Public wi-fi for Visa's London office

Visa has launched a wireless network in its London office to allow both workers and visitors to get online.

Employees, contractors, customers and guests will all be able to log onto the net within the office, the headquarters for its Central Europe Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) business, for free under a new voucher-based scheme.

Andrew Vorster, head of technology services for Visa CEMEA, said his workforce is nomadic and takes it for granted they can get connected wherever they are.

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Previously the lack of internet access at the office was inconvenient to visitors and some employees had resorted to hosting meetings in the local coffee shop, where everyone could get wireless net access, Vorster said.

He said the new wireless network was like "bringing the coffee shop inside the office".

Vorster said until now, deploying wi-fi in Visa offices was unthinkable because they could not risk the security implications.

But because the new wireless traffic is kept completely separate from Visa's corporate network - it is hosted by Sirocom and The Cloud - the initial fears about security and user liability were quashed.

The wireless network has been live in Visa's offices for three months now and allows 50 users to log in via a voucher system.

The voucher allows the user to choose how long they would like to connect - either 60 minutes, for a meeting, or three months, while doing contract work. A username and password, available from the Visa office reception, are also needed to log on.

Vorster said the deployment of the wireless network infrastructure went smoothly and coverage is excellent. Initial costs to deploy and host the 50-user-strong system for one year are estimated at £18,000.

The wi-fi network is provided by Sirocom and The Cloud. Richard Neale, Siroconnect project manager, said Visa's wireless workplace has sparked interest from other banks and insurance companies.