| DAVE MATTHEWS BAND USES VIVATO'S EXTENDED COVERAGE WI-FI
TECHNOLOGY TO POWER PORTABLE NETWORK
Easy Set-up and Breakdown, Coupled with the Most Efficient Coverage
and Capacity, Enable World-Famous Band to Save Time and Money While
Enjoying Wireless Broadband Throughout Nationwide 60+ Concert Tour
SAN MATEO, Calif. - October 19, 2004 - Vivato, a scalable
Wi-Fi systems infrastructure company, announced today that the Dave
Matthews Band (DMB) is using the Vivato® extended coverage Wi-Fi
architecture to power its portable high-speed wireless network as
it performs at more than 60 different indoor and outdoor venues
across the United States this year. Using between two and four Vivato
micro cells depending on the size of the venue, the Dave Matthews
Band is able to keep its "rolling corporation" operating
at peak efficiency at every concert tour stop by leveraging the
portable wireless network powered by Vivato. Compared to alternative
access point-based systems, the band uses only one-third as much
Vivato hardware - while delivering greater coverage and capacity
- and can set up and break down the system twice as fast.
"The Vivato wireless network is literally and figuratively
the backbone of our entire operation -without it, we could still
play great music, but we could not perform as a multi-million dollar
self-promoting music enterprise," said Rudy Arias, information
technologies manager for Dave Matthews Band, Inc. "Long gone
are the days of 'roadies' strewing nearly 5,000 feet of wires around
stadiums, amphitheaters and arenas. Vivato allows us to set up and
tear down quickly and get onto the next show with very little downtime.
Because we are so reliant on this wireless network and everything
it offers - from auditing our online ticketing to Instant Messaging
between family and friends of the band and crew - we often joke
that it has become the new addiction on tour."
With venue size and topography varying dramatically from city to
city, the DMB needed a flexible Wi-Fi architecture that could not
only provide wireless broadband over extended areas - tens of thousands
of square feet both indoors and outside - but also one that could
overcome interference challenges inherent in RF-intensive concert
environments.
Having evaluated competing Wi-Fi access point solutions, the DMB
found Vivato to offer the most portable, yet robust network on the
market. "Vivato's family of extended range Wi-Fi products are
far superior to other products we looked at," says Arias. "Vivato
provides mission critical functionality for us. Because showtime
doesn't wait, Vivato enables us to be 'always on.'"
The DMB used the Vivato system at more than 50 concert venues during
its summer tour and more recently this month during its "Vote
for Change" tour. With a traveling staff of 60, combined with
opening act bands and backstage crew members, approximately 75 people
benefit from the network at each tour stop for a multitude of tasks,
including:
- administrative, accounting, and ticketing services
- audio/video set list queue accessed locally from a centralized
FMP database by audio, lighting and video production
- real-time publishing of music set lists for concert fans
- personal business, such as paying bills and video conferencing
with friends and family
"The Dave Matthews Band is widely recognized as a technology
pioneer in the music industry, and we are proud to be associated
with them," said Chris DeMarche, senior vice president of marketing
and business development for Vivato. "As we have demonstrated
at numerous other stadiums and sport/concert arenas around the country,
our technology is ideally suited to bring ubiquitous broadband to
large venues. In addition to allowing users to enjoy convenient
broadband connectivity wherever they roam, Vivato hot zones provide
a business-critical wireless backbone essential to conducting every
day business - especially for multi-million dollar 'rolling corporations'
like the Dave Matthews Band."
About Vivato
Vivato is a wireless systems infrastructure company with technology
that is based upon an innovative signal processing and antenna design.
Vivato's unique system architecture enables cost-effective, large-scale
indoor and outdoor wireless deployments at hotels, airports, seaports,
warehouses, universities, enterprises, and in cities and towns.
Vivato is headquartered in San Mateo, California, with a research
and development center in Spokane, Washington. For more information,
please visit www.vivato.com or call 650-227-0490.
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