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Journalists and photographers covering the 140th running of the prestigious Belmont Stakes horse race on June 7 were able to file their stories and pictures wirelessly from Belmont Park using a wireless network recently installed there by Meru Networks.

The Meru wireless LAN provided simultaneous wireless access for hundreds of working writers in Belmont Park's 3,000-square-foot press box near the racetrack roof, and for photographers in a 1,200-square-foot area at track level. The journalists were able to use their laptop computers to send articles and photos to their respective publications as they cover the third leg of the Triple Crown.

Rodney James, network manager for the New York Racing Association, the non-profit group that operates Belmont Park, said that, after a careful evaluation of wireless LAN vendors, Meru was chosen as the only solution that met the park's requirements for high-density use and seamless roaming.

"We needed a product that could handle wide variations in wireless traffic demand, with particularly heavy traffic on days such as the Belmont Stakes race," James says. "Meru technology was the most effective at addressing interference in very dense environments. It was also the only technology we looked at that lets highly mobile users move freely between access points in the coverage area without losing their connections -- it seems like you're connected to a single access point the whole time."

James said future plans call for extending the Meru wireless LAN to Belmont Park guests and staff. Until that time, Meru's WLAN security capabilities -- wireless intrusion detection and "rogue" mitigation features -- allow wireless bandwidth to be reserved exclusively for access by reporters and photographers. Meru wireless solutions may also be deployed at Saratoga Racecourse in Saratoga Springs, another track operated by the New York Racing Association, James says.

Meru WLANs use a single-channel approach to wireless coverage, which minimizes co-channel interference by automatically selecting one channel for use enterprise-wide and layering additional channels when more capacity is required.

With all access points occupying the same channel, the Meru system creates a "virtual cell" that eliminates the need for "hand offs" when mobile users move between access points, thus minimizing dropped connections. In contrast, most legacy WLANs use a "micro cell" approach, which assigns different channels to adjacent network cells, requiring careful and time-consuming channel selection and power-level planning and limiting future network expansion.

Meru products used in the Belmont Park deployment include the AP208 access point, which has two radios both capable of operating at IEEE 802.11a and 802.11b/g modes; and the MC3000 series controller, which provides centralized intelligent RF management, advanced quality of service and security for the wireless LAN.