The TESSCO ONE Innovation Showcase and Conference brought wireless networking industry leaders from around the world to AT&T Stadium near Dallas, Texas, on Feb. 3 and 4 for the annual infrastructure-focused trade show.
The impressive stadium, known colloquially as Jerry World after Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, is a fitting host location as it features a state-of-the-art in-building distributed antenna system realized by TESSCO Technology partners.
TESSCO VP of solutions development and product management Bill Moten called the AT&T Stadium DAS “amazing. The quality of the installation is so well done. You can’t see it. You can’t really see where all the antennas are. Apparently, that’s what the Jones family wanted.”
Sean White, director of project management for CommScope, discussed a bit of the deployment’s history.
“When the Cowboys came to us back in 2007, they wanted the largest, most innovative DAS in large venues in the United States, which we did. Since 2007, we’ve implemented probably five separate upgrades.”
White said the last upgrade came before the College Football Playoff National Championship in January; he said fans during that game used 8 terabytes of data.
“We wanted the antennas to be heard and not seen,” White said. “It’s the typical cell site problem where everybody wants coverage but nobody wants to see the towers. This facility is state-of-the-art. It’s an excellent venue. The last thing the Jones family wanted was to see our antennas.”
John Barney, VP of channel development for Ericsson North America, showcased the infrastructure giant’s 60 GHz “handball,” which uses millimeter wave technology to wirelessly provide 400 Mbps broadband connectivity.
“We’re relaunching an indirect channel-to-market,” Barney said, “so that all the enterprises can now get access to Ericsson technology. We’re seeing many trends with businesses needing to take networks beyond the walls of their own buildings.”
For more videos from the TESSCO ONE Innovation Showcase and Conference, visit the RCR Wireless News YouTube channel.
