The 7.1 million-square-foot AmericasMart Atlanta facility, a top U.S. destination for home, gift and apparel product sourcing, has upgraded its network infrastructure to provide high-performance WiFi across its three interconnected buildings. Visitors to the 1,500 permanent showrooms and 16 annual trade shows will now have faster, more secure connections to support sales transactions. Additionally, the AmericasMart mobile app now features turn-by-turn navigation to help shoppers reach their destinations more quickly and efficiently.
AmericasMart chose Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, for the network upgrade. Working with Aruba partner Driven Technologies, the facility deployed Aruba 300 Series 802.11ac Wave 2 access points and Aruba Mobility Controllers, along with AirWave network management and ClearPass for secure internal network access.
The facility, which brings more than 560,000 visitors to the city each year, is using the Meridian location services platform and Aruba Beacons to enable “blue dot” navigation and turn-by-turn directions within the existing AmericasMart mobile app. The Meridian platform’s SDKs can accommodate additional features, such as proximity notification and asset tracking, should AmericasMart decide to expand its app functionality further.
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“We want to ensure that our exhibitors and attendees have a superior on-site experience,” said Kimberly Rometo, VP of Digital and Information Systems for AmericasMart in a statement. “That demands the consistent enabling of fast, reliable and secure connectivity and a great mobile experience across our venue.”