'The Executive Centre' deploys Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi across 21 APAC cities
The Executive Centre is now providing its 15k clients with high-performance, high-capacity Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi in its 80 locations in 21 Asia Pacific cities, including Singapore, Shanghai, and Mumbai. The upgrade allows the premium serviced office company to monetise its Wi-Fi, offering clients three different packages.

The Executive Centre is the first serviced office provider in APAC to deploy Wave 2 802.11ac Smart Wi-Fi, providing Grade A connectivity to 15,000+ clients.

Ruckus Wireless, now part of Brocade, is celebrating the deployment of its 802.11ac Smart Wi-Fi devices in over 80 locations across 21 cities, including Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Sydney, Tokyo, Taipei, Mumbai, Seoul and Jakarta.

Those locations are where ‘The Executive Centre’ has its offices, with the company the first serviced office provider to deploy the next generation network in Asia Pacific, supporting more than 15,000 individual clients with what Ruckus describes as its "high performance, high capacity Smart Wi-Fi network".

As you’d expect from a premium office space provider, The Executive Centre describes itself as having a "core concept of delivering best-in-class service in every city it serves", offering "businesses an opportunity to achieve office space flexibility, cost effectiveness and productivity".

As its clients include both large, established technology companies and promising start-ups, the Executive Centre has a vested interest in "providing the best connectivity to meet the increasing digital needs of its clients".

After all, much like the hospitality sector, Wi-Fi has quickly become a critical amenity that premium office space providers must offer clients, lest they go to another premium provider who has made the necessary investment.

And, as each company taking up premium office space has different needs, different devices to connect and different requirements for the network, creating a complex environment where everything works smoothly is of paramount important, or as just mentioned, competition ensures companies have choices.

Paul Salnikow, chairman and chief executive officer of The Executive Centre, said: “Today, with the rapid adoption of smartphone and mobile devices, businesses are no longer bound to the desks in their offices, but are increasingly working everywhere and anywhere, displaying a clear need for being constantly connected. Mobile connectivity for our clients is no longer an amenity, it’s a must have.

“With Ruckus’s Wave2 Wi-Fi technology, we are able to develop a robust, scalable, reliable Wi-Fi infrastructure, helping us to deliver exceptional client services and improve client retention, further helping us differentiate our brand in the market.”



The Executive Centre believes it has made a smart decision to go with ‘Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi’

Originally, The Executive Centre provided Internet connectivity through wired connections across its centres, using Wi-Fi as a secondary connectivity network.

However, we’ve clearly moved to more of a wireless world, and while fixed connections will always have their place, the Centre reports that over the last 36 months its clients’ demand for wireless Internet access has grown significantly.

The company engaged its legacy provider to cater for additional wireless connectivity by provisioning additional access points (APs) for high-density coverage, but reported a serious problem: the management platform was not stable enough to manage the incremental connectivity with noted interference among these new devices.

To resolve the issues, The Executive Centre decided to look for a new 802.11ac Wave 2 wireless solution.

Following its research into Wi-Fi providers and discussions with industry professionals, the company decided that Ruckus Wireless was the best solution for its needs.

Salnikow said: “In view of the demand for high quality Wi-Fi becoming a pre-requisite for businesses, it was time to upgrade our infrastructure to meet the evolving needs of our clients and continue to deliver a business-class solution.

“We have an uncompromising standard for our serviced offices and it was clear Ruckus was the solution that was going to meet this standard. Our selection and trial process confirmed our choice in using Ruckus was the right one to provide business-class Wi-Fi for our clients.”

The ‘business benefits’ of Smart Wi-Fi

The Executive Centre explains that it deployed "more than 170 Ruckus ZoneFlex R710 802.11ac wave 2 APs, and centrally manages the networks, throughout its 80+ locations, using a cluster of Ruckus SmartZone controllers".

Salnikow said: “The move to a complete gigabit class infrastructure gives us the power to meet the future, and demanding client, requirements, many of which are hard to even anticipate. The easy choice would have been to stick with our original provider, but choosing Ruckus was the right move to us."

The Centre also stated that Ruckus’ patented BeamFlex and ChannelFly technologies "have been of significant benefit to mitigating interference and boosting performance across its serviced office locations".

The upgrade to Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi has also enabled The Executive Centre to better monetise its Wi-Fi networks.

Prior to the upgrade, The Executive Centre offered its clients one communications package at a set price. Now, it has 'three tiers of packages to gain Wi-Fi access – Free, Premium and Premium+.'

Linda Hu, managing director at Ruckus Wireless Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Philippines, said: “Reliable Wi-Fi is no longer a nice-to-have amenity, it’s a prerequisite for doing business. We are the gold standard in the hospitality sector, particularly for the luxury hotels. It’s no different for the serviced office industry.

“With Ruckus, The Executive Centre’s serviced office locations will be able to provide a Grade A, business-class smart Wi-Fi solution that will meet and go beyond the expectations of their tenants.”

As it looks towards the future, The Executive Centre is planning to roll out Ruckus wireless solutions across its new serviced office locations, with a dedication to providing the best services and solutions to meet the ever-changing market demands and client needs.

Clearly, Ruckus Wireless hopes businesses reading this article will consider doing the same thing, but whatever you do, may the Wi-Fi be with you.