Like many convention centers, The Moscone Center in San Francisco offers a full menu of telecommunications services, available to the event organizers and to exhibitors. As a result of the fee structure for many venues, however, attendees are often left without telecommunications services. That was a concern for the CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment event held last year.

CTIA, founded in 1984, is the international association for the wireless telecommunications industry, representing all sectors of wireless communications-cellular, personal communication services and enhanced specialized mobile radio. The organization serves the interests of service providers, manufacturers, wireless data and Internet companies, as well as other contributors to the wireless universe.

The organization holds several conventions, including CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment, which focuses on integrating wireless technologies into the enterprise and vertical business markets, such as healthcare, government, automotive and retail. CTIA wanted to not only provide free wireless access for attendees of its fall conference, but also wanted to showcase leading-edge technology to potential adopters. To this end, CTIA approached leading vendors in the wireless space: AirMagnet for wireless intrusion protection; Chantry Networks for a wireless LAN infrastructure to manage both voice and data calls; PowerDsine for power over Ethernet; and SpectraLink for hand-held phones for voice over Internet protocol (VoIP).

Together, these vendors were tasked with building a voice and data wireless network for the three-day event. This would serve as the largest public demonstration of VoIP over WLAN (VoWLAN) to date and showcase that the technology-both in concept and in commercially available products--was enterprise ready.

Setting up a secure, well-balanced permanent wireless network can be a challenge; doing this with limited time and up-front planning for a temporary wireless network that must perform like a permanent installation can be an even bigger challenge. The unknowns run from building material issues to numbers of people using the network. In addition, any disruption or failure of the network at such an event would be a public embarrassment in front of an important industry audience. For this reason, many networking vendors shy away from the type of public demonstrations that CTIA aimed to achieve.

The consortium of companies installed and supported a dual-network for attendees. The wireless data traffic was carried on 802.11a/g, with the wireless VoIP traffic running on 802.1 lb.

The network consisted of a centrally managed Chantry Networks BeaconWorks voice and data network with 55 BeaconPoint access points deployed in the Moscone West Convention Center; security and performance monitored by five AirMagnet Enterprise SmartEdge sensors installed in the center; handsets and backend technology ensuring voice quality from SpectraLink; and PowerDsine's power-over-Ethernet technology to reduce installation time and expense.

Located in the Moscone's central communications center, the network consisted of two BeaconMaster 100s and 55 BeaconPoint 200es, working with a Linux server performing management and monitoring. The network was distributed over three floors in the Moscone, covering 298,809 square feet. Additionally, the network was extended to the Argent Hotel, to enable wireless network access for a reception held for industry analysts and press.

For the Argent Hotel implementation, a branch node was configured, allowing BeaconPoints to connect back to a BeaconMaster via the Internet to maintain centralized authentication, but allowing for local bridging for authenticated users. The advantage with this configuration was that the network delay was kept to a minimum, allowing traffic to flow directly to the Internet instead of being backhauled to the BeaconMaster first before going on the net. A SpectraLink gateway for local callers was configured with the remote BeaconPoint. The overall solution required PowerDsine midspan injectors in eight separate wiring closets, with six BeaconPoints per closet.

To manage the voice calls, the system used one SpectraLink Voice Priority Server (SVP), used in conjunction with three NetLink Telephony Gateways and 48 POTS lines. To ensure security and privacy, the network relied on four AirMagnet wireless probes.

Chantry Networks configured eight virtual network services (VNS), similar to virtual private networks (VPNs), to avoid any broadcast issues. Every VNS used the same SSID and no single VNS hosted more than 500 users.

Although a VNS is used to coordinate different client types and groups, multiple VNS can also be configured to segregate large broadcast domains into smaller manageable groups. This was required for CTIA since the event expected a potential of 4,000 active users.

The CTIA wireless network provided voice and data communications for nearly 2,000 attendees of the multiday conference. Overall, the network supported 1,872 unique users at the conference, and handled hundreds of separate voice calls and tip to 30 simultaneous calls. Peak usage on a single BeaconPoint was 45 users and peak bandwidth utilization reached 5 Mbps.

With coverage throughout the lobbies and session rooms, attendees had on-going Internet access at all times during the multiday conference. The only challenge was finding a power outlet to recharge their laptops.