Visitors to the recent Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2014 event were able to browse the internet safely after Cisco Systems worked with AT&T to improve the security of the show’s giant Wi-Fi network, telecomlead.com reports.
According to a company spokesperson, Cisco used innovative Hotspot 2.0 technology to provide wireless connectivity for more than 80,000 guests at the conference in Barcelona.
The free network was accessible in all eight exhibition halls at the Fira-owned Gran Via venue and covered a space of around 240,000 square metres.
More than 19 terabytes of data were transferred on the network over the four days – three times the amount recorded at last year’s event. In total, almost 81,000 devices were connected, with web traffic reaching a peak of 1.2Gbps.
Cisco senior vice president Kelly Ahuja was quoted by sectorpublishingintelligence.co.uk as saying: “At this year’s edition of the GSMA Mobile World Congress, Wi-Fi became more relevant than ever before.
“Attendees received high-speed Wi-Fi service for transacting business and general communication, and the Fira was able to add Wi-Fi as a tiered-service offering to exhibitors.”
Business and communication were revealed to be the most common reasons for attendees to use the network, with 33 per cent of the traffic dedicated to checking and sending emails. Social media, Skype and Google Search also featured heavily.
