Atlanta Airport Rolls Out WiFi

ATLANTA -- Wireless fidelity, more commonly known as Wi-Fi, is now a reality at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. General Manager Ben DeCosta today announced the official kick-off of the system during a wire-cutting ceremony in the Airport Atrium. The availability of the Airport’s wireless system has been long awaited and will add to the convenient array of options available to travelers, and businesses that operate at the world’s busiest airport. Wi-Fi uses short-range radio waves to connect laptop computers, personal digital assistants, and other wireless devices to the Internet. The Airport itself is now one huge “hot spot”, enabling users to access wireless Internet services from virtually any point in the Airport, including the typically hard-to-reach transportation mall under the concourses. The Wireless network also includes a distributed antennae system that will improve the quality of cell phone coverage throughout the Airport.

The state-of-the-art system will give new meaning to the word “wired” as it will include 150 access points covering all 5.8 million square feet of the Terminal and outlying areas — a network so expansive that it could equip more than 3,000 typical Atlanta single family homes for Wi-Fi service. Cisco Systems provided the wireless networking equipment.

“At Hartsfield-Jackson, we are a global connector. We connect people to one another, to places and to resources. This wireless system increases our connectivity with the world on a technology basis,” said Ben DeCosta, general manager of the Airport. “Half of our passengers are traveling on business. Now they will be able to conveniently connect to their company network or other electronic information they may need via our new Wi-Fi system to complete time sensitive projects while on the road. Some of the benefits of this are obvious, and I believe the opportunities that wireless fidelity will bring to an airport environment are yet untold,” DeCosta said.

Cisco Systems Inc.