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Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi is a Clean Winner at Annual BNP Paribas Open Tennis Tournament in Indian Wells
Indian Wells Tennis Garden Provides “Flawless” Wireless Coverage, Including Live Streaming Video on New BNP Paribas Open Mobile App to As Many As 9,000 Concurrent Users Daily Over Two-Week Tournament
Indian Wells Tennis Garden is expecting about 420,000 for this year's event.
A new mobile app is "one of various technological improvements" at this year's BNP Paribas Open, along with "public Wi-Fi, charging stations and an expanded hawk-eye system for all matches," according to Xochitl Pena of the Palm Springs DESERT SUN. The tournament is "expected to attract about 420,000 people" to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden this year. The app, with "more than 42,000 downloads" thus far, "also made it necessary to have a public Wi-Fi system that could handle its usage." Palm Desert-based WestCoast Networking "installed" the system. The stadium "now has the capacity to accommodate 25,000 concurrent users, but so far is averaging between 6,000 and 9,000 Wi-Fi log ins daily." Tournament Dir Steve Simon "reports no complaints over the new system so far," and said that the staff has "only experienced one glitch when their 'UPS power supply' went out once, but only for about 5 to 10 minutes." Each of the new charging stations "has 24 nooks for people to hook in" their devices. The tournament also "brought a vendor on site -- PlusBlue Solutions -- to provide battery packs for purchase and rent." Specators can rent the battery packs for "$10 to $15 a day" or purchase them "for anywhere from $50 to $100." PlusBlue Founder & Managing Partner Mike Bagby on Monday said that they "had about 2,000 transactions which includes rentals and purchases" (Palm Springs DESERT SUN, 3/14).
The Indian Wells Tennis Garden broke records in 2014 with more than 430,000 tennis fans passing through the gates to watch the best tennis players in the world.
Thanks to Ruckus Wireless, Inc.
Rukus Wireless made sure fans located throughout the Tennis Garden, and on the massive 16,000 seat Stadium 1, as well as the brand new 8,000 seat Stadium 2 could get free Wi-Fi for the duration of the tournament.
It's the largest combined professional ATP World Tour and WTA event in the world, so it took some work.
"We were tasked with the responsibility of deploying a wireless network for the entire site—an internal system for verifying tournament participants' credentials, facilitating box office functions, and other internal infrastructure needs, in addition to a massive, public Wi-Fi system," offers up Mark McComas, vice president of WestCoast Networking. "The driving force behind this deployment was providing public Wi-Fi access that would enable patrons to easily access the BNP Paribas Open Mobile Application."
The set up had to be able to handle 2 terabytes of data at any given time during the tournament's run.
A comprehensive Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi network was installed and it actually is managed year-round to provide Wi-Fi access for all of the other events held at the Garden by WestCoast Networking of Palm Desert, CA. They are a managed service provider (MSP) and a Ruckus Big Dog channel partner.
How it worked:
Over 130 indoor and outdoor Ruckus ZoneFlex access points were installed throughout the Garden.
The outdoor APs, featured integrated antennas with patented BeamFlex technology for great performance in high-density, high-capacity areas.
A 4 GB fiber broadband connection was the backhaul for the system.
Even fans watching video coverage had a great experience.
"The biggest thing the BNP Paribas Open App provided was the live video coverage," continued McComas. "Within the App, there were four different BNP Paribas Open live video feeds that users could choose from—stadiums one, two, three and four—so for everyone within the Tennis Garden, they could watch any of the matches on these four courts streamed live via the BNP Paribas Open live video feeds, which was a first for any ATP World Tour/WTA event, so it was quite a milestone for the tennis world."
Rukus Wireless is setting that standard for Wi-Fi in stadiums. This year in Indian Well, they proved they could handle the load.
Nomadix Delivers World-Class Connectivity for Indian Wells Tennis Garden & BNP Paribas Open
Located in the heart of the Coachella Valley in the Southern California desert, the Indian Wells Tennis Garden is home to the annual BNP Paribas Open, often referred to as the “fifth Grand Slam” around the tennis industry. The 2024 BNP Paribas Open event drew record-breaking crowds, with over 490,000 in attendance over the two-week tournament. The state-of-the-art facility’s main court, Stadium 1, is the second-largest tennis stadium in the world.
