The Hamburg Sports Club (HSC), one of Germany's oldest and most successful football clubs, has deployed a 802.11n wireless LAN (WLAN) system from Ruckus Wireless in its football stadium, HSH Nordbank Arena.
"We aim to provide our customers and visitors with optimum comfort at the stadium," saod Heiko Möller, head of the HSC's arena and events management. "These days, this also includes providing wireless internet access."
To this end, the HSC recently decided to wirelessly network the playing field, the access area, all the conference rooms, all the press boxes, and the press area by means of an 802.11n WLAN. Additionally, this WLAN is used for internal communications between management and house automation.
The HSC was referred to Ruckus Wireless and its dynamic beamforming technology after a recommendation by its long-standing sponsor, Deutsche Telekom.
"Dynamic beamforming provides the infrastructure for a reliable wireless network with relatively few access points and high bandwidth in large areas with many physical obstructions. This technology is not available from any other provider. Reliability as well as the price-performance ratio is also attractive," explained Möller.
Ruckus Wireless identified where the 24 ZoneFlex 7692 dual band 802.11n access points (APs) and seven ZoneFlex 7762 outdoor APs had to be located to ensure optimum coverage. AP's behind the goals are installed to support the photographers for image transfer directly from their Wi-Fi enabled cameras back to the newsrooms. In less than one day, Ruckus APs were installed by the HSC's IT department.
The installation passed its practical test during the first home game of the 2009 season. Since then, visitors in the VIP boxes and the conference area, as well as the journalists in the press centre and on the sidelines, have been using the broadband WLAN.
"Visitors now have T-Mobile HotSpot access during the game," says Ekkehard Barth, from Deutsche Telekom AG. "Based on our excellent experience with the Ruckus products that we had used in the past, we were confident that Ruckus Wireless could ensure the reliability of our HotSpot service in the challenging environment of a football stadium with thousands of spectators."
"The fast wireless internet access has considerably improved the working conditions for the members of the press, in particular. It has also made life easier for organisers and participants in other events. For example, speakers can now download presentations directly from the internet or show web content," continued a satisfied Möller.
The HSC now plans to extend its WLAN coverage for the final game of the UEFA Europa League, which will be held at the HSH Nordbank Arena on May 12, 2010.