Oakland Arena completes Wi-Fi 7 overhaul in 13 days
Thu, 28th May 2026
RUCKUS Networks and Fortis Solutions have completed a Wi-Fi 7 overhaul of the full network infrastructure at Oakland Arena.
The project was finished in 13 days at the 19,500-seat California venue, with nearly 300 Wi-Fi 7 access points installed alongside new routing, switching and controllers.
The upgrade replaces the arena's legacy setup, which had struggled to meet the demands of sold-out events. The new network is designed to support ticketing, concessions, food and beverage services, and wireless access for large concert crowds.
According to the companies, the deployment used RUCKUS Hyper-Directional T670sn Wi-Fi 7 access points and ICX switches with multi-gigabit and 10-gigabit ports, creating the wired and wireless backbone for connectivity across the site.
The network was tested almost immediately under heavy use during two consecutive sold-out concerts. The companies reported 100% switch uptime and 8.22 terabytes of traffic handled over two days without disruption.
Bart Giordano, Senior Vice President and President of RUCKUS Networks, said the early performance showed the scale of the upgrade. "The deployment delivered immediate impact for the venue; two back-to-back sold-out K-pop concerts ran flawlessly, with 100% switch uptime and 8.22 terabytes of traffic handled over two days, without disruption," he said.
He added: "Oakland Arena demonstrates what's possible when purpose-built Wi-Fi 7 solutions are paired with the right expertise - ten times faster speeds and zero downtime during a sold-out event. That's the standard venues have come to expect."
Fast rollout
Arenas typically carry out network modernisation over a longer period because work must be scheduled around events and venue operations. Fortis Solutions said it shortened that process by using automation tools to migrate older configurations into a RUCKUS-compatible architecture while keeping the arena open.
"While typical arena projects often take months, this implementation was completed in 13 days," said Myron Duckens, Chief Executive Officer of Fortis Solutions.
He said Fortis Solutions' patented Source of Truth automation tools were used to migrate legacy configurations into a RUCKUS-compatible architecture, reducing manual engineering effort and allowing the arena to remain fully operational throughout the upgrade.
The venue's previous network lacked newer wireless features needed to manage dense crowds using multiple devices at once, leaving it exposed to latency, buffering and dropped connections during busy events.
Colby Tucker, Senior Director of Operations at Oakland Arena, described the contrast between the old system and the new one. "Prior to the deployment of RUCKUS technology and Fortis' network automation tools, the 19,500-seat venue was operating on legacy infrastructure that lacked modern beamforming and MIMO capabilities-putting it at risk of high latency, buffering, and frequent disconnects during sold-out events," he said.
"Today, the arena delivers a level of connectivity that rivals, and in many cases can outperform, newer venues, with superior coverage, capacity, and reliability even at peak demand."
Venue pressure
Large entertainment venues face growing pressure on wireless networks as fans expect stable mobile access and operators rely on connected systems for payments, ticket scanning and concessions. As a result, network resilience has become a routine operational issue rather than a back-office technology upgrade.
Oakland Arena's installation reflects a wider push by venue operators to replace older infrastructure with systems designed for higher device density and heavier data use. In this case, the companies said the arena can now deliver connectivity speeds up to ten times faster than before while reducing infrastructure costs and simplifying network management.
The deployment was announced by Vistance Networks, the parent company of RUCKUS Networks, which described the Oakland Arena project as a full modernisation of the site's communications infrastructure rather than a limited Wi-Fi expansion.
For Oakland Arena, the significance lies in keeping core venue services running alongside public connectivity during packed events. The arena remained fully operational throughout the 13-day upgrade and then carried more than 8.2 terabytes of traffic over two sold-out concerts without disruption, according to the companies.