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Viparis Chooses Xirrus to Implement High-Density Wi-Fi at Its Paris Nord Villepinte and Paris Le Bourget Exhibition Centres

PARIS — (Marketwired) — 06/06/13 —

“When thousands of users are trying to simultaneously access websites, upload pictures, stream videos, and send e-mails from one exhibition site, the network can simply get overwhelmed and run out of capacity — leaving users dissatisfied,” explains Karim Bouamrane, Vice President of France and Benelux at Xirrus. The mass arrival of tablets and the smartphone explosion over the last few years means that the number of users at these sites has risen significantly while their requirements with regard to the quality of the wireless connection increased even further. “When exhibitors and visitors come to events at Paris Nord Villepinte, or any of the group-s other conference and exhibition centres, they often have two or three Wi-Fi enabled devices. Nowadays, connectivity is essential in any professional or public exhibition. The Xirrus solution makes it possible to manage a high-density environment for users that addresses the way exhibitions are configured,” emphasises Christophe Thomas, Operations Director at Viparis.

“We were won over by Xirrus-s unique approach to our needs. Others suggested installing between 300 and 1,000 access points. The technology of the Xirrus Arrays only required 75,” explained Christophe Thomas, Operations Director at Viparis.

Xirrus is a proven expert in event organisation (stadiums, conference centres, arenas, etc.). As the market leader in France, Xirrus has already equipped prestigious Parisien locations such as the Grand Palais, the George Pompidou Centre and the Méridien Etoile, etc.

Xirrus Wireless Arrays provide a solution to address the challenges of high-density wireless connectivity in conference and exhibition environments. The ability to concentrate up to 16 radios with sectored, directional antennas into a single device(1) provides an effective solution for the way the events are configured within the site infrastructures. To address the issues experienced by Viparis, Xirrus implemented 75 access points, each incorporating between eight and sixteen radios with directional antennas. These access points are installed at a minimum height of 7.5 metres to accommodate stands up to 6 metres high.

“With a higher number of Wi-Fi access points, there is an increase in the risk of corruption and malfunction associated with assembly and disassembly. Xirrus technology unites practicality and effectiveness in the exhibitions at our sites,” emphasises Christophe Thomas.

The new Xirrus Wi-Fi network in operation since the end of March 2013 at Paris Nord Villepinte supplies the three Wi-Fi solutions provided by Viparis:

: free Internet access in all exhibition halls, limited to four hours per user, and without restriction in public areas.

: a chargeable Wi-Fi account for unrestricted connection time throughout the event

: professional chargeable Wi-Fi access allowing several simultaneous connections on a shared Internet access, with unrestricted connection time throughout the event (complementary Ethernet cable provided to connect wired devices).

Xirrus is the leading provider of high-performance wireless networks. Xirrus solutions perform under the most demanding circumstances, offering consistent “wired-like” performance with superior coverage and security. The Xirrus suite of Wi-Fi optimized solutions — Arrays, access points, cloud services, and wired switches — provides seamless connectivity and unified management across the network. Xirrus provides a vital strategic business and IT infrastructure advantage to industries that depend on wireless to operate business-critical applications. With tens of thousands of customer solutions deployed globally, Xirrus maintains operations and partnerships across the globe. Xirrus is a privately held company and is headquartered in Thousand Oaks, CA. For more information, please visit: and follow us on Twitter: .

Viparis was created in 2008, the result of the fusion of the conference, exhibition and corporate event venues of Unibail-Rodamco (real estate member of CAC 40) and of the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

A European and global conventions and exhibitions market leader, Viparis now unites the ten main venues of the French capital under one banner: Cnit Paris La Défense, Espace Champerret, Espace Grande Arche, Le Palais des Congrès de Paris, Carrousel du Louvre, Palais des Congrès de Versailles, Paris Le Bourget, Paris Nord Villepinte, Paris expo Porte de Versailles and Le Palais des Congrès d-Issy. Together, these sites offer 627,000m2 of covered space and 484,000m2 of outdoor space. On average, every year Viparis hosts 300 trade shows, 125 conferences and 500 corporate events for a total of 9.2 million visitors, as well as 50 entertainment events with a total of 120 performances.

(1) Xirrus Arrays incorporate from four to sixteen 802.11a/b/g/n radios into a single chassis. Each radio can be configured for either 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz operation and can run at speeds up to 450 Mbps (the current limitation of 802.11n), providing the maximum amount of flexibility and bandwidth capacity.