Unlimited surfing fun: WiFi in the SAP Arena

Mannheim, 01/07/2019

With the free Wi-Fi offer, the SAP Arena is responding to the increased need for fast and mobile Internet communication at major events.

Quote from saparena.de:

“Such a project, in which thousands of people use a Wi-Fi network in a very small space, is a huge technical challenge that cannot be compared to conventional Wi-Fi network installations,” explains Daniel Hopp, Managing Director of the SAP Arena, the initial situation of the project. After a four-month planning phase, more than 160 kilometers of cables were laid and more than 160 access points installed to provide the viewers with high-speed WiFi via special directional antennas. The complex assembly and several test scenarios took a total of three more months of the project duration.

The performance of ituma in this project was in the development of access control, the administration of the Wi-Fi networks and the statistical data evaluation. The product “Managed WLAN Solution” was used, which also includes a zone model with different Wi-Fi networks in different areas of the arena. This makes it possible to create your own login pages e.g. to configure for visitors in the VIP area and to provide separate Wi-Fi networks for public, office or IoT networks. The cockpit created by ituma with graphic visualization shows, among other things. Utilization and online status of the individual APs and uses extensive tools to analyze user behavior.

The project was realized in collaboration with Unitymedia (now Vodafone).

The key data at a glance:

  • 50,000 square meters of space with 40 access points
  • Coax fiber optic infrastructure as the basis
  • Powerful public WiFi in the city center
  • 160 high-speed WiFi access points