Информационное Руководство для Cisco Cisco 2106 Wireless LAN Controller
Customer Case Study
© 2009 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
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Finland’s Premier Event Venue Improves
Wireless Experience
Wireless Experience
Finlandia Hall deploys Cisco wireless solutions to optimize resources and expand
service offerings.
service offerings.
Business Challenge
Designed by world-renowned architect Alvar Aalto in
1967 and built between 1971 and 1975, Finlandia Hall
is one of Finland’s famous architectural landmarks
and the second largest conference and concert venue
in the country. With 17 conference halls and rooms,
five lobbies, and three dining rooms spanning 18,000
square meters, Finlandia Hall hosts 350,000 visitors
and 800 meetings annually. With this amount of space
and traffic to service, the hall needed a reliable
wireless network. “We provide our customers with a
complete package of event services that includes
Internet access. And our customers’ network needs
range widely, from businesses that require live
streaming video for product launches to musicians
who rely on continuous email access,” says Ilkka
Rautakivi, head of the technical department at
Finlandia Hall.
1967 and built between 1971 and 1975, Finlandia Hall
is one of Finland’s famous architectural landmarks
and the second largest conference and concert venue
in the country. With 17 conference halls and rooms,
five lobbies, and three dining rooms spanning 18,000
square meters, Finlandia Hall hosts 350,000 visitors
and 800 meetings annually. With this amount of space
and traffic to service, the hall needed a reliable
wireless network. “We provide our customers with a
complete package of event services that includes
Internet access. And our customers’ network needs
range widely, from businesses that require live
streaming video for product launches to musicians
who rely on continuous email access,” says Ilkka
Rautakivi, head of the technical department at
Finlandia Hall.
In 2006, Finlandia Hall began to experience
connectivity problems. “We noticed that our
customers’ wireless clients were not associating to the
access points, and network coverage was
decreasing,” says Rautakivi. To continue providing
transparent connectivity to its customers despite the
network problems, Finlandia’s IT team had to work
hard behind the scenes. According to Rautakivi, “It
would take our team of two up to six hours to
configure the wireless network for one event, and we
could have up to ten events at the hall at one time.”
connectivity problems. “We noticed that our
customers’ wireless clients were not associating to the
access points, and network coverage was
decreasing,” says Rautakivi. To continue providing
transparent connectivity to its customers despite the
network problems, Finlandia’s IT team had to work
hard behind the scenes. According to Rautakivi, “It
would take our team of two up to six hours to
configure the wireless network for one event, and we
could have up to ten events at the hall at one time.”
At first, the IT team suspected the hall’s aging access points were starting to fail and began
replacing them with new ones that worked on a different channel. This step seemed to alleviate the
problem partially, but the hall’s widespread RF equipment, including wireless microphone, remote
control, and lighting systems also raised suspicion. While the IT team searched for the interference
source, it continued to service its customers fully with a fraction of the available network capacity.
“Constant interference required us to work manually around the infected channels. We had to
replacing them with new ones that worked on a different channel. This step seemed to alleviate the
problem partially, but the hall’s widespread RF equipment, including wireless microphone, remote
control, and lighting systems also raised suspicion. While the IT team searched for the interference
source, it continued to service its customers fully with a fraction of the available network capacity.
“Constant interference required us to work manually around the infected channels. We had to
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
FINLANDIA HALL
● Conference and event venue
● Helsinki, Finland
● 32 employees
● Helsinki, Finland
● 32 employees
BUSINESS CHALLENGE
● Improve wireless network reliability and
performance to support wide range of
customer requirements
customer requirements
● Solve interference issues and decrease
network management time
● Expand service offerings to meet the growing
needs of customers who increasingly require
support for more web-based applications
support for more web-based applications
SOLUTION
● Cisco Unified Wireless Network significantly
improved network throughput
● Cisco Spectrum Expert identified, located and
mitigated RF interference, improving network
coverage and capacity and further optimizing
performance
coverage and capacity and further optimizing
performance
● Cisco Unified Wireless Network advanced
feature set enables the creation of flexible
service offerings and future proofs the network
as numbers of customers and needs grow
service offerings and future proofs the network
as numbers of customers and needs grow
BUSINESS RESULTS
● Reduced network set-up time from hours to
minutes per event, resulting in up to 70
percent time savings
percent time savings
● Optimized IT resources and improved the
customer experience through centralized
network management, better network
performance, and tailored services
network management, better network
performance, and tailored services
● Expanded revenue opportunities and
improved competitive edge through the easy
creation of new tiered services that foster
customer loyalty
creation of new tiered services that foster
customer loyalty