Aruba Networks Teams With YinzCam to Transform the Stadium Wi-Fi Fan Experience

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARUN) today announced that it is partnering with YinzCam, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, developer of mobile sports applications, to deliver an enhanced wireless stadium experience for the fans. With the combination of Aruba’s high-density, application-aware wireless LAN (WLAN) solution and YinzCam’s leading mobile sports applications, venue owners and their service provider partners can easily and cost-effectively give fans access to value-added applications like HD video instant replay, live camera angles, in-seat food and beverage ordering, contests, game statistics, fan-loyalty programs and exclusive entertainment.

“With a seating capacity of 23,000, fan experience and network reliability are imperative to our event operations”

An increasing number of spectators at stadiums, auditoriums and other large public venues (LPVs) are using mobile devices to upload videos, share photos, check messages and connect via social media. However, today’s cellular networks are unable to handle the capacity required for these bandwidth-intensive applications in such high-density environments. Although some venues have deployed Wi-Fi, many of these networks cannot adequately scale to cover the increasing number of mobile devices trying to connect. Sports teams and venue owners are quickly recognizing the need to deploy faster, more reliable wireless connectivity that can give their users access to the applications they already use, as well as new applications that improve the fan experience.

The Aruba and YinzCam collaboration addresses these needs with a comprehensive stadium Wi-Fi solution that pairs Aruba’s industry-leading WLAN solution with YinzCam’s innovative mobile applications. The joint solution integrates YinzCam’s video servers with Aruba’s unique user-based quality of service (QoS) mechanisms, delivering the following benefits:

High-density and application-aware Wi-Fi access for fast, jitter-free, uniformly distributed video replay to fans’ Wi-Fi-enabled smartphones inside the venue
QoS across all seats, suites and luxury boxes, even in the largest venues
Differentiated service and application delivery based on identity, loyalty status, location, event and date
Network security to protect fans, team reputation and venue infrastructure

United Center in Chicago, Illinois, is one of the stadiums benefiting from the joint Aruba and YinzCam solution. The 960,000 square foot United Center is home to the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks and is one of the top three largest and busiest multi-purpose arenas in North America.

“With a seating capacity of 23,000, fan experience and network reliability are imperative to our event operations,” said Steve Schulze, CIO, United Center. “Aruba Networks’ infrastructure not only supports our mobile employee access and public Internet access needs, but is foundational to many new fan services. As host to more than 200 events per year and 40 million guests, we have been relying on Aruba to provide the most reliable, high-capacity Wi-Fi access for multimedia value-added services for over seven years.”

Aruba Delivers High Density, Application Awareness Crucial to LPV Deployments

Aruba’s WLAN solution provides the reliability, performance and security necessary to bring a high quality experience to users in stadiums, auditoriums and other LPVs. The Aruba WLAN offloads wireless traffic from 3G/4G cellular networks, preventing them from oversaturating while supporting thousands of simultaneous, high-speed, Wi-Fi-enabled mobile devices. To handle the unique density and bandwidth requirements of these venues, Aruba incorporates multiple products and capabilities, including high capacity indoor and outdoor access points (APs), Aruba Adaptive Radio Management (ARM) to maximize the user experience, ClearPass Guest, a guest access and visitor management system and AirWave network management.

YinzCam Mobile Sports Applications Deliver the Ultimate Fan Experience

YinzCam’s innovative mobile sports applications leverage the Aruba Wireless LAN’s QoS resources to deliver HD video instant replays and live cameras at sporting events to fans based on parameters such as the services they’ve selected, the section in which they’re sitting or their fan club status.

“YinzCam’s applications are redefining the in-seat fan experience by bringing instant replay, real-time statistics and concession ordering to fans’ smartphones, and the Wi-Fi infrastructure is critical to the reliable delivery of these services to customers,” said Priya Narasimhan, CEO and Founder of YinzCam. “Our integration with Aruba’s WLAN solution and our close technical collaboration is focused around ensuring the best possible fan experience for mobile game-time video inside the venue. Aruba’s WLAN dramatically improves the performance of video in these dense stadium environments, and has allowed us to better link user location and video delivery for a compelling and unique user experience.”

To meet the unique needs of stadiums and LPVs, Aruba’s Professional Services organization has also introduced a new deployment service. The new service provides design and engineering for implementing, managing and ensuring successful installations in these challenging environments. Services include project management, initial network and RF design, site surveys and installation of security and network management software applications.

“Aruba WLANs have been implemented in over 30 large stadiums and auditoriums around the world, enabling venue owners and their service provider partners to securely, reliably and cost-effectively deliver a high-quality experience for users,” said Ben Gibson, Chief Marketing Officer, Aruba Networks. “Collaborating with innovative application developers like YinzCam to ensure tight integration of the network and the applications results in a more satisfying and engaging experience for users.”

To learn more about High-Density Stadium Wi-Fi for the Ultimate Fan Experience, register for the Aruba webinar taking place at 10am PST on November 27^th- http://page.arubanetworks.com/UltrahighDensityStadiumWiFi.html

About Aruba Networks, Inc.

Aruba Networks is a leading provider of next-generation network access solutions for the mobile enterprise. The company’s Mobile Virtual Enterprise (MOVE) architecture unifies wired and wireless network infrastructures into one seamless access solution for corporate headquarters, mobile business professionals, remote workers and guests. This unified approach to access networks enables IT organizations and users to securely address the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) phenomenon, dramatically improving productivity and lowering capital and operational costs.

Listed on the NASDAQ and Russell 2000® Index, Aruba is based in Sunnyvale, California, and has operations throughout the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific regions. 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.

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