Ruckus Wireless on Tuesday announced its Smart Wi-Fi deal with Kansai International Airport of Japan.
Ruckus Wireless today announced its Smart Wi-Fi deal with Kansai International Airport (KIX) to offer free public Wi-Fi service for international travelers.
KIX has deployed over 100 Ruckus ZoneFlex dual-band indoor access points (APs), centrally managed using two Ruckus ZoneDirector 3000 Series Smart Wireless LAN (WLAN) controllers, to cover high-density public areas. The Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi network at KIX serves more than 50,000 travelers every day.
Situated on an artificial island in the middle of Osaka Bay, KIX handled more than 140,000 planes and over 19 million travelers in 2013.
Tablet ownership is expected to grow 164 percent to 11.7 million in 2016 from 7.13 million in 2013, according to ICT Research & Consulting data, 2014. Smartphone subscribership is expected to exceed 100 million in 2019, according to MM Research Institute data, 2014.
Since the international airport could not manage the first free public Wi-Fi service to travelers with autonomously managed Wi-Fi access points, it decided to opt for a WLAN network infrastructure solution in order to achieve a better user experience.
The free public Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi service at Kansai International Airport covers all major public areas of the Airport, including arrival and departure halls, shopping areas, and boarding gates. Since its introduction, KIX’s new Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi network connects up to 700-800 users at any given time of the day.
Hideyuki Moriike, sub-leader, System Support 2nd Group, System Service Department of KIA Information and Communications Network, said: “Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi covers a broader range and provides more connectivity to much more devices than the old Wi-Fi network.”
KIX plans to utilize it for airport staff use for various airport operations functions. KIX is considering connecting tablets to existing operational systems through the network for more seamless internal operations.
