HONG KONG, Dec 8, 2004 -- PatronSoft, the developer of FirstSpot(TM) Wi-Fi Hotspot Management software, announced today the immediate availability of the highly anticipated FirstSpot v3 final release.
FirstSpot v3 gives Wi-Fi Hotspot owners unprecedented control over their Wi-Fi Hotspots. As the most ambitious release ever produced by PatronSoft, there are numerous enhancements over v2. Before the final release was ready, beta versions of FirstSpot v3 had already been purchased and deployed around the world. What's more, FirstSpot was recently awarded a 5-star rating by PCWorld Magazine, a recognition of FirstSpot functionalities leadership and flexibility in managing Hotspots.
As an effort to lower the initial investment for smaller scale Hotspots, PatronSoft simultaneously announced the new FirstSpot Start Edition 3.x. Priced at only US$95 per server, FirstSpot Start Edition provides an excellent "start small" path for many hotspots owners. Visit
Some of the notable v3 new features are:
1) Administration enhancement
- Client pass-through - allows device with certain MAC address to pass-through without login
- DHCP Excluded IP - FirstSpot DHCP Server has the ability to exclude certain IP addresses when delivering IP
- RADIUS Authentication Mode - apart from using ODBC to store username information, FirstSpot now supports Microsoft IAS and Funk RADIUS server
- Data Transfer tracking and Quota System - tracks data transfer usage for specific username and suspends its account when the quota is exceeded.
- Hour-pass/day-pass - supports for hour-pass/day-pass minutes tracking model (in additional to the v2 access minutes model)
- Operator accounts - FirstSpot administrators can now define operator accounts with different access levels
2) End users experience improvement
- Client Isolation - prevents client PCs from seeing one another in My Network Places or Network Neighborhood
- Anonymous mode with shared secret - you can now ask end users to enter a shared secret before accessing the Internet
- Configurable Instant Keywords - define your own browser keywords for custom actions
- Credit cards - in additional to PayPal, we now support WorldPay payment gateway
About PatronSoft
PatronSoft is a fast-growing Wi-Fi hotspot management software company. FirstSpot, its flagship product, is the only Windows-based wireless gateway software deployed in more than 35 countries. For further information on FirstSpot, please visit