Consumers Crave Cashless Concessions
PLEASANTON, Calif., September 22, 2008 – Trapeze Networks is the MVP player on a team that has built the first cashless professional sports stadium in the United States, Lawrence-Dumont Stadium, home of the Wichita Wingnuts. Other members of this winning line-up include Total Venue Control, Game Time Food & Beverage Services, EZ Pay and Renaissance Network Solutions. Working together, these companies created a turnkey solution that makes everything about baseball in Wichita a lot more fun.
An All-Star Line Up Takes the Field
Instead of using folding money, fans purchase cash cards that are used throughout the stadium. The cards can be purchased in any denomination, collected as souvenirs, used by local merchants as sales promotions, and any remaining funds in the card can be redeemed anytime, anywhere. Game Time Food & Beverage Services is stadium’s concessionaire. EZ Pay, the country’s fourth largest credit card processor, handles all back office funds processing. And Renaissance Network Solutions integrated pieces together drawing on their important PCI Security Standards experience. Total Venue Control is a marketing and operations company that has pioneered smart card payment technologies in sports venues. All these players came together and fielded a team that has hit a home run for the Wingnuts.
Workers Wander to Wherever Wieners Wanted
An essential element of this leading-edge solution is the wireless capability. In addition to freeing vendors from handling cash, Trapeze Networks lets vendors process transactions anywhere in and around the stadium. This means that point-of-sale stations can be rapidly deployed anywhere and everywhere anyone wants to buy anything. “Trapeze Networks is like the legendary short stop Ozzie Smith of the St. Louis Cardinals,” said Cameron Wall, Total Venue Controls’ chief executive officer. “Trapeze makes the play anywhere on the field, looks good while they’re doing it and never makes an error. Trapeze created a secure bubble of high-speed wireless connectivity from edge-to-edge of the entire stadium property that can survive the hottest day of summer and the wettest day of the year. We can field vendors everywhere with confidence that they can sell a bag of peanuts, bobble-head doll, or an ice-cold beer anywhere it’s wanted. It’s all good.”
Batting Clean-Up: Trapeze Networks
“Every game at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium is like the seventh game of the World Series for Trapeze,” said Ahmet Tuncay, executive vice president of product management and business development. “It’s up to us to make the play in a high-pressure, high-risk, high-stakes situation. The wireless network must be up or the fans won’t be able to get into stadium. The network must stay up or the little kid won’t be able to buy his scorecard. And the network can’t go down because the guy in seat E4 has got to have his Crackerjacks during the seventh inning stretch. And the umpire isn’t going to call the game because an access point bricks. Only Trapeze Networks has NonStop Wireless networking and the Wichita Wingnuts have to have it.”
Everyone Wins
“Our turnkey solution increases concession and sponsorship revenues, decreases operating expenses, effectively eliminates cash-for-product theft and enhances each fan’s event experience,” says Wall. Cashless venues decrease time lost in crowded concession lines by as much as 30 percent and that translates into fans spending more time enjoying the event with their families, friends and clients. “It all adds up to increased revenues, decreased expenses and an enhanced fan experience,” Wall says.
About Trapeze Networks
Trapeze Networks, a Belden brand, is a leading provider of enterprise wireless LAN equipment and management software. Trapeze was the first company to introduce NonStop Wireless - delivering unmatched reliability to the enterprise wireless LAN and its solutions are optimized for companies requiring mobility and high bandwidth such as healthcare, education, and hospitality. Trapeze delivers Smart Mobile™ providing scalable wireless LANs for applications such as Voice over Wi-Fi, location services, and indoor/outdoor connectivity.
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