Founded in 1868, All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club (AELTC) is a private club that runs the world-renowned Wimbledon Championships. The club operates and maintains the Wimbledon grounds – which have 18 courts in London (including the No. 1 Court and Centre Court) – and helps advertise the Wimbledon brand through television broadcasting rights and product licensing. It also provides all the funding for grass root tennis in the UK.
AELTC hosts the Wimbledon Championships over a four-week period, after which the grass courts are reseeded and unused until the following year's championships. Thus, there is a very short window of opportunity to maximize yearly profits.
On average, AELTC welcomes about 500,000 spectators to its grounds over the course of the event, as well as millions of viewers worldwide who follow the event from the internet, TV, radio, and other media. To maximize fan experience, the club needs good Wi-Fi connectivity throughout the arenas.
Because of the multitudes of constant advancements in technology, most people buy their Wimbledon Championships tickets online and come to the event with tickets on their mobile phones or tablets. Therefore, all entry points need a Wi-Fi connection for ticket validation through wireless scanners.
In addition, point-of-sales kiosks on the grounds – which sell things like refreshments and merchandise – also need a stable connection to facilitate payments. And, since tennis scoring is done through computers, the judges also need reliable connections to upload results and make them accessible to viewers in real-time.
As the 2022 Wimbledon Championships approached, AELTC found itself in a very precarious position in relation to its Wi-Fi network: It had just upgraded its Cisco network within its stadiums (which added more complexity in managing their network), and IBM – one of its vendors – was also going through a total refresh of services.
With these constraints and the Championships fast approaching, AELTC’s small team didn’t have the luxury of time to develop a solution themselves. They needed a reliable partner with proven experience to make the event a success – they needed 7SIGNAL.
AELTC needed a solution that could provide both connectivity and visibility for their event. With 7SIGNAL's solid reputation of providing top-of-the-range Wi-Fi solutions for Premier League clubs, NFL teams, and major events at Madison Square Garden, the leader in enterprise Wi-Fi optimization seemed to be the clear choice.
7SIGNAL at AELTC got to work immediately, deploying Sapphire Eye® sensors in high-density areas and deploying Mobile Eye® agents onto wireless computers, smartphones, point-of-sale equipment, and IoT devices. This setup provided the necessary data to demonstrate how 7SIGNAL’s platform could help improve the digital fan experience.
Just before the championship started, AELTC doubled the amount of equipment they had purchased from 7SIGNAL because they recognized a need for increased visibility throughout the venue. 7SIGNAL delivered the equipment in under two weeks, and the AELTC team had the full platform set up in time for the Wimbledon Championships.
It took just two months from the first conversation to full deployment. Throughout this process, the 7SIGNAL team worked very closely with Kevin Ward, AELTC’s network manager, who was delighted with and complimentary of the 7SIGNAL team.
With 7SIGNAL’s help, AELTC’s ticket validation process was flawless. Guests could now instantly validate the tickets on their mobiles, eliminating queues at the event’s entrance. In addition, merchandise and food and drink vendors and their customers experienced smoother and faster credit card transactions – also with shorter lines.
In the end, 7SIGNAL was able to provide an unparalleled level of service for AELTC. The 7SIGNAL platform enabled transparent, honest, factual data for AELTC to solve their problems and ensure they wouldn’t recur.
Events like AELTC’s Wimbledon Championships are only one of the many examples where 7SIGNAL’s technology can enhance your network’s connectivity and visibility.
Contact our experts today to learn more.