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Feature Article, November 2005 How Going Wireless Can Help The Mall
Creating a wireless environment has created a great amenity for retailers and customers at West Edmonton Mall.
Joseph Schuldhaus
We live in an increasingly wireless world. Nearly anywhere you go today you can expect to see someone talking on a cell phone, working on a portable computer or using some other mobile wireless device. At West Edmonton Mall, we've found that supporting wireless voice and data communications is not only strategic, it's essential. The people who visit the mall, including shoppers, vacationers and guests at our Fantasyland Hotel, expect to be able to access the Web, conduct business and stay in touch wirelessly, no matter where they are.
Establishments that don't invest in technologies to support wireless communications and computing will find themselves losing business to competitors that do. The mall's management recognizes that secure, wireless voice and data communications is the way of the future. Our wireless network, called WEMiSphere, has become a key feature of West Edmonton Mall (WEM) in Edmonton, Alberta, the world's largest shopping and entertainment complex. With 55 access points, we believe we have the largest Wi-Fi network of any shopping center anywhere, thus continuing to satisfy our visitors' needs while offering a truly unique experience.
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West Edmonton Mall's World Waterpark.
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WEM's network is accessible across 48 city blocks — anywhere within the hotel to several major attractions, such as World Waterpark, Sea Lions' Rock, Ice Palace, Bourbon Street and two large food courts. When the network is completed in 2006, wireless access will be available throughout the entire complex, including hundreds of stores and eating establishments and eight major attractions. Many of the mall's 22 million visitors each year will use the wireless network for a variety of reasons — to access email, stay connected to work, find the best sales, locate a destination, etc. The network has already become a vital asset to mall operations. The maintenance staff and tenant coordinators use it to access company databases through secured VLANs over wireless protocols that only known secured devices are permitted to access.
Our security department can view any of our 200 surveillance cameras throughout the mall on Wi-Fi devices such as laptops or tablet PCs. We are extending the wireless network to the parking lot and mall perimeter, so mall security officers equipped with Wi-Fi devices will be able to monitor activities from patrol cars or on foot.
The catering office can complete a banquet event order (BEO) on a tablet PC as catering personnel roam throughout the hotel conference center with prospective customers. Alternative room setups can be easily displayed onscreen while planning the event with the event planner or coordinator. Customers can sign the BEO on a tablet PC and the signed contract can then be printed or e-mailed.
People who work at the mall and use the Internet for research, online banking, and checking e-mail messages can do these things while on their breaks. In the next few months we plan to launch curb-side check in at the hotel. As guests pull up to the hotel, the staff will be able to wirelessly check them into their rooms, swipe and authorize their credit cards and issue room keys. Currently the hotel has complete wireless service, so guests can access the Internet from their rooms, the conference center, lobby, ballroom, dining areas and lounge.
We are exploring new service offerings for mall tenants, such as in-store video surveillance/monitoring and wireless VoIP. The mall is also working to get tenants involved in WEMiSphere. We launched a Wi-Fi reseller campaign that allows tenants to participate in the sales and marketing of WEMiSphere. Under the terms of a reseller agreement, the tenant is consigned an inventory of scratch-off WEMiSphere cards, which are sold to the tenant's customers who are looking for hot-spot access in the mall. Tenants receive a commission for every card sold.
We're also able to offer tenants a new means of reaching customers through our WEMiSphere LBM (location-based marketing) portal technology. As users connect to various access points in the network, we can identify their physical location and tailor the portal page to content that's appropriate to that location. For example, a shopper in a particular section of the mall using a PDA will be notified about a special sale being offered by a retailer in that area of the mall.
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Inside West Edmonton Mall, one of the world's largest malls, located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
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The wireless network at West Edmonton Mall is provided by Siemens HiPath Wireless. We looked at technology from all the major players in the marketplace and selected the HiPath Wireless LAN system in part because it is deployable over any IP network and enables fast and secure roaming across access points throughout an enterprise environment. Another reason we selected HiPath Wireless is its Layer 3 overlay architecture, which enables centralized management and coordination of access points and provides security and user-based policy rules. Rapid subnet roaming supports real-time applications, such as VoIP, without the need for re-authentication and re-keying as a user moves around. When selecting the technology and building the wireless network, we had to ensure that the system would be scalable to support future growth, and that the network would always be available to users.
The benefits of the new wireless system are clear. In addition to the increased productivity of the staff and added revenue opportunities for the mall, the wireless technology will help attract many new visitors who want ubiquitous access to voice and data communications. Wireless communication appeals to visitors who are on vacation or spending leisure time at the mall but still need access to their office. There was a recent example of this as a businessman who visited the waterpark with his family took part in a three-way conference call using VoIP on his Wi-Fi phone while seated water side. The call was so clear that other people on the conference had no idea he was at a waterpark.
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With a wireless environment, visitors, employees and retailers at West Edmonton Mall can use wireless devices anywhere in the project.
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We expect that on the basis of current Wi-Fi usage, our investment will be completely paid back within 18 months. Beyond financial payback, we recognize that we have a major opportunity to create an environment that attracts more repeat visitors and also generates a sense of community.
Our goal is to provide wireless broadband services that meet the evolving connectivity needs of our employees, tenants and guests in a way no other mall currently does. We know we can deliver a better communications experience for visitors, better information on sales, wireless entertainment and other features that are wirelessly accessible throughout the facility.
It's all about serving our customers. And customer service — providing every guest with a unique and extraordinary experience every time they visit — is West Edmonton Mall's overall goal. WEMiSphere is certainly one way we meet this goal every day at The Greatest Indoor Show on Earth.
Joseph Schuldhaus is vice president of information technology at West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
©2005 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.
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