Ruckus Wireless 'Smart Wi-Fi' Wins First Place Finish at Sebring International Raceway

SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Ruckus Wireless™, the smart mobile networking company, today announced that Sebring International Raceway (Sebring) and its systems integrator, Vipernet have selected and deployed the Ruckus ZoneFlex 802.11n "Smart Wi-Fi" system to blanket the 350-acre property with high-performance, reliable Wi-Fi connectivity.

To cover the entire raceway with consistent 100 MBPS coverage -- indoors and out, including the club seating, media room, tower suites, paddocks, pit and other areas -- Vipernet installed 24 ZoneFlex 7762 dual-band outdoor 802.11n APs, eight ZoneFlex 2942 indoor APs and one ZoneDirector 3050 controller.

The Ruckus ZoneFlex system was chosen for Sebring's annual "12 Hours of Sebring" Endurance Race going on now. Hundreds of thousands of fans have converged at the central Florida race track for the four-day event, which includes time trials, celebrations and meet-and-greets with the race car drivers. The event culminates on March 20th in the 12-hour race.

The Ruckus system was selected over competitive offerings because of its comprehensive coverage, consistent performance and affordable price, according to Michelle Delaney, senior vice president at Sebring.  

"Our fans have been demanding wireless access at the raceway for quite some time," she said. "They want to use Wi-Fi to communicate with friends and family back home, share videos and photos through Facebook and Twitter and post other content online. Unfortunately, other solutions we looked at were cost-prohibitive and we were unable to deploy the technology needed to support such a high volume of usage – until now.

"With Ruckus, we can deliver a flawless online experience for thousands of people – even in a primarily outdoor area with lots of potential interference, which is no small feat.  Additionally, we'll be able to leverage the network for new technologies and revenue-generating applications over time," Delaney said.

Sebring Raceway, located in Sebring, Florida, is a 3.7-mile, 17-turn circuit. It is the oldest road course in North America, portions of which were originally a World War II air base. Today, it's home to two major racing schools, and also has its own hotel, the Four Points by Sheraton Chateau Elan.

The track is active 365 days a year with automotive testing, club events, racing schools, corporate events and other activities. The raceway's biggest event of the year is the "12 Hours of Sebring" race, part of the American LeMans Series, which occurs every March. This year's event is taking place March 17-20, 2010.

Speed, Reliability and Comprehensive Coverage Finish First

Prior to selecting Ruckus, Sebring did not have wireless broadband connectivity, according to Gary Patrick, president of Vipernet, the company responsible for installing the Ruckus network. "Other than hard-wired DSL for communications among the racing teams, there was no broadband network for spectators and other visitors," he said. "Not only is Wi-Fi needed for the fans, but there are hundreds of reporters on-site during the four-day event, and they need access to file their stories. This year things will be much different, and attendees will be pleasantly surprised."

In addition to meeting the demands of race fans for ubiquitous Wi-Fi access, Sebring also wanted to deploy a next-generation 802.11n wireless network to capture more revenue-generating opportunities, such as advertisements from event sponsors on network login pages, explained Delaney. "We planned to generate more revenue by charging fans a nominal fee for broadband access.  We also realized we could leverage the Wi-Fi network to create more visibility for our sponsors and advertisers, thus incurring further income for the additional placements," she said.

Delaney said that Vipernet is also installing wireless cameras that will stream live video coverage from the "party zone" and the start and finish line on the track for the four-day race event.

Because most of the implementation is outdoors, Patrick and his team were tasked with providing a system that could perform well in a broad area subject to high levels of interference, support thousands of users and that didn't come with a high price tag. "At the big '12 Hours of Sebring' event, there are lots of vehicles and large objects everywhere – vendor concession stands, food tents, big rigs, RVs and race cars. All of this in a big outdoor area can cause major problems for Wi-Fi performance.

"We looked at the cost and performance of Ruckus and other competing systems," said Patrick. "Ultimately with Ruckus, we could blanket the area with half the number of access points (APs), at half the cost while delivering solid, consistent performance, even in a large interference-prone environment."

Patrick also said that the Ruckus system took many days fewer to install than would have been required by the other products considered.

Sebring is also utilizing Ruckus smart wireless meshing technology so that APs can be placed in areas where Ethernet cabling is not available – of particular benefit in an outdoor deployment. The network is configured with multiple SSIDs – a network for the racing teams, a public network, and individual networks for different applications such as wireless cameras for live video streaming.

The Ruckus ZoneFlex is an adaptive WLAN system built with Ruckus' patented dynamic beamforming, a new, innovative Wi-Fi technology that constantly forms and directs Wi-Fi signals over the best performing signal path, continually steering signals around obstacles and interference that can degrade performance. Dynamic beamforming uses constant feedback from the client to ensure that the path selected is performing properly using standard acknowledgements built into the standard 802.11 protocol.  The result is a WLAN system that provides better performance and longer range, and automatically adapts to environmental changes – like those prevalent at Sebring Raceway and other outdoor facilities – without IT staff having to perform any manual tuning.

"With the next-generation Wi-Fi network we now have in place, we're able to provide our race fans a richer experience at the event that they can easily share first-hand with loved ones who are miles away," said Delaney. "Not only will attendees benefit from this powerful technology; it will drive more business for Sebring and help us maintain the legacy we've always had as a world-class race track that attracts auto racing enthusiasts from all corners of the globe."

About Ruckus Wireless, Inc.

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Ruckus Wireless is supplier of advanced wireless systems for the mobile Internetworking market. The company markets and manufactures a wide range of indoor and outdoor "Smart Wi-Fi" products for mobile operators, broadband service providers and corporate enterprises around the world. Ranked as the top telecom company in the 2009 Inc. Magazine 500 list and named a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, Ruckus Wireless has realized dramatic growth. Since 2006, revenue and shipments have grown by over 1000 percent. Ruckus invented, and has patented, innovative state-of-the-art wireless technology that steers signals around obstacles and interference. This unique capability extends signal range and ensures consistent reliable distribution of delay-sensitive multimedia content and services over standard 802.11 Wi-Fi. The company has shipped over 2 million Smart Wi-Fi systems around the world and has raised $51 million in funding from premier investors such as Sequoia Capital, Focus Ventures, Sutter Hill, Motorola, T-Ventures, Telus Ventures and Firelake Capital. The company is led by Ms. Selina Lo, president and chief executive officer. For more information, visit Ruckus Wireless at http://www.ruckuswireless.com.

About Vipernet, Inc.

Founded in 2000, Vipernet Inc. is a subsidiary of Hotel Internet Services (HIS).  HIS and Vipernet are a leading provider of secure wired and wireless Internet services, 24x7 guest support and monitoring services, unattended business centers, kiosks and meeting & convention services for hotels, resorts, timeshares, casinos, sport facilities, and other venues.  Over 150,000 business and leisure travelers use HIS and Vipernet Internet services each month.  More information can be found at www.hotelwifi.com or www.vipernetwork.com .

SOURCE Ruckus Wireless

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