Comcast and Celona have deployed a private 4G/5G network using the CBRS band at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa, California. The network has already provided support for back-of-house operations at a number of events, including the annual Sonoma County Fair last August. Comcast Business designed and deployed the network using Celona’s private 4G/5G system and its own priority access CBRS spectrum licenses (PALs).
The Sonoma County Fair is a well-known local festival, held in July/August, which features horse racing, flower show, music festival, and various family entertainment. But the fairgrounds play host to events throughout the calendar, including music festivals, car shows, dog shows, sports tournaments, and various society gatherings. Comcast said “slow connectivity” previously has resulted in a “poor vendor and customer experience”.
The new private wireless network, it said, delivers extended coverage and better speeds and capacity. It will “enhance the fair experience and help improve back-of-house operations”, notably for point-of-sale systems for ticket purchases, parking, concessions, and more. The network provides “support [for] the tens of thousands of people that flood the property each year”.
The Celona private cellular system integrates third-party RAN gear with its own core network software and cloud orchestration platform. It is sold on its simplicity, as well as its performance.
Rebecca Bartling, chief executive at Sonoma County Fairgrounds, said: “We are very happy with the quality of service we’ve received and how quickly Comcast Business was able to install and deploy this private wireless network. [It] will bolster our back-of-house operations, as well as our relationships with the vendors, who are critical to ensuring the annual, two-week long Sonoma County Fair is a success.”
Brian Epstein, head of strategic wireless solutions at Comcast Business, said: “Congested cellular and Wi-Fi networks are pain points for outdoor venues across the country. Private wireless network technologies provide a ‘HOV lane’ for the fairgrounds and dedicated spectrum for priority operations to ensure events like the Sonoma County Fair deliver a rich experience for patrons and vendors.”
Rob Mustarde, vice president of worldwide sales at Celona, said: “We view private wireless technology as completely transformational for the enterprise. With 5G LANs, organizations can now bring deterministic wireless connectivity and performance to challenging use cases that conventional wireless was simply not designed to address within a familiar framework that directly adapts to their existing network investments.”
