CONTRIBUTED CONTENT — InfoWest, Southern Utah’s leader in wireless connectivity, recently completed a significant upgrade to the Wi-Fi system at Utah Tech University’s M. Anthony Burns Arena for the benefit of students, faculty and guests.
Burns Arena was built in 1985 and boasts a seating capacity of 4,779. The 43,000-square-foot arena serves as the primary facility for Utah Tech’s Division I men’s and women’s basketball teams as well as the women’s volleyball team. It also hosts various concerts and community events throughout the year.
The arena is an open space with tall metal beams, highly reflective surfaces, plenty of concrete and minimal infrastructure for the installation of wireless access points. It’s also a high-density environment where thousands of people congregate in a relatively small space.
“It took quite a while to design the system,” said Aaron Hutchings, IT services manager for InfoWest. “We had to get measurements of the angles of the seats to understand how the transmissions of the broadcast would reflect so that we knew right where to put each access point and flood the entire building with Wi-Fi.”
InfoWest’s relationship with Utah Tech dates back more than 30 years. The company’s founders, Kelly Nyberg, Randy Cosby and Aaron Gifford, met as students there and subsequently started Southern Utah’s very first internet service provider – InfoWest.
In the spring of 2017, Utah Tech (then called Dixie State University) accepted InfoWest’s proposal to build a state-of-the-art wireless network within Burns Arena. The school had sought bids to upgrade the existing setup in anticipation of bandwidth-intensive events and opportunities for live marketing during games. InfoWest installed the system over 2 1/2 days using a crew of five technicians.
On March 25, 2017, KINnect YOU, a family history event for young people, was held at Burns Arena. As tracked by the Family Search Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the event set a world record with 18,563 memories uploaded and 12,111 memories tagged during a 30-minute period.
Nearly 2,000 participants were simultaneously online at peak times. By the end of the event, which lasted about 8 1/2 hours, more than 300 gigabytes of data had been transferred over the wireless network by approximately 3,500 unique users.
The system continued to serve Burns Arena well, but progress marches on and even the most cutting-edge technology eventually becomes obsolete. In late 2022, Utah Tech reached out to InfoWest to make improvements that would meet the facility’s current and future needs.
“When we were asked to upgrade the system again, we had a lot to live up to in terms of engineering and designing an improved system,” Hutchings said.
The new system uses 802.11ax, marketed as Wi-Fi 6, the latest generation of wireless connectivity. Wi-Fi 6 offers numerous benefits, including enterprise-class stability and speeds up to four times faster than its predecessor, 802.11ac.
“It’s basically taking a two-lane road and turning it into a 12-lane highway,” Hutchings said. “It makes more room for that data to flow both ways.”
InfoWest installed upgraded access points throughout Burns Arena that are well-suited for use in high-density environments. Hutchings said that no matter where someone is within the arena, they’ll receive the best signal possible. The entire system is powered by a 10-gigabit fiber backbone that will serve Utah Tech for years to come.
“It allows for the seamless connection of 5,000 people to pass high-density streams back and forth without delay,” he added. “The system we put in can basically handle anything you give it.”
The “Internet People” at InfoWest keep Southern Utah connected and moving forward into the future. Along with residential and business internet solutions, the company provides essential connectivity and communications services for such events as Ironman and Trail Hero. During the early days of dial-up in 1994, they were the first provider to bring internet access and digital phone service to the St. George area.
“We love being the company that can get internet where other people just give up,” Hutchings said. “We make it work, and we care about our customers.”
Learn more about InfoWest’s products, services and community outreach on their website.
Written by ALEXA MORGAN for St. George News.
• S P O N S O R E D C O N T E N T •
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- InfoWest | Telephone: 866-463-6937 | Website.
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