It seems like a cush gig, zipping around Pumpkin Ridge Country Club in a golf cart on a flawless summer weekend. But the team of Comcast Business techs who enabled all the connectivity at the recent WinCo Foods Portland Open Tournament had been hard at work for weeks leading up to the event.
Ryan Tahara of Lagardere Sports is the tournament director, responsible for the success of every aspect of this swanky event, seen by thousands in person and most likely millions on TV, as it was broadcast live on the Golf Channel.
“Comcast Business has been great,” said Tahara. “The team came in and mapped out what technology services we wanted to provide for the spectators and guests for the optimal experience. We had a 20-minute conversation and they said, “We got it.” They came out a few weeks before the event started, got everything set up, got the cables connected, and it was ready to go when the tournament started.”
Tahara had a “stretch goal” for Comcast Business this year: free public wifi in an area called The Grove. “It’s a spot with brewery and winery booths for spectators to hang out,” said Tahara. “And it’s in the middle of the golf course — not easy to get a solid signal through all the trees. But these guys were great. They devised a way to work around that and got it set up, providing a phenomenal guest experience.”
Tahara made it sound easy, but Comcast TechOps Supervisor Jacob Wease says it took some doing. “We had to figure out not only how to get across the golf course greens where we obviously couldn’t lay cable, but over a wooded wetland, too. We chose to use two sets of directional wi-fi radios to beam the wireless signals to access points that redistributed the wifi connection, enabling spectators to upload their videos at high-speeds as they sipped their adult beverages.”
How much does Tahara appreciate the team of techs that enabled success for his massive event? “Comcast techs are outstanding. They’re the best. If I could hire them away, I would. They would be a nice addition to our team.”
Another bragging point: The Web(dot)com tour truck holds a speed challenge at each of their tournament sites, and since the Winco Portland Open was the last stop, they were able to compare all their service providers. Comcast Business won both the speed AND reliability challenges!
With the tournament now over (won by Sungjae Im of South Korea, for those who missed it), the Comcast Business tech team of Kyle McDaniel, Edwin Pereira, Jacob Wease, Brian Keller, and Neil Edge have now taken it all apart and are moving the whole show to Columbia Edgewater Country Club for the Portland Classic LPGA tournament there in two weeks.
