Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/443780
I N T H E N E W S B M & T ••• September/October 2014 ••• www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 8 GWCC TECHNOLOGY TEAM AND MERU NETWORKS HELP ISTE BREAK RECORDS The Georgia World Congress Center GWCC welcomed more than 20,000 attendees during the 2014 ISTE conference at the begin- ning of July. ISTE (The International Society for Technology in Education) is the premier membership association for educators and education leaders engaged in advancing excellence in learning and teach- ing through the innovative and effective uses of technology in PK–12 and teacher education. The ISTE show depends heavily on wireless connectivity to support their exhibitors. To meet ISTE's infrastructure needs the GWCC show- cased its exceptional network during the event, supporting over 13,600 concurrent connections and 24,000 unique devices in a 24-hour period. Last year's ISTE Conference in San Antonio had 6,700 simultaneous users connected at one time. "The ISTE Conference is extremely demanding from an internet and wireless perspective due to the large number of technically oriented BYOD (Bring your own device) attendees. CCLD and Meru were great partners in the design and implementation of the ISTE 2014 network resulting in the largest number of concurrent users and bandwidth uti- lized in the history of the ISTE conference," said Jennifer Ragen-Fore, senior director of Conference Services for ISTE. CCLD Networks, the Georgia World Congress Center's (GWCC) exclusive telephone and internet provider, recently overhauled the facili- ty's event network infrastructure. A year in the making, the network upgrade was completed in June of 2013. Microsoft was the 1st major client to benefit from the upgrade during their MGX FY14 event the fol- lowing month. NEW AUTOMATED PASSPORT CONTROL COMING TO SKY HARBOR INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT The Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport will be introducing their new Automated Passport Control (APC) kiosks later this year for travelers entering the United States from other countries. The 12 new APCs will expedite the customs entry process for travelers arriving from outside the country. Travel ers will experience shorter wait times and faster customs processing times with the APCs. Guests will now be able to use the APCs instead of filling out a declaration card and taking their trav- el documents to a Customs and Border Protection officer. Sky Harbor hopes to make coming into the United States more convenient and efficient for travelers. When opened, the APCs will be free to use for US citizens and Canadian residents. TAHITI TOURISME LAUNCHES NEW GLOBAL BRAND POSITIONING AND IDENTITY Tahiti Tourisme launched its new global brand positioning and identity for the Islands of Tahiti, simultaneously in 14 key markets across the world recently. It follows a comprehensive and strategic proj- ect run by Tahiti Tourisme which saw the necessity, in the increasingly competitive world of global tourism, to address the challenges ahead and Georgia World Congress Center