Wireless connectivity is quickly becoming an essential element of our daily lives, used as a way to remain connected to our Web browser of choice from nearly anywhere on any gadget and at anytime. At a recent Nets game I attended at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., I loved the fact that I was able to update my not-so-lucky friends on who was winning the close game with rivals the Chicago Bulls through my wireless connection. However, this is not always the case for fans throughout the country.
In a recent event created to discuss this very topic coined On Deck Sports and Technology Conference, sports thought leaders from the NBA, NHL, NFL and MLS came together in the Big Apple (News - Alert) in order to put forth ideas for implementing wireless solutions into their facilities. According to Matt Higgins, CEO of RSE Ventures, a sports and entertainment venture capital firm, “Right now we're not meeting the fans’ expectations. In most venues, you can't even send a text message. Fans expect to be able to interact with content in venue as they do at home.”
So who is to blame for these less-than-adequate connections? The people who created the sports centers, those in managerial positions who have yet to realize the important of giving sports enthusiasts a reliable way to gain access to the Internet, or the large price tag (News - Alert)? A little of all three. However, to overcome these issues the responsibility of powering wireless connectivity should not fall on individual teams. Instead, big leagues with tons of available capital must in unison realize that wireless connectivity is now needed and should be up and running right away.
“[The leagues] should bring everyone together and make the investment,” Higgins added. “A team can't come up with the ROI on that investment. In the venues that are aggressive, like we are in Miami, we have 1,200 Wi-Fi access points. But it's expensive.”
Always ahead of all sorts of trends, when New York City’s very own Madison Square Garden realized it was high time to go wireless, next-generation products were exactly what was needed to do the job. In fact, the stadium began to leverage a high density network that is powered by Cisco (News - Alert) and referred to as “Cisco Connected Stadiums.” And that is exactly what I benefited from while watching the Nets and Bulls put everything they had into winning their recent game in Brooklyn, with the Nets ultimately being crowned the winning team.
Technology in every industry nowadays is no longer considered optional, rather it is now looked upon as mandatory. HUBER+SUHNER is touted as a world-class wireless connectivity supplier and continues to form alliances with firms throughout the globe. Recently when SFR (News - Alert), a company boasting nearly 21 million mobile customers, wanted to transition to a 4G infrastructure, it began to utilize a the wireless connectivity provider’s fiber and power cabling family that includes a variety of cabling and connection options for remote radio head installations, Marc Delmotte at HUBER+SUHNER France revealed that all initial SFR installations will use MASTERLINE Classic with separate multi-fiber and multiwire cables.
THE MASTERLINE suite is made up of extreme hybrid products that are “tailored for mobile operators who do not have [their] own tower infrastructure but rent the majority of their tower cell site. The hybrid solution minimizes the annually recurring rental fee at the one-time cost of a more expensive and complex cable infrastructure,” company officials stated.
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Edited by Rachel Ramsey