Wi-Fi – Page 87

Atlanta Hawks, Philips Arena sign with Boingo for DAS and stadium Wi-Fi

May 21, 2014 by Paul Kapustka

Boingo Wireless continued its deal-winning streak by signing up another NBA stadium for Wi-Fi and DAS services, this time the Atlanta Hawks and Philips Arena. One of just six NBA facilities that didn’t yet have Wi-Fi, the 18,118-seat Philips will now have fan-facing Wi-Fi by the start of the next NBA season, according to a press release from Boingo.

We’ll follow up with the Boingo and Philips folks to get some more in-depth information (and maybe to find out why Philips hadn’t had Wi-Fi before now) but the deal is another in a recent string of contract wins for Boingo, the provider formerly known mainly for its Wi-Fi services in airports. A DAS deployment at Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake City, a Wi-Fi and DAS deal for the Air Force Academy, and a Wi-Fi and DAS deal for the University of Houston are all recent Boingo wins, showing that the company is serious about becoming a player in stadium wireless services.

Filed Under: Atlanta Hawks, Basketball, DAS, NBA, Wi-Fi Tagged With: Atlanta Hawks, Boingo Wireless, DAS, Mobile Sports Report, NBA, Paul Kapustka, Philips Arena, Stadium Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi

Indianapolis Speedway adds Verizon DAS

May 19, 2014 by Paul Kapustka

Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the Indy 500. Credit all photos: IMS Photo.

It’s still a work in progress, but Verizon Wireless customers who attend this year’s Indianapolis 500 race should see improved cellular communications, thanks to a DAS buildout currently underway.

According to Rhonda Winter, CIO for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Verizon was recently selected to build a neutral-host DAS which will add more than 200 internal and external antennas to the speedway’s main stands and buildings. While other carriers are slated to join the DAS in the future, only Verizon will be on the infrastructure this year. According to Verizon, it will also have two COLTs (cell on light trucks) mobile units at this year’s race, to improve coverage in far-flung areas like the fields of parking that are necessary to host the 250,000 fans who may show up to watch the May 25 event.

Verizon antennas atop Indianapolis Motor Speedway scoreboard.

Winter, who responded to questions via email, said Verizon offered “the best solution” when it came to picking a DAS host. The spread-out nature of the huge, 2.5-mile track makes Indy a fairly unique situation when it comes to wireless coverage. Added to the spacing requirements, Winter also noted that the track’s network sees a huge and sudden surge when fans arrive for race day. Among some of the experiments Winter and her staff are trying are some selected uses of public Wi-Fi, this year at special pre-race concert events and also in the VIP areas.

“Coverage and capacity on our busy race days continues to be a challenge that we are working to improve,” Winter wrote.

With the added capacity, Verizon customers should have no problems accessing the Verizon IndyCar Series INDYCAR 14 mobile app, which for Verizon customers only offers live features that include driver and pit crew audio, race radio broadcast coverage, as well as a track map. Winter said there is also an Indianapolis Motor Speedway app called Brickyard Mobile, which is the digital version of the track’s guest guide.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, DAS, Indy 500, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi Tagged With: COLTs, DAS, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indy 500, IndyCar Racing, Mobile Sports Report, Paul Kapustka, Stadium Wi-Fi, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi

Guest Post: How CrowdOptic is helping the Indiana Pacers and the NBA use Google Glass

May 18, 2014 by Paul Kapustka

Editor’s note: The following post is by Jon Fisher, CEO of CrowdOptic, the San Francisco company whose technology is helping bring Google Glass views to NBA arenas. While there’s been a lot of talk about how this is happening Fisher explains the deployment in some more detail here. The feature is being used at Bankers Life Fieldhouse for today’s opening game in the Eastern Conference Finals.

By Jon Fisher, CrowdOptic

The Pacers deployed Google Glass in real time powered by CrowdOptic in every home game since it first launched against the Miami Heat on March 26, and are deploying against Miami Sunday and through the playoffs.

Former Pacer Rik Smits with Google Glass at Sunday’s game.

The solution is a package of 11 Glass devices positioned at court level — worn by a variety of Pacers employees and fans (including celebrities) to contribute immersive points of view of the action. These views are seen on the arena’s Jumbotron and have included scenes like the referees deliberating from the point of view of the game announcer right in front of them. The Pacers run this solution completely on their own logistically; they hand out Glass units and the CrowdOptic software runs on a server and laptops with dashboards in the AV room and truck.

