The America's Center Goes Wireless

The St. Louis Rams play there, and thousands upon thousands of conventioneers frequent it day in and day out, but something was missing at the America's Center: reliable wireless access. The sprawling St. Louis facility features more than 500,000 square feet of exhibit space in six halls, 83 meeting rooms, the 1,411-seat Ferrara Theatre, the St. Louis Executive Conference Center and the Edward Jones Dome, home of the Rams and major sporting events.

The America's Center was scheduled to host the NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four Championship this past April, with the request that wireless access be available to participants and the media during the event. So it turned to its network-services provider, Verizon Select Services, which recommended BlueSocket products, as well as a local solution provider for the implementation.

Clayton, Mo.-based River City Technology Group, which designs and builds wireless networks, was called in to implement BlueSocket's BlueSecure 2100 Controller for secure wireless access in the complex for conventions, meetings, trade shows and sporting events. The BlueSecure Controller provides high-performance, policy-based WLAN security and management solutions utilizing BlueSocket Secure Mobility technology for wireless data and voice applications.

The America's Center now has 10 industry-standard access points, with the option to offer free wireless access in some locations and password-secured access for others. The wireless access will be extended to the exhibit hall in the 2006/2007 time frame.