Case Study: Wisconsin Center Quadruples Wi-Fi Network Device Capacity
The Wisconsin Center, the site of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, hosts hundreds of events each year, including corporate conventions, Anime gatherings, large-scale sports competitions, religious events, celebrations, ceremonies, and everything in between – oftentimes simultaneously. With nearly 500,000 guests annually and conferences becoming increasingly reliant on wireless internet, the Wisconsin Center needed reliable and secure network connectivity to provide its visitors and customers with the best possible experience.
According to Network Administrator Sean Colburn, he was happy to find access points from Extreme Networks when he first joined the team at Wisconsin Center, but he knew there was still a lot of work to be done to help ensure seamless connectivity for the guests, and greater insights and analytics for the IT team. To meet these goals, the Wisconsin Center deployed ExtremeCloud IQ network management platform and added high-density Wi-Fi 6 access points throughout its meeting rooms, ballrooms, and exposition center, as well as in its sister venue, the Miller High Life Theatre. The Wisconsin Center District currently has 278 access points across the campus with 48 cross-campus switches. This includes the Wisconsin Center, Miller High Life Theatre, and the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. This new generation of Wi-Fi has nearly quadrupled the capacity for more devices than the previous generation, making it perfect for large public venues with high traffic and connectivity-intensive devices.
"Our venue requires a reliable Wi-Fi network that is both flexible enough to work for every event and every unique need, and secure enough to allow simultaneous public and private access. The flexibility and security we've experienced with this network upgrade gives us an unprecedented view of how event attendees are interacting with the network,” Colburn said.
By investing in cloud management technology that can manage all network infrastructure and devices from a centralized place, the Wisconsin Center can offer its clients access to data and analytics that they would never find in other buildings. For instance, the IT staff at the Wisconsin Center can see how apps are behaving in relation to the network and use this to improve event-specific apps, even mid-event. This happened in 2019, when a conference client released a polling app for attendees that wasn't performing as planned. The cloud management technology provided the data necessary for the Wisconsin Center to sit down and work with the client to improve the API, ensuring flawless performance for the rest of the event. This experience eased the Wisconsin Center team's stress when planning for the DNC's pre- and post-convention events.
These tools and functions are available to all clients because the Wisconsin Center IT staff is in charge of the platform — meaning whether it’s the DNC or an Anime gathering, those event organizers can take advantage of tech-driven insights. It’s easy for the administrators to access this data, making it available for the clients to leverage for their specific needs. This access to real-time analytics sets the Wisconsin Center apart from the competition.
Perhaps more importantly, the IT team at the Wisconsin Center leveraged the network upgrade to turn what used to be a cost center into a profitable part of a business. They did so by offering "pay as you go" Wi-Fi as well as breaking out a separate Wi-Fi tier for event organizers that want to secure guaranteed bandwidth for their events.
The Wisconsin Center upgraded many additional applications early in 2020 before COVID-19 hit. But due to a lack of public events in 2020, they have not yet had the chance to fully realize the potential ROI. However, they are already starting to see major savings in personnel hours. Since the Wisconsin Center has to routinely set up and tear down large corporate networks within their campus on a weekly-basis, depending on the frequency of events, the different Wi-Fi profiles help build efficiencies over time, freeing up their IT teams to focus on higher-value tasks like providing the best possible guest experience.