North America’s Largest Distributed Antenna System, Covering 13.5 Million Square Feet, is Fully Deployed at CityCenter in Las Vegas
InnerWireless provides ubiquitous cellular coverage and capacity throughout CityCenter including guest towers; public safety agencies connect to the system at 700MHz for added security
LAS VEGAS and RICHARDSON, Texas – June 7, 2010 – Some of the world’s most visionary architects and gaming executives have created an unparalleled luxury experience for guests from around the globe who enjoy CityCenter’s hotels, casino and retail and entertainment district. Equally impressive is CityCenter’s innovative technology, including its distributed antenna system (DAS) from InnerWireless, which scaled to deliver ubiquitous wireless coverage and capacity over more than 13.5 million square feet of CityCenter facilities, making it the largest DAS deployment in the North America.
The deployment ensures wireless connectivity for public safety personnel whose agencies connect their advanced 700MHz system directly into the InnerWireless DAS. The catalyst for CityCenter pursuing a DAS was public safety communications because CityCenter wanted to ensure that fire/rescue personnel could communicate with each other from the farthest corners of the 67-acre metropolis.
Unlike many other resorts, CityCenter chose not to limit wireless coverage for its guests to just public areas such as hotel lobbies. The DAS enables the latest amenity, comprehensive cellular phone coverage, by providing
strong signals to guest smartphones and BlackBerry® devices while in any of their guest rooms, hotel hallways, lobbies and even showrooms.
“CityCenter’s goal is to reshape how the world views the destination resort experience, and to support that goal, InnerWireless ensures that guests won’t experience dropped calls when they are deep inside one of CityCenter’s amazing facilities,” said Ed Cantwell, president, CEO and chairman of InnerWireless. “ Guests should be able to use their wireless devices to call, text and e-mail their families, business associates and fellow travelers from the comfort of their hotel rooms. Virtually everyone has a cell phone, smartphone or BlackBerry today, and we believe it’s unacceptable for guests of a luxury resort to be forced to leave their room and go to the lobby just to get a wireless signal. We’re pleased that InnerWireless has become a core part of the guest experience at CityCenter.”
In addition to being a valuable amenity for CityCenter guests and visitors, the DAS meant CityCenter didn’t have to buy a costly 2-way radio system for back-of-house operations; instead, CityCenter employees use their
smartphones’ push-to-talk functions to communicate on the InnerWireless system.
InnerWireless began working with CityCenter in 2007. To keep the project on schedule, InnerWireless coordinated with multiple CityCenter contractors and vendors because the DAS was installed in several buildings simultaneously.
“CityCenter’s sheer size and visionary architecture made it a highly complex project, so InnerWireless and CityCenter coordinated efforts on a daily basis. Because InnerWireless is a turn-key solution provider, CityCenter didn’t have to coordinate the efforts of multiple third parties and that removed a lot of worry from CityCenter’s construction and technology teams,” said InnerWireless Chief Operating Officer Darla Braun.
“We also contributed to CityCenter’s LEED® certifications because InnerWireless’ DAS has a high percentage of passive components which require no power, so our solution has a very small carbon footprint. Going forward, this characteristic of the InnerWireless DAS will provide CityCenter with highly reliable service while contributing to a low cost of ownership.”
With its passive hybrid architecture design, the InnerWireless DAS only has 22 powered locations across the entire CityCenter complex, unlike the thousands needed for a comparable active DAS system. Therefore, CityCenter utilizes far less power to operate the DAS, and the lower power consumption yields less heat production which lightens the burden on CityCenter’s cooling systems. These features played a significant role in making CityCenter one of the world’s largest environmentally sustainable developments to receive the LEED Gold certification. CityCenter is InnerWireless’ second DAS deployment with MGM MIRAGE. In 2008, InnerWireless deployed its system at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Miss., providing 3.2 million square feet of in-building wireless coverage to the 32-story resort.