US : Digi International introduced the Digi Wi-Point 3G, a PC card based 3G cellular router with integrated Wi-Fi access point. It acts as a cellular-to-Wi-Fi hotspot and provides secure, high-speed Internet access to remote workgroups and devices. It works with more cellular PC data cards than any other cellular router, enabling Internet connectivity virtually anywhere a cellular signal is available.

SpaceDev, a developer of space technology systems, products and services, uses the Digi Wi-Point 3G to allow its engineers to send data back to company headquarters from remote rocket testing sites. Jon Martin, director of IT for SpaceDev comments: "We test rockets at least two miles from civilization, so we usually have no wired connectivity. The Digi Wi-Point 3G allowed us to set up an on an "on the fly" hotspot so our engineers could send data back to headquarters. It was simply plug-and-play, and we were up and going in 30 seconds. We tried both Sprint and Verizon cards and found that both worked instantly."

The Digi Wi-Point 3G supports more than 40 cellular PC data cards around the world, including PCMCIA and PCI Express cards (with appropriate adapter). It is a three-in-one router with integrated 802.11b/g Wi-Fi access point, 10/100 Ethernet and global cellular network access via virtually any carrier supplied PC data card. It is small and easy to deploy, and enables drop-in networking to devices that are hard to reach or do not have convenient access to wired connections.

"The Digi Wi-Point 3G allows remote sites and devices to wirelessly connect to the Internet or securely integrate into a corporate network - even if that remote device happens to be driving down the highway," said Larry Kraft, senior vice president of global sales and marketing, Digi International. "It is ideal for applications such as temporary networks, remote Wi-Fi hotspots, mobile/transportation deployments, disaster recovery, security and more."

The Digi Wi-Point 3G features enterprise class security, including IPsec VPN, WPA2 encryption and a full featured firewall. It also includes GPS support (with qualified PC cards), failover to dial-up modem and auto-detection of the cellular data card for seamless field upgradeability.

The Digi Wi-Point 3G is available now for $485 MSRP.