Atlantic Aviation Upgrades to Higher Performance Wi-Fi at General Aviation Airports Across the United States

SUNNYVALE, Calif., July 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Ruckus Wireless™ today announced that Atlantic Aviation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Macquarie Infrastructure Company, has selected and deployed its Smart Wi-Fi products and technology at the company's 65 fixed base operations (FBOs) at general aviation airports across the United States. Based in Plano, Texas, Atlantic Aviation operates the largest network of FBOs in the country.

The new Wi-Fi infrastructure was built to provide high-capacity, high-performance Wi-Fi to users of its FBOs, including pilots, private aircraft users and visitors.

Atlantic Aviation provides a variety of aviation services to its FBO locations such as concierge services for private aircraft owners and pilots, as well as luggage handling, fueling, and food service. Because its clients are primarily business executives and high-worth individuals, Atlantic Aviation required reliable, high-performance Wi-Fi for guest access as well as to streamline the efficiency of its operations.

"Our clientele is demanding and expects both quality and speed when it comes to pretty much everything. Wi-Fi is no different," said Joel Collins, project management office manager for Atlantic Aviation. "Wi-Fi access is an essential part of using our operations – especially since private aircraft owners and their guests carry multiple wireless-only devices when they're at one of our locations.

"We'd had nothing but problems with Wi-Fi for years, and it had become the number one complaint we were receiving," continued Collins. "The challenge was how to implement consistently high-quality Wi-Fi across all of our locations – and also provide coverage outdoors on the actual runways – without placing too many demands on IT staff at our headquarters."

Atlantic Aviation Gets Its Wings with Smart Wi-Fi

The company's previous Wi-Fi infrastructure was mediocre at best, according to Collins. "The technology was inconsistent from location to location, which caused performance issues at nearly all of the sites and made it difficult to manage."

After a rigorous RFP process, Collins' team chose Blueprint RF to install and manage the network. Blueprint RF's proposal was for an upgrade to a higher performance, high-capacity network powered by Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi technology and products. Blueprint RF handled the deployment and now manages Atlantic Aviation's Wi-Fi infrastructure.  

"Given the compelling price/performance and range of coverage Ruckus delivers, there's wasn't a lot of debate," said Ron Peterson, Blueprint RF CEO.  "Because of the ever-changing nature of the environment at every FBO site, Ruckus' adaptive antenna technology was the best to address Atlantic Aviation's needs. The performance is very impressive."

Built with its patented adaptive antenna array, the Ruckus ZoneFlex system is designed to overcome the physical and technical challenges of delivering high-capacity, high-performance access to indoor and outdoor areas which are prone to interference or which pose physical barriers to signal penetration for seamless connections. By focusing and directing Wi-Fi signals over the best signal path, the ZoneFlex system is the only one on the market that automatically avoids interference to ensure consistent performance and high throughput.

With Blueprint RF's help, Atlantic Aviation is deploying ZoneFlex 7025 802.11n wall switch APs and 2741 802.11g outdoor Wi-Fi APs. Blueprint RF is remotely managing each Smart Wi-Fi network using its own remote management software. Blueprint RF is also in the process of deploying a number of ZoneFlex 7731 point-to-point bridges, to expand coverage and connect private hangars spaced several acres apart to the central network. In these locations, where as many as 20 or 30 APs will be deployed to cover a large area and multiple hangars, Blueprint RF will use the Ruckus ZoneDirector centralized controller to monitor and manage the networks.

Beyond reliable guest access inside terminals and hangars, Atlantic Aviation is working with Blueprint RF to make Wi-Fi available on aircraft runway ramps in about half of its locations, allowing pilots to access Wi-Fi via tablets without the need to enter airport buildings. Additionally, at all 65 locations, switched ports on the wall-mounted access points connect all-in-one workstations for travelers and other workstations for pilots.

"The Ruckus system provides an elegant way to offer user workstations without the mess of installing additional switches and cables, while also reducing overall issues from user tampering or points of failure," said Peterson.

The Ruckus systems are also in use at the company's corporate offices in Plano. In the future, the company expects to use Wi-Fi to power its JetStream point-of-sale fueling and aircraft services system and some back-office operations.

"With the ZoneFlex system now in place we've seen complaints all but vanish," Collins said. "Wi-Fi should just work like a reliable utility and now it does," Collins said. "The Ruckus system lends to the reputation and credibility of our brand."

ABOUT ATLANTIC AVIATION
Atlantic Aviation is the largest fixed-base operator in the U.S., providing a wide range of services for general aviation aircraft owners and pilots. With more than 60 locations, Atlantic offers premier services, including a dedicated concierge, state-of-the-art facilities, and a generous rewards program. Find out how Atlantic's personal service, quality, and safety standards make it the industry leader at www.atlanticaviation.com.

ABOUT RUCKUS WIRELESS
Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Ruckus Wireless is a supplier of advanced wireless systems for the explosive mobile Internetworking market. The company markets and manufactures a wide range of indoor and outdoor "Smart Wi-Fi" products for mobile operators, broadband service providers, and corporate enterprises around the world. Ranked as the top telecom company by Inc. Magazine and named a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, Ruckus invented and has patented state-of-the-art wireless technology, such as adaptive antenna arrays that focus and direct Wi-Fi transmissions over the best signal path, automatically avoiding sources of Wi-Fi interference. These unique capabilities extend signal range, increase client data rates and ensure consistent and reliable distribution of delay-sensitive multimedia content and services over standard 802.11 Wi-Fi. With more than 12,000 customers, and 5,000 solution partners worldwide, Ruckus employs over 500 staff in 26 countries. For more information, visit http://www.ruckuswireless.com.

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SOURCE Ruckus Wireless