490,000
Record-Breaking Attendees
400
Wireless Access Points Installed
28,500
Simultaneous Connections In A 5-Minute Window
THE CHALLENGE
Despite its high-tech reputation, when it came to connectivity, providing adequate bandwidth to guests was a major challenge. The massive crowds during the annual tournament quickly overwhelm local cellular service in the otherwise small community, putting immense pressure on the Indian Wells Tennis Garden’s on-premise Wi-Fi.
Heavy demand comes from multiple sources:
• guests with their usual messaging, social media, and live-streaming habits;
• cashless refreshment and merchandise point-of-sale systems across the venue;
• on-site media outlets broadcasting live coverage from the tournament;
• livestream broadcasting of on-court action as well as incoming live streams of events going on elsewhere for guests to watch while on the grounds; and
• the venue’s all-digital ticketing system.
The result is tens of thousands of simultaneous connections and significant traffic spikes, particularly during gate opening times and day-to-night ticket changeover. Because of the high and diverse demand, appropriate provisioning is a top priority to ensure a seamless experience for every user.
Between the venue’s main attraction, the BNP Paribas Open in March, and plenty of smaller events throughout the season, reputations are on the line and expectations are high. The Indian Wells Tennis Garden needed public gateways it could depend on to handle the load.
THE SOLUTION
Recognizing that its existing public Wi-Fi gateways were unable to meet performance expectations — plus it needed far too much on-site management — Indian Wells turned to WestCoast Networking, Inc. for a more robust, scalable solution with Nomadix Networks internet gateways.
“Nomadix stood out as the best choice due to its exceptional speed and expandability,” said Nick Messerschmidt, Senior Managed Service Network Engineer. “Unlike other systems, Nomadix offered reliable, high-performance connectivity that could effortlessly handle the heavy traffic and sudden spikes. Its scalability allowed us to efficiently manage varying crowd sizes without compromising on service quality. And its ease of management reduced the need for constant onsite technical support, making it a more efficient and cost-effective solution compared to other options.”
In preparation for the BNP Paribas Open, the WestCoast team installed 400 wireless access points across the 80-acre site, all of which relied on Nomadix Gateways on the back end. The system’s expandable and future-ready equipment provides the ability to add even more capacity when needed, and its secure traffic segmentation features provide added provisioning and peace of mind.
“We’re able to easily segment the vendors’ POS from individual users, for example, and isolate clients,” Messerschmidt said. “The gateway blocks malicious activity on the system, which bolsters security.”
The Nomadix Gateways also give network admins the ability to finetune end-user licensing and bandwidth allocation to maintain availability. For example, the Indian Wells team set up an automatic timeout, which cycles users off the network once they’ve gone idle for five minutes to dynamically free up bandwidth.
THE RESULTS
During the 2024 BNP Paribas Open’s middle weekend, the network served over 28,500 simultaneous users within a 5-minute window, nearly hitting maximum capacity on the busiest day, without a single hiccup.
“We saw a dramatic increase in performance, the number of connections, and connection speed with the Nomadix equipment, with minimal load on the infrastructure because of the bandwidth control at the gateway,” Messerschmidt said. “And that’s all with a physically smaller footprint in terms of appliances and racks than the previous solution.”
User feedback on the system has been overwhelmingly positive, with a near-flawless experience for users on all fronts.
“We’ve seen significant quantifiable improvements across the network,” said Philippe Dore, Chief Marketing Officer of the BNP Paribas Open. “Key elements of our event experience like the website and mobile app rely on Wi-Fi, and we were pleased to see a marked increase in reliability and performance.”
In addition to robust, reliable technology, Messerschmidt said the outstanding support provided by the Nomadix team throughout the installation and onboarding process was a strong differentiator. He praised the team, their expertise and dedication for ensuring a seamless setup, which significantly minimized downtime and potential complications.
“I would highly recommend the Nomadix solution. It is an incredibly effective system that, once set up, operates smoothly without constant micromanagement,” Messerschmidt said.
“The system has exceeded our expectations when handling high traffic volumes and providing a reliable user experience under heavy load. This makes it ideal for environments requiring robust and scalable connectivity.”
About Nomadix
Contact:
marketing@nomadix.com | nomadix.com
Bringing Connected Experiences to Life
Nomadix, an ASSA ABLOY company, brings connected experiences to life. For over 25 years, we have been a trusted vendor to the world’s largest brands, delivering powerful and personalized connectivity and digital engagement solutions designed with real people in mind. Providing the backbone of visitor-based networks and managed Wi-Fi to properties and venues of any size in over 150 countries, Nomadix enables companies to connect, manage and engage in ways that redefine their digital customer experiences, help them make better business decisions and increase customer lifetime value.