DAS Group Professionals (DGP) has been selected to design, engineer, install, monitor and maintain the network to first serve an area of the city that has heavy demand for cell phone and mobile data services. The Walnut Creek, California-based company is best known for the design, build, maintenance and monitoring of the DAS within Levi’s Stadium; the Levi’s DAS is considered within the industry as the most innovative in its category. DGP also maintains the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) DAS. The group was awarded the Santa Clara work after a competitive selection process that considered providers from across the nation.

“DGP’s design, engineering, installation and maintenance record is extremely good. But their collaborative approach and experience working with multiple carriers and diverse equipment is what really won us over,” said John Roukema, Director of Silicon Valley Power (SVP). “They also distinguished themselves through a business model that offers transparency and a positive financial model for the City.” SVP is the City of Santa Clara’s municipal electric utility and selected DGP to install the new system.

Access to the oDAS will be offered to all wireless carriers (ATT, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and others). Typically, the carriers are eager to access a robust network that will lessen the load on their current equipment. “If the carrier knows that the network will be up to their standards and that we’ll work with them to ensure smooth tech interfaces and customer satisfaction, they’re happy to have someone else build the network,” says Vince Gamick, Vice President of DGP. “Levi’s is a good example of that. The four biggest carriers readily came on board and it really improved fan experience. Everyone was pleased.”

DGP will coordinate with all wireless carriers to implement the network; each wireless carrier will be given the opportunity to exchange the equipment mounted on light poles and other infrastructure for a DAS node. The project will cover the area north of Bayshore (Highway 101) and is expected to improve wireless services for businesses, residents and visitors in the Convention Center/Great America/Levi’s Stadium locality.

Taken together, the DAS nodes and the existing SVP Fiber Enterprise fiber optic network will form a city-owned Wireless Service Provider (WSP) network that will benefit all users of participating carriers – and which could be easily extended. That would make the Santa Clara network among the first citywide public access systems in the United States, complementing Santa Clara’s free outdoor Wi-Fi access service which was launched in 2013.

oDAS are projected to become standard infrastructure, as legacy infrastructure is overwhelmed by the increases in wireless data traffic. “The nation’s wireless data traffic increased by 120 percent between 2013 and 2014. We expect that the numbers from 2014 are going to show an even steeper growth trend,” says DGP’s Gamick.

The City first conceived of the DAS in July of 2013 as its tech savvy residents and workers quickly migrated to mobile devices and combined data loads were predicted to swamp current technology. Santa Clara’s entertainment, sports and convention zone is especially prone to overload and the February 2016 Super Bowl 50 is predicted to set records for data and voice data demand.

“This project is one of many ways Santa Clara is a leader in using new technology to improve connectivity for our resident and business communities,” said Santa Clara City Manager Julio Fuentes.

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About DAS Group Professionals
DAS Group Professionals installs wireless communications systems for use at facilities that aren’t suited for traditional wireless systems because of heavy infrastructure, geographic features that limit coverage, or heavy wireless use by concentrated populations. It specializes in DAS solutions. DGP’s clients include Candlestick Park, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), large convention centers and universities. Learn more at dasgroupprofessionals.com.

About Silicon Valley Power
Silicon Valley Power is the trademark adopted for use by the not-for-profit electric municipal utility of the City of Santa Clara, CA serving residents and businesses for over 100 years. SVP provides power to more than 50,000 customers, including Applied Materials, Intel, Owens Corning, Yahoo! and NVIDIA at rates 15 to 45 percent below neighboring communities. Learn more at siliconvalleypower.com.