Business View Magazine | September 2022

159 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 9 DENNY SANFORD PREMI ER CENTER a $400 million gift made in 2007 to what was then called Sioux Valley Hospital. Owned by the City of Sioux Falls, the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center is managed by event and venue management company ASM Global. Back in 2014, when the city built the 12,000- seat arena, Wi-Fi access was, and still is, a critical component. For that element, IT specialists Connecting Point were proud to partner with RUCKUS to provide the wireless infrastructure at the Center. Designing a solution that would provide wireless access to 12,000 people at the same time was quite the feat. Jiten Gori, Ruckus Networks Channel Manager, shares, “Connecting Point is one of my best partners in our whole 10-state region. We make a great team. Pre-COVID, Paul Simon had a concert in the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center and my wife and I drove down from Minneapolis for it. We were in the “Big Bowl” on the floor and the stands were packed, and while everyone was on their phone posting on social media… I was testing the Wi-Fi. I was getting amazing speeds despite their being more than 10,000 people in the venue. To me, that was proof that the wireless solution we jointly provided was very successful.” Jim Johnson, Assistant General Manager of ASM Global shares, “We took over complex-wide management 15 years ago. We have been going strong for eight years now, and the future looks pretty good as well. It’s been great getting back into the event industry coming out of the pandemic. There are always challenges, but we are looking forward to building things back up to how they were back in 2019.” With a study underway to consider taking down the original arena, which was built in 1961, and expanding the convention center, growth is on the horizon for the venue. “As Sioux Falls continues to grow, so do we,” Johnson adds.