SCinet Wireless Service Policy

SCinet will deploy IEEE 802.11a, 802.11g and 802.11n wireless networks within the Washington State Convention Center (WSCC), The Conference Center (TCC), and the first floor meeting rooms at the Grand Hyatt (GH) in Seattle. These wireless networks are part of the production SCinet network, providing access to the Internet and many other national and agency networks. The wireless network will be provided in the meeting rooms, exhibit halls, and common areas of the WSCC, TCC, and GH.

SCinet provides the wireless network for use by all exhibitors and attendees at no charge. Known wireless network limitations, such as areas of reduced signal strength, network congestion, limited client capacity, or other coverage difficulties may be experienced within certain areas. Please watch for additional signage at appropriate locations throughout the convention center.
Network settings including IP and DNS addresses for wireless clients are provided by SCinet via DHCP. Laptops and other wireless devices configured to request network configuration information via DHCP receive this information automatically upon entering the SCinet wireless coverage area.

SCinet will monitor the health of the wireless networks and maintain this information for exhibitors and attendees. The wireless networks are governed by this policy posted on the SC11 conference Web site. In summary, while every practical effort shall be made to provide stable reliable network services, there is no explicit service level agreement for any SCinet network, including the wireless networks, nor are there any remedies available in the event that network services are lost.

In order to provide the most robust wireless service possible, SCinet must control the entire 2.4GHz and 5.2GHz ISM bands (2.412GHz-2.462GHz) and (5.15GHz to 5.35GHz) within the WSCC, TCC, and GH where SC11 events are taking place. This has important implications for both exhibitors and attendees:

Exhibitors and attendees may not operate their own IEEE 802.11 (a,b,g,n or other standard) wireless Ethernet access points anywhere within the convention center, including within their own booth.

Wireless clients may not operate in ad-hoc or peer-to-peer mode due to the potential for interference with other wireless clients.

Exhibitors and attendees may not operate 2.4GHz or 5.2GHz cordless phones or microphones.

Exhibitors and attendees may not operate 2.4GHz wireless video or security cameras, or any other equipment transmitting in the 2.4GHz or 5.2GHz spectrum.

SCinet wants you to have a successful, pleasant experience at SC11. This should include the ability to sit down with your wireless-equipped laptop or PDA to check e-mail or surf the Web from anywhere in the wireless coverage areas. Please help us achieve this goal by not operating equipment that will interfere with other users. SCinet will actively monitor both the 2.4GHz and 5.2GHz frequency spectrums and reserves the right to disconnect any equipment that interferes with the SCinet wireless networks. The conference reserves the right to deny or remove access to any system in violation of the SCinet acceptable usage policy.

SCinet reserves the right to revoke access to the wireless network to anyone who uses multicast applications or harms the network in any way, intended or unintended, via computer virus, excessive bandwidth consumption or similar misuse.

Remember that the SCinet wireless network is a best effort network. If you are running demonstrations in your booth that require high availability network access, we advise exhibitors to order a wired network connection.