Serviced office customers want reliable Wi-Fi all the way

Source: Ruckus Wireless case study. The Executive Centre.

Business for the serviced office industry is booming. Many companies are looking for flexible, reliable and convenient workspaces that they can move into and start operating immediately. With over 75 locations across 20 cities – including Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney, Mumbai, Seoul and Jakarta – The Executive Centre wants to be top of mind when firms consider serviced offices, wherever they are in the region.

Originally, The Executive Centre provided wired connectivity, using Wi-Fi as a secondary network. But growing demand for wireless Internet prompted them to ask their legacy provider to install additional access points for high density coverage. However, the existing management platform could not manage the incremental connectivity without causing interference among new devices. Outages, buffering or patchy connections can affect clients revenue, so reliable Internet was considered a basic requirement.

Furthermore, new devices were multiplying: research showed that each customer of The Executive Centre was now carrying at least two devices, and they were using each device for a different type of online activity throughout the day.

“Today, with the rapid adoption of smartphone and mobile devices, businesses are no longer bound to the desks in their offices, but are increasingly working everywhere and anywhere. Mobile connectivity is a must have,” explains Paul Salnikow, Chairman and CEO of The Executive Centre.

Given the demand for high quality Wi-Fi, The Executive Centre began to look for a new 802.11ac Wave 2 wireless solution. The requirements included the need to support four devices per person across every location and central management support was a must.

It became apparent Ruckus Wireless was the best solution due to its superior products. To confirm its decision, The Executive Centre tested the Ruckus technology against two competitors. Each company provided three access points that were placed close together, along with 12 devices connected to the mini network. Once on the network, The Executive Centre began to download content on the devices simultaneously.

“We were impressed how far the Ruckus technology outperformed the competition,” said Salnikow. “We have an uncompromising standard for our serviced offices and Ruckus was the only technology that met that standard.”

After selecting Ruckus, The Executive Centre was able to implement the new Wi-Fi infrastructure within three months. The deployment consisted of more than 170 Ruckus ZoneFlex R710 802.11ac Wave 2 access points and a central management platform across 78 locations, using a cluster of Ruckus SmartZone controllers.

The Executive Centre’s decision to use Ruckus Wireless means they can take advantage of the superior performance of the 5Ghz band and new advances that 802.11ac Wave 2 brings, such as Multi-User MIMO. In fact, they are now moving away from cable and 2.4Ghz connections, reducing cable connections from three to one and encouraging users to only use the 5Ghz band.

“The move to a complete gigabit class infrastructure gives us the power to meet the future requirements of our clients,” said Salnikow. “With Ruckus’ Wave 2 Wi-Fi technology, we have developed robust, scalable, reliable Wi-Fi infrastructure, helping us retain existing clients, win new ones and set ourselves apart from the competition.”

Since the deployment, The Executive Centre has seen several benefits including spending less time waiting for an Internet connection.

“We no longer have an issue with interference on our networks and we are delighted with how they are performing. We have not had one complaint about poor signal or download speeds. And, as they say, no news is good news,” said Salnikow.

Crucial to this has been the use of Ruckus patented BeamFlex and ChannelFly technologies. Ruckus BeamFlex monitors the environment and dynamically adjusts the signal to the best performing path, automatically steering around interference and obstacles. Ruckus ChannelFly leverages the patented principles from BeamFlex to learn and select the best radio frequency RF channel, based on actual realisable capacity and real-time channel activity.

“The Ruckus solution has certainly helped us retain clients. No matter their needs, we now have a solution to ofer them, whether it’s for general browsing, data heavy applications or fast-paced financial transactions. It is simply the best possible Wi-Fi solution we could have found,” concluded Salnikow.

The Executive Centre is now planning to roll out Ruckus Wireless technology across its new serviced office locations. “With Ruckus’ Wave 2 Wi-Fi technology, we have developed robust, scalable, reliable Wi-Fi infrastructure, helping us retain existing clients, win new ones and set ourselves apart from the competition,” said Salnikow.

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