Closer images than anything else

With the Google Glass experience, fans see faces and lips move from a more immersive perspective than a traditional broadcast camera allows. And Glass isn’t simply a GoPro-like camera in these situations (Glass is a computer) as the Pacers can text through the Glass interface telling the Glass wearers when they’re broadcasting live and/or to look in a different direction if necessary to capture a desired angle using a GUI / radar interface. The Glass wearers can dynamically change their broadcasting quality (bit rate) to conserve battery life. And the Pacers just announced the capability that anyone wearing Glass in-stadium will be able to zoom into these POVs on demand and even the POVs of the Pacers’ own stadium cameras.

Jeff Van Gundy looks very Evil Empire with Google Glass on.

This is possible using CrowdOptic technology (including U.S. Patent 8,527,340) to understand when and where the Glass units are aimed in common so inferior views of the action can be discarded for quality thereby translating the noise from the 11 Glass units into manageable broadcast streams algorithmically. Glass units aimed in the same direction can also be merged using the same technology, enabling one wearer to inherit the view of another authorized wearer.

It’s this zoom capability that the Pacers announced yesterday that we think completely changes the game. Finally, CrowdOptic is the only company currently capable of broadcasting from multiple Glass units in high density simply because we were focusing on this difficult problem early. We convert the Glass Wi-Fi signal from 2.4 to 5.0 GHz frequencies, we have optimized our code for large live events and are integrated with Wi-Fi deployers SignalShare and soon Extreme Networks, and we even have a WiMAX solution.

Jon Fisher, CEO of CrowdOptic, is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, inventor, author and economic analyst. Earlier he co-founded and was CEO of Bharosa, an Oracle Corporation company, which produced the Oracle Adaptive Access Manager. Fisheris a named inventor on six U.S. and eight foreign patents, and three U.S. and 17 foreign patents pending. Fisher is a recipient of the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur Of The Year award.

Filed Under: Basketball, Google, GoPro, NBA, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Video Streaming Tagged With: CrowdOptic, Google Glass, Indiana Pacers, Jon Fisher, Miami Heat, Mobile Sports Report, NBA, Paul Kapustka, Stadium Wi-Fi

Niners’ new network team loses its CTO

May 16, 2014 by Paul Kapustka

Kunal Malik, once a very public spokesperson for the new network being built at Levi’s Stadium, is no longer the chief technology officer for the San Francisco 49ers, according to team executives and Malik’s own LinkedIn profile.

Once the former director of IT at Facebook, Malik was seen as one of the masterminds behind the wireless network being put in at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, which is scheduled to open later this year. In public speaking appearances as well as in a long article in Ars Technica last year, Malik talked often about the team’s desire to build the best stadium wireless network, and how the team was adamant about providing robust Wi-Fi services to every seat in the 68,500-seat stadium.

Now that job will be finished without Malik, whose LinkedIn profile leads off with the line “Former Chief Technology Officer, 49ers.” Malik did not respond to emails or phone messages inquiring about his departure, which apparently happened sometime last month.

Niners vice president for technology Dan Williams, who followed Malik over to the Niners from Facebook, confirmed via email that Malik was no longer the team’s CTO. When asked if Malik’s departure could threaten the network’s buildout, Williams said that Malik had been primarily concerned with the applications to be used at the stadium, while Williams was in charge of network deployment.

“Kunal leaving has little to no impact on the project,” Williams said in an email.

Filed Under: Apps, DAS, NFL, Wi-Fi Tagged With: Aruba, Comcast, Dan Williams, DAS Group Professionals, Kunal Malik, Levi's Stadium, Mobile Sports Report, NFL, Paul Kapustka, San Francisco 49ers, Santa Clara, Stadium Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi

Stadium Tech Report: Utah Jazz, Boingo Wireless bring DAS to Energy Solutions Arena

May 8, 2014 by Paul Kapustka

Energy Solutions Arena. Credit, all photos: Utah Jazz

With a big new video board added this year, the Energy Solutions Arena had taken a signficant step toward improving the experience for fans at Utah Jazz basketball games. But when those fans went to look at the small screens in their hands, they often experienced frustration.

“It’s really important to our fans to be able to text or post something to Facebook,” said Jamie Galileo, vice president for facilities at the Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah. But without Wi-Fi or a modern distributed antenna system (DAS) in the building, sometimes fans were left disconnected.

“Even our employees were able to watch the [cellular] service degrade quite sharply during games,” Galileo said. Next year, that shouldn’t be a problem thanks to the new neutral-host DAS currently being installed at Energy Solutions Arena by Boingo Wireless. With the ability to support all major carriers and their new 4G LTE technology, the new DAS should significantly improve connectivity at Jazz games and other events inside the 19,911-seat arena.

