State Fair Park in Oklahoma City Upgrades to
802.11ac, Employs New Mobile App for Vendors and Visitors of its
200 Annual Events
Aruba Networks, an HP company, (NYSE: HPQ) today announced that
the 435 acre State Fair Park (SFP) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is
using Aruba’s Gigabit wireless infrastructure to bring high-speed
mobility to over two million visitors and vendors of the
approximately 200 events it manages each year.
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State Fair Park created the Oklahoma
State Fair mobile app with Aruba's Meridian Mobile Platform to help
visitors navigate the event. (Photo: Business Wire)
SFP is using a full suite of Aruba solutions including the
ClearPass Policy Management platform, which provides secure
authentication and onboarding of mobile devices for SFP’s
employees, vendors and guests, as well as the Meridian Mobile App
Platform for SFP’s new mobile app, launched in September of
2014.
SFP is a 21st Century tourism destination, best known for the
Oklahoma State Fair. It also acts as a Large Public Venue (LPV)
that hosts numerous events each week for a wide variety of vendors
and their visitors. SFP is a significant contributor to Oklahoma
City’s economy, generating more than $300 million in direct
spending for the city.
SFP’s previous infrastructure, which combined multiple,
disparate systems, wasn’t conducive to mobility and couldn’t keep
up with the needs of the organization. For internal operations, SFP
needed to allow employees to remain productive as they move
throughout the organization’s 435 acres and 28 structures. SFP also
needed reliable wireless connectivity to enable the ticket office
to scan tickets at the gates, allow food service operations to
conduct Point-of-Sales (PoS) transactions and connect guard shacks
for security operations. SFP’s event vendors and visitors were also
increasingly demanding reliable, high-speed wireless connectivity
and the organization’s previous system required visitors to walk to
the SFP offices to obtain an access code for the network, which was
both inefficient and inconvenient for the guests.
Working with partner, RFIP, Inc., of Oklahoma City, SFP
evaluated a number of solutions and ultimately, selected Aruba
Networks for a complete network upgrade. SFP deployed Aruba’s 220
Series indoor and 270 Series outdoor 802.11ac access points, the
7200 Series Mobility Controllers, Mobility Access Switches, AirWave
network management and the ClearPass Policy Management platform.
The organization also implemented Aruba’s Meridian Mobile App
platform to create the Oklahoma State Fair App, which gives
visitors State Fair Park information and enhanced capabilities
including navigation to direct them to areas of interest such as
concessions.
“With our new Aruba infrastructure, we now have reliable,
high-speed coverage across all of our buildings and a large portion
of our grounds and barn facilities,” said Jason Eddy, VP of
Information Technology for SFP. “Many of the issues we were having
went away, public usage of the network has increased and I rarely
get any support calls now.”
Eddy also noted that AirWave is critical for SFP’s one-person IT
department. “While we still have assistance from our partner, RFIP,
on the management front, I use AirWave for visibility into network
usage – to determine if there’s a load on the system, where and how
people are connecting and which devices are being used. I love the
visual RF and being able to quickly log in and see all of the APs
and how many devices are connecting to them, and to detect any
rogue APs. AirWave is really where I spend most of my time.”
ClearPass has also been a crucial tool for securely onboarding
and authenticating devices on the network and in particular,
allowing guests to connect without the inconvenience of obtaining a
login code from the SFP offices. The organization currently offers
different levels of access and different plans for vendors and
exhibitors who typically require access for substantial periods,
and for the public who typically just need access for a few
hours.
Future plans include better mobile engagement for visitors. SFP
recognizes the potential of its mobile app to provide visitors with
valuable information, and they are considering the addition of
Aruba Beacons to help deliver more location and contextual
information. They are also evaluating how the combination of
ClearPass, the Meridian Mobile App Platform and Beacons can allow
for advertising and push notifications, specifically as value-add
for their vendors.
“A good example of where we could utilize push notifications is
the Oklahoma City Home and Garden Show,” said Scott Munz, VP of
Marketing and Public Relations for SFP. “It’s managed by a national
company that does Home and Garden Shows across the country and has
hundreds of vendors. It would be great if one of their vendors
could push notifications out to visitors as they enter the specific
building where the vendor is located, offering 10 percent off all
purchases if they come in and buy within a specific timeframe.
That’s just one example of where we can take the mobile app now
that we have the Aruba infrastructure in place.”
In late Spring 2016, SFP also plans to open a new 290,000-square
foot Expo Center which will include just over 200,000 square feet
of contiguous floor space, as well as kitchen and catering
facilities, a lobby, box office and meeting rooms. According to
Munz, the new building will allow SFP to house a new level of
tradeshows and flat-floor shows. The building is already under
construction and SFP plans to expand their current Aruba network
into the new space.
“Ultimately, we want to provide a state-of-the-art experience at
State Fair Park,” said Munz. “To do that, we need to provide
specific amenities and meet certain expectations. The Aruba
infrastructure has definitely delivered the foundation we need to
accomplish this. By providing high quality Wi-Fi, ensuring secure
device onboarding and offering better engagement through the mobile
app, we’re well on our way to achieving our goals.”
About Aruba Networks, an HP company
Aruba Networks, an HP company, is a leading provider of
next-generation network access solutions for the mobile enterprise.
The company designs and delivers Mobility-Defined Networks that
empower IT departments and #GenMobile, a new generation of
tech-savvy users who rely on their mobile devices for every aspect
of work and personal communication. To create a mobility experience
that #GenMobile and IT can rely upon, Aruba Mobility-Defined
Networks™ automate infrastructure-wide performance optimization and
trigger security actions that used to require manual IT
intervention. The results are dramatically improved productivity
and lower operational costs.
To learn more, visit Aruba at http://www.arubanetworks.com. For
real-time news updates follow Aruba on Twitter and Facebook, and
for the latest technical discussions on mobility and Aruba products
visit Airheads Social at http://community.arubanetworks.com.
© 2015 Aruba Networks, an HP company. Aruba Networks’ trademarks
include Aruba Networks®, Aruba The Mobile Edge Company® (stylized),
Aruba Mobility-Defined Networks™, Aruba Mobility Management
System®, People Move Networks Must Follow®, Mobile Edge
Architecture®, RFProtect®, Green Island®, ETips®, ClientMatch®,
Virtual Intranet AccessTM, ClearPass Access Management SystemsTM,
Aruba InstantTM, ArubaOSTM, xSecTM, ServiceEdgeTM, Aruba ClearPass
Access Management SystemTM, AirmeshTM, AirWaveTM, Aruba CentralTM,
and ARUBA@WORKTM. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the
property of their respective owners.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150715005035/en/
Aruba Networks, an HP companyPavel Radda,
+1-408-419-0294Director of Corporate
Communicationspradda@arubanetworks.comorLSH Communications for
Aruba Networks, an HP companyLori Hultin,
+1-818-879-4651Principallhultin@arubanetworks.com
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