Facility Case Studies
David L. Lawrence Convention Center
Since June 2015, showNets has served as the exclusive long-term networking services and telecommunications provider at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh, PA. With more than 1.5 million square feet of space and 53 meeting rooms, the convention center needed a robust Internet and networking solution to make it a premier destination for events, trade shows and conferences.
The Sports & Exhibition Authority of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County (SEA), along with their facility management partner SMG, looked to showNets to transform the David L Lawrence Convention Center’s existing exhibitor and attendee networks. The showNets team designed and built a completely new wireless experience for the convention center. As a full-service network provider, showNets delivers:
- Fully redundant fiber optic infrastructure, capable of 10 Gbps connectivity
- Data networks including private, public, and custom solutions tailored to event partners
- Custom wireless networks, including high-density WiFi and hotspots
- Fully redundant bandwidth to ensure maximum uptime
- On-site network consulting for premier event experience
- Full range of telephony services
Backed by showNets’ expertise and experience in network deployment and management, The David L. Lawrence Convention Center now delivers true high-density wireless convergence, capable of scaling to meet any network requirement. The facility’s clients are realizing improved value due to showNets’ design, deployment and delivery of a fast, secure and reliable network at competitive pricing. showNets is excited about the partnership growth as the center continues to attract and contract new/renewed, multi-year, city-wide, diverse and influential events with its environmentally friendly building and expert vendors, all committed to deliver excellence and customer satisfaction.
Knoxville Convention Center: Great returns on a Wifi investment
Visit Knoxville was looking to attract more conventions to the Knoxville Convention Center (KCC) and targeted complimentary Attendee WiFi as the key component to set KCC apart from their competition.
Kim Bumpas, President of Visit Knoxville is focused on promoting Knoxville as a destination for conventions. Her teams within Visit Knoxville solicit conventions for Knoxville and then service the conventions upon entering Knoxville to make sure the experience lives up to what is sold.
showNets has been the exclusive provider of network services to KCC since 2005. Working with Visit Knoxville and the SMG team, KCC’s facility management partner, the showNets team developed a plan to implement the necessary equipment, bandwidth and network infrastructure. The project took about two months from procurement to a new splash page that now greets attendees. With monthly network metrics provided by showNets, Visit Knoxville is able to see how well their investment is keeping attendees online.
COX Business and the Las Vegas Convention Center
In August of 2013 the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) voted to award the contract for telecommunications and network services at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) to Cox Business, a subsidiary of Cox Communications Inc. showNets was an integral partner in helping Cox and the LVCC win and bring in new and improved network services. Hospitality Network, an affiliate of Cox Business, is the premier provider of choice for Video, Managed Wi-Fi and In-Room Entertainment to hotels, convention centers and arenas across the nation. Cox Business is a facilities-based provider of voice, video and data solutions for commercial customers, and Cox Media is a full-service provider of national and local cable spot and digital media advertising.
The Challenge
Cox Business received a second chance in their efforts to successfully challenge the incumbent at LVCC, and this time, Cox partnered with showNets to provide a competitive edge with our deep knowledge of operating networks in convention centers. It worked, and before the LVCVA vote was announced, showNets engineers and project managers were at work designing and organizing a state-of-the art network implementation. The first hurdle was planning the cutover, which required replacing the existing network during a window of only 72 hours without service interruption.
The Solution
To be successful with such a technical and logistical undertaking, showNets’ certified project management team took the lead to plan each step. The integrated Cox and showNets team provided procurement and logistical support along with the onsite showNets technicians and certified engineers. The LVCC was confident in the showNets / Cox partnership because of the expertise and experience showNets brought to the table and the commitment by Cox to invest in a new, state of the art Cisco network. While the physical network transformation was taking place, new back-office and ticketing systems integration were being seamlessly rolled out.
Hugh Sinnock, Vice President of Customer Experience at Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, is the man responsible for the events taking place. Hugh was all smiles on opening day following the cutover. This is because new circuits, a new core, updated distribution switching, and the beginnings of a 2,560 Wireless Access Point network were all successfully deployed in the preceding 72 hours.
Over the course of the next twelve months Cox-branded showNets employees successfully delivered sales and services for 50 consecutive shows representing a 17% event revenue growth from the previous year!