DAS first, Wi-Fi maybe later

Opened in 1991 (known then as the Delta Center), the Jazz’s home is one of the few NBA arenas without advanced wireless connectivity. One of only six NBA arenas without fan-facing Wi-Fi, Energy Solutions Arena is still studying Wi-Fi deployment, Galileo said.

Jamie Galileo

Wi-Fi is still “something to look at,” Galileo said. “We want to first get past [installing] the DAS, and see what that does for the fan base.”

Through this past NBA season, fans at the arena had limited enhanced connectivity. According to Galileo, the building only had small DAS-style infrastructures for Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile customers, and an older system for AT&T customers that was installed prior to the 2002 Winter Olympics, when the arena was used for figure skating and short-track speed skating competition.

“There was some legacy DAS equipment [in the building],” Galileo said. “But you wouldn’t consider it a DAS by today’s technology.”

Neutral host was key

After what Galileo called an extensive RFP and review, Boingo Wireless was chosen for the DAS deployment, which is scheduled to be ready for the start of the next NBA season, beginning in the fall. According to Galileo, Boingo’s ability to be a neutral host was extremely attractive to Energy Solutions Arena.

“Neutral was the key word,” Galileo said. “We did not want to have every carrier have its own antennas. One set of antennas is much easier to blend in.”

Inside shot of Energy Solutions Arena, with big new video board

Doug Lodder, vice president of business development at Boingo Wireless, said Energy Solutions Arena has good cabling runs, which should make deployment of the DAS a fairly straightforward task.

“The bowl is always challenging,” said Lodder, who added that Energy Solutions Arena’s somewhat vertical shape of its main seating area might mean a little extra deployment work for Boingo engineers. And while no major carriers have yet signed deals to be on the DAS, Lodder is confident that most will want to have a presence in the building and will sign on before the Jazz start playing again.

“The demand is very high to be in a tier 1 NBA building,” Lodder said.

Galileo said that the arena has plenty of room for the DAS head end equipment, a space requirement that is sometimes challenging for older structures.

“We are on 3.5 acres of a 10-acre site,” Galileo said, “so we have some auxiliary areas. We won’t have to build out additional [head end] space.”

Between Jazz games and other events, Galileo said that Energy Solutions Arena typically has guests in the building 100 times a year. It is also a regular host to NCAA basketball tournaments, and Galileo said the new connectivity should help with future bids.

“It doesn’t hurt to have a DAS,” he said.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, Basketball, DAS, MSR Guides, NBA, Verizon Wireless, Wi-Fi Tagged With: 4G LTE, AT&T, Boingo Wireless, DAS, Energy Solutions Arena, Mobile Sports Report, NBA, Paul Kapustka, Salt Lake City, stadium DAS, Stadium Wi-Fi, Utah Jazz, Verizon Wireless

Niners looking to hire ‘app experience specialists’ to help fans connect at Levi’s Stadium

May 7, 2014 by Paul Kapustka

According to a help wanted notice posted on the Levi’s Stadium website, the facility is looking to hire “app experience specialists” to help fans at San Francisco 49ers games better negotiate the new mobile app for the new stadium. The bonus is, you’ll be able to get paid to go to Niners games and other events at the new 68,000-seat facility in Santa Clara, Calif. The drawback? You’ll only be paid $13 an hour to help beer-soaked fans trying to negotiate their smartphones or tablets while at the game.

Though we haven’t talked to anyone at Levi’s or with the Niners about the job, we are guessing the “app experience specialists” will perform duties similar to those done by the Wi-Fi coaches who were at stadiums with Extreme Networks Wi-Fi deployments last year. The “coaches,” dressed in readily identifiable uniforms, simply wander around the stadium and help people find their way to apps and Wi-Fi services, a sometimes confusing process if you’ve never tried it before.

Wi-Fi coach in the stands at Gillette Stadium. Credit: Extreme Networks

Though almost every mobile device has the ability to connect via Wi-Fi, many people don’t know how to fine-tune their settings to make it work well in a stadium situation. And team apps can be packed with confusing or unclear navigation, so having ambassadors on hand should help the Niners help their fans.

According to the ad on the website, Levi’s is looking for applicants with “excellent people skills and a knack for problem solving,” and “a service-oriented approach in all interactions with guests, corporate partners, and fellow team members.” Also desirable are a “strong technical proficiency and enthusiasm for cutting-edge mobile technology,” and perhaps most important, an “ability to maintain composure and customer focus while troubleshooting and solving technical issues,” leaving out the part about having to deal with overserved, overzealous fans. Good luck!

Filed Under: Apps, NFL, Wi-Fi Tagged With: Levi's Stadium, Mobile apps, Mobile Sports Report, Paul Kapustka, San Francisco 49ers, stadium apps, Stadium Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi