Goodwood hosts a number of high profile sporting and cultural events, including the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Goodwood Revival (14–16 Sept) and Glorious Goodwood attracting both the consumer and corporate hospitality. The Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi equipment is being used throughout the estate. This includes The Goodwood Hotel, the motor circuit and racecourse, and Goodwood House itself.
Etherlive will install and operate the Wi-Fi network using advanced 802.11n Wi-Fi products from Ruckus developed specifically for high-traffic environments. The Ruckus products uniquely integrate patented technology that adapts Wi-Fi signals to changing environmental conditions –“steering” them over faster, less noisy radio frequencies.
The network will allow those attending the event reliable access to social media through a network splash page which asks for their email in return providing Goodwood with a contact list of all those who use the service. The deployment is also designed to be commercially practical, enabling the use of Wi-Fi chip & pin terminals for transactions and the management of networked pay-gates.
Major sponsors and corporate exhibitors use the reliable wireless network to communicate with head offices to process high value transactions and complete customer surveys using tablets and other mobile devices.
Up to 40 Ruckus Wireless access points have been deployed to cover a range of locations across the estate. Indoor sections of the estate have been equipped with Ruckus ZoneFlex 7962 dual-band 802.11n enterprise-class access points. The provision of the outdoor Wi-Fi network will be supported by a mixture of both ZoneFlex 7762, concurrent dual-band (2.4/ 5Ghz) 802.11n access points and ZoneFlex 7731’s, which are based on the 802.11n standard and operate within the 5GHz band.
Ann Stupple, IT Director at Goodwood, said: “We have continued to work with Etherlive because of its technical expertise and experience in the provision of Wi-Fi to live outdoor events and large venues. The deployment of their extension to our core network has enabled us to implement a large scale Wi-Fi network that will meet the needs of our corporate and consumer customers, as well as improve internal communications.”
“At Ruckus, we pride ourselves on delivering top quality Wi-Fi technology that can be tailored to suit a project of any size or complexity. We are delighted at being selected to provide smarter Wi-Fi gear to support hospitality and live sporting events at the world famous Goodwood Estate, but this is a clear indication that conventional Wi-Fi isn’t enough to support the new demands facing the telecoms industry,” said Selina Lo, president and CEO of Ruckus Wireless.