Increased coverage for San Jose's new Tech Museum

There was one small problem with the cellular communications gallery in San Jose's sparkling new Tech Museum of Innovation: located below ground it did not receive a strong enough signal to enable reliable wireless connections.

This was disturbing because the museum prides itself on interaction between exhibits and visitors, encouraging hands-on experience with most of its high-tech gadgets. Because the wireless signal was unable to reach the cellular exhibit, the Tech Museum was not able to give hands-on demonstrations of cellular capabilities.

The solution was developed through a partnership with Cellular One of the San Francisco Bay Area, the exclusive wireless provider to The Tech, and one of Silicon Valley's innovative technology companies, LGC Wireless. Both companies used their expertise to devise a high-quality, reliable wireless system that provides service to even the most hard-to-reach areas in The Tech.

Cellular One provides the digital wireless service to the entire museum and also provides the wireless phones for the hands-on demonstrations.

LGC Wireless has developed a patented distributed antenna system which takes a cellular or PCS signal and sends it through the rooms and corridors of offices, professional campuses and other enclosed spaces which suffer from poor wireless signal reception. Called the LGCell, the system consists of a small hub and antennas which are dispersed throughout a coverage area. The LGCell receives signals from the nearest cellular base station.

For the Tech Museum cellular installation, covering some 132,000 square feet, LGC Wireless provided one Main Hub, one Expansion Hub and four Remote Antenna Units. Keeping with the hands-on nature of the Tech Museum, the antenna units are exposed on columns and on the ceiling of the Communications Gallery.

"The LGC Wireless antenna system, coupled with the reliable service from Cellular One, is allowing us to provide engaging and informative demonstrations in the Communications Gallery," explained Greg Brown, spokesman for the Tech Museum.

"LGC Wireless designed the system quickly to meet our exact needs and installation was literally a snap. It's a great partnership among Cellular One, LGC Wireless and The Tech -- now we can demonstrate extremely clear wireless calls all the time," Brown added.

For its part, LGC Wireless was pleased to showcase its capabilities in its own backyard. "The LGCell has received tremendous support from the cellular industry, which is now targeting the enterprise market as a key growth area," said Rod Hoo, chief executive officer of LGC Wireless.

"Demonstrating its effectiveness in a prestigious location such as the Tech Museum of Innovation was a tremendous opportunity that we were thrilled to be a part of."

LGC Wireless develops enterprise wireless solutions enabling mobile voice communications and Internet access to the corporate network. The company's wireless system, the LGCell, provides mobile users access to high quality voice and high-speed wireless data via cellular and PCS networks. Wireless communications are achieved through wireless access points that are located throughout a corporate facility or campus and networked together using standard wiring schemes normally used for corporate data networks. Typical wireless enterprise applications include one-number voice service, unified voice and data messaging, mobile e-mail, calendar management, and access to the corporate contact database. LGC Wireless has received all type approvals for the LGCell, including the European CE mark, and is currently shipping product to more than 12 countries. Supported wireless access standards include TDMA, CDMA, GSM, iDEN, and 3G.
LGCell is a registered trademark of LGC Wireless.

This material is COPYRIGHT 1999 BY CommNOW.com
You may NOT forward, copy, or "pass it along" to anyone without are-distribution license from CommNOW.com. For information on re-distribution licenses please send email.