Technology Sep. 18, 2011 - 07:19AM JST ( 6 )

FUKUOKA —

Kyushu University and PicoCELA Inc have successfully installed wireless internet access points throughout Fukuoka’s Tenjin Chikagai, one of Japan’s largest underground shopping arcades.

Tenjin Chikagai is a 1.2-km-long dual concourse underground arcade with over 150 business tenants. In celebration of the arcade’s 35th anniversary on Sept 1, its 400,000 daily visitors can now enjoy free high-speed access at one of the country’s largest underground WiFi hot spots.

Prior to the advent of the university’s wireless backhaul technology, constructing a multiple access point network at an expansive indoor space involved a tremendous amount of planning, labor, and expense for installing all the cabling. However, the new technology requires only a fraction of the cabling, which reduced the total installation costs for this deployment by over 86%.

Access point devices featuring the university’s groundbreaking wireless backhaul technology greatly reduce the cost of installing large-scale WiFi networks, removing a major obstacle to the creation and expansion of hot spots for 3G data offloading.

Furthermore, the unique access point devices support the direct conveyance of dynamic location-based mobile contents, a future-oriented service for visitors; potentially an on-going revenue stream for the arcade’s tenants and contents creators.

Business Wire