Following a half day Workshop on Wi-Fi Roaming, Day 1 of WBA’s Wi-Fi Global Congress kicked off with over 400 attendees present, a new high in WBA membership and a full day of stellar presentations from industry leaders across the Wi-Fi ecosystem.
Highlights for the day included 2 keynote presentations. The first by J.R. Wilson of AT&T and new Chair of the WBA, who welcomed the standing room only crowd and discussed the importance of removing friction from the Wi-Fi experience by making Wi-Fi easier while improving security and the customer’s peace of mind. Cisco’s Kelly Ahuja’s keynote spoke of harnessing the Wi-Fi opportunity as Wi-Fi transitions to a platform that can enable business innovation and augment the user experience.
Another well received presentation was given by Chris Bruce, of BT and Co-Chair of the WBA, who kept the attention of the audience with a Case Study on the BT experience deploying Wi-Fi for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics which included a variety stats, such as 3000 photos taken or shared per second, 100% of the games broadcast on the web as well as a personality filled photo gallery. In addition, he took us through lessons learned and talked about how the deployment was the “biggest logistical peace time challenge a country has faced” while one of great country pride for all involved.
Finally, the Business Case Stream and Network Deployment Streams filled out the afternoon with presentations by MGM Resorts International’s John Bollen, on Wi-Fi as a strategic asset and “data source”. He shared insights into MGM’s Wi-Fi deployments and how they are using Wi-Fi data to create new and innovative offers to guests on Wi-Fi as they role out 8 million square feet of Wi-Fi by 2014. Also presenting was Boingo’s Sebastian Toingo on their approach to defining the value proposition of free Wi-Fi as a perfect platform for advertising because of its ability to get a captive audience and provide Wi-Fi access in exchange for attention allowing a new avenue to monetization. Both streams gave their audiences a chance to engage with Panels and hear Case Studies on multiple topics in a more roundtable-like setting.
As the day closed out, the global audience showed now signs of jet lag as they continued to engage with each other and exchange ideas and best practices. A clear sign that the 2013 Wi-Fi Global Congress has established a new standard for excellence as a must attend event.
