to handle such operating systems as the Mac, Windows, Linux, BeOS, and others — has helped with conventions, exhibits, trade shows, and presentations. They provide a full range of services, including: phone/fax networking and support; on-site cabling; video networking; and software support. For example, using their services lets Macs and PCs share files with “no strings attached,” according to company spokesperson Michele Em.
At the recent ShowBiz Expo trade show, the company showed its wireless set up being demonstrated with a variety of hardware and operating systems.
“Production people have their own laptops, and we connect them to the home office and the Internet,” Alex Pournelle, Location Connect’s VP for business development, said. “We let clients use their own computers, just as if they were back home-but without wires. Macs, PCs, desktops, laptops, Linux, BeOS; they can all be connected, with high speed and full security.”
Part of the in-booth demonstration at ShowBiz Expo involved a satellite radio transmitter/receiver, from San Diego-based Tachyon.Net. The satellite ground station, measuring about two foot square, was set up behind the main show floor.
“The Tachyon satellite system greatly increases our flexibility,” Pournelle said. “This well thought out, reliable, safe and easily set up system lets us get ‘bits on location’ with as little as an hour’s notice. For the fast-paced production market, this is a Godsend.”
The company users other technology besides wireless when appropriate, however. If clients need Internet service, if they need computers and phones, if they want to Webcast something, or if they need help streaming digital dailies from the lab to whatever they need, Location Connect is equipped for the job.
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