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Matthew D’Ambrosio is a Pittsburgh based growth investor. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a B.S. in Business and earned Business Honor Society awards along with many successful years of operating private businesses. He looks for investments he believes are selling for a... More
  • Get Connected with iPass, Inc. 0 comments
    May 10, 2009 11:17 PM | about stocks: IPAS

       How many times have you ever used a product and really didn’t understand how the technology inside that little gizmo of yours worked? For me, I think about things like that way too often, enough to drive me to research products, various technologies, and applications to answer these very questions. In doing so, I came upon a company called iPass, Inc. from California. Some of you might have heard of this wonderful, little tech company but I bet many people have not.   If you are not aware of iPass, I am convinced that you have used their technology to get you access to the internet. 

       iPass Company overview states “A variety of new mobile technologies allows employees to work when and where they are the most productive. However, individuals and departments often buy their own devices and wireless data service subscriptions, creating chaos for the IT department while increasing both costs and security risks for the company.”
     
       “That's where iPass comes in. iPass unifies mobility management for the global enterprise, making mobility simple and affordable by combining worldwide remote and mobile broadband access with comprehensive management control over connectivity, devices and costs. iPass customers benefit from a single global solution that reduces overall data connectivity expenses, easily integrates with existing systems and makes more efficient use of valuable IT management resources.”
       “iPass Mobile Office gives mobile employees a simple, secure way to connect around the world, while unifying control over connectivity, devices and costs. Employees get a single user experience in 160 countries using 3G mobile broadband, over 100,000 Wi-Fi hotspots, hotel Ethernet and other access methods. Companies get a one-stop shop for the combined management of mobile connections and devices as well as predictable flat-rate pricing.”
     
       In a recent press release issued by iPass on May 5th, iPass announced the first enterprise-configurable Wi-Fi hotspot solution for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch. The company also announced availability of new versions of its iPassConnect™ mobility manager software for devices running Apple Mac OS X and Nokia S60 operating systems. iPass provides the broadest support for smartphone devices in an enterprise mobility service. There are approximately 38 million smartphone units sold in Q408 – iPass today enables connectivity to platforms accounting for roughly 70% of this number. With already over 2,000,000 active iPass users you can see why getting connected to iPass might be a smart investment.
     
       Evan Kaplan, iPass president and CEO,states, “iPass is dedicated to helping our customers harness the power of the mobile internet in a simple, secure and cost-effective manner. Extending and improving our iPass Mobile Office service across consumer-driven enterprise platforms such as the iPhone, Nokia S60 and Mac OS X is critical to this effort. As web-friendly smartphones enter the business via employees' pockets, they are driving increased IT complexity. iPass will continue to be the answer for enterprises who want to cost-effectively serve the evolving needs of their mobile workforce."
     
    The benefits of using iPass' world-leading global Wi-Fi hotspot network on smartphones include:
    • Lower 3G charges: enterprises can offload megabytes from their user's 3G data plans, and avoid international roaming charges, without adding new user fees for a second device.**
    • Ease of use: users simply download the iPassConnect mobility manager software from the Internet, enter a company-specific code for a one-time configuration to corporate policies and connect to iPass hotspots using their existing corporate username and password.
    • An integrated enterprise solution: There is no up-front work required by IT to enable the service. IT Managers get detailed usage reporting and an integrated invoice from iPass covering all of a user's devices and usage methods.
    • Real-time and multimedia performance: Wi-Fi delivers higher throughput and lower latency than 3G, and is better able to support real-time applications such as Skype, videoconferencing and online collaboration.
    • Rural, indoors and in-flight coverage: 3G coverage often degrades or disappears as one leaves urban centers or head indoors. On flights, Wi-Fi is often the only data solution.
       In their latest financial results for 1Q09, Evan Kaplan said, "The economic downturn continued to impact our customers' business travel and adversely affected our revenues; however, we achieved positive operating cash flow and returned to non-GAAP profitability as a result of our restructuring in late February, additional cost re-engineering and an increase to gross margin."  Kaplan continued, “having seen easing in the back half of the first quarter due to the recession-driven travel downturn, we are cautiously optimistic about the remainder of 2009 and believe we can be both Non-GAAP profitable and operating cash flow positive for the full year."
     
       So, if you followed my past two investment ideas (APP: recommended on August 26, 2008 to buy in around 7-8 as my charts signaled APP to hit $10 – it did. SQM: re... on March 9, 2009 to get in around $24.50 – now $33.50), this stocks looks like it’s ready to breakout. iPass closed above its 200-day moving average on fairly good volume. However, I would like to see it push through for a few more days to be more confident – if possible. With the S&P trending towards its 200-day MA the market might and probably is due for a slight correction here. That being said, the stock technically and fundamentally looks very strong, so get connected with iPass. 
     
    Long IPAS; AAPL
    Stocks: IPAS
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