Fryeburg Fair Charlotte’s “web” just got a whole lot faster at the Fryeburg Fair. The largest agricultural fair in the state of Maine –and the second-largest in New England– Fryeburg Fair is a staple in the community, serving more than 300,000 visitors the week of the event.

As with any large-scale public event, Fryeburg Fair places a high priority on safety and security.

There is a dedicated police force onsite and 18 cameras are dispersed throughout the fairgrounds.

The police force relies on feeds from the surveillance cameras to monitor fairground activity and respond to any public safety incidents.

Fryeburg Fair needed a faster and more robust wireless network to support their video surveillance system as outages are not an option.

Fryeburg Fair needed a faster and more robust wireless network to support their video surveillance system as outages are not an option.

Beyond supporting video surveillance, the Fair needed a networking solution to satisfy the needs of 200+ vendors on-site.

Vendors complained about slow transaction times and system outages with the previous competitor’s network (begins with a “C”).

Fryeburg Fair chose Avaya to deliver Wireless LAN 9100, Virtual Service Platform 4000 Series and 3500 Series Ethernet Routing Switches.

To add to the challenge, the complete rip-and-replace installation and testing needed to be completed in 72 hours. This included 32 access points, 18 switches and 18 cameras.

The difference between the new networking solutions and the former is palpable throughout the fairgrounds.

Vendor sales have increased as a result of speedy credit card processing times. From an administration perspective, fewer hours are spent troubleshooting connectivity issues.

The Fair’s video surveillance capabilities have also improved as a result of the reliable Avaya wireless backbone.

“This new system is phenomenal,” said David Andrews, Building and Grounds Superintendent at Fryeburg Fair. “It allows us to be able to be on top of things right away, instead of waiting for something to happen. For instance, cameras are set up at all the gates so we can monitor the gates at all times, we can monitor the ticket booth, we can monitor the traffic coming into the Fair, and if something happens we can be on top of it a lot faster.”