As an international gateway to the south-central United States and Latin America, Houston Airports contributes more than $36 billion to the local economy and provides more than 190,000 jobs. Hosting over 30 passenger airlines, Houston Airports is ensuring it can meet the mobile experience expectations of today’s travelers by rolling out high-performance, free guest Wi-Fi connectivity and debuting a step-by-step wayfinding app to help travelers get to their gate, baggage claim, and airport amenities.
Additionally, Houston Airports deployed HPE Aruba Networking Beacons to provide additional location-based telemetry data in support of its new mobile app, which was built using The Aruba Meridian App Platform.
“We’re continuously evolving our services to supply travelers and facility users with next-generation connectivity experiences, while also being good stewards of public funds,” said Darryl Daniel, CTO at Houston Airports. “HPE Aruba Networking has proven a responsive, reliable partner that has provided us with robust, cost-effective solutions for our wireless infrastructure.”
Gaining a future-proof wireless network
Working with trusted local partner Layer 3 Communications, Houston Airports determined that adopting location-aware Wi-Fi 6E APs (access points) from HPE Aruba Networking would future-proof its guest wireless networks.
“With the skyrocketing expectation for seamless and reliable content streaming, including consuming bandwidth-hungry 4K video, implementing Wi-Fi 6E just made sense,” said Craig Wall, General Manager, Western Region at Layer 3 Communications. “Deploying HPE Aruba Networking for guest wireless ensured Houston Airports could provide high-performance, reliable connectivity to millions of travelers around the clock, while keeping IT overhead low due to the solution’s proven reliability and ease of management.”
App smooths the travel journey
The app provides travelers with a range of stress-relieving insights, including detailed wayfinding with estimated walking times, real-time parking space availability, and locating where a person’s vehicle is parked within a structure. Other features include previewing security checkpoint wait times, visualizing restaurant and shop locations, and receiving real-time flight information.
“In addition to the features we’ve already introduced, we’re excited about all of the possibilities the HPE Aruba Networking solution enables for expanding the app,” said Daniel. “Some future features will include reserving parking spaces in advance and completing in-app food, beverage, and merchandise purchases.”
Realizing IoT and sustainability advantages
Houston Airports is also leveraging its HPE Aruba Networking APs as an IoT platform, which includes the ability to perform IoT gateway functionality for Bluetooth, Zigbee, and Wi-Fi enabled devices. An immediate project is making restrooms smarter.
Using various IoT sensors, Houston Airports is gathering and transmitting the data needed to adjust facilities maintenance schedules in real time. This permits more closely matching maintenance with the variable foot traffic created by the dynamic changes in airline arrivals and departures. Houston Airports is also developing related IoT data feeds for its mobile app to help travellers pinpoint restrooms with availability and avoid occupied facilities.
The organization’s new Wi-Fi also contributes to Houston Airports sustainability initiative. It provides wireless networking infrastructure with built in power saving capabilities, helps IT operate efficiently, and enables further development of location analytics to supply data for optimizing spaces in support of reducing energy consumption.
“It’s critical for every operating unit at our airports to contribute toward our sustainability targets,” said Daniel. “Our HPE Aruba Networking infrastructure helps our IT department do just that.”
