## Background

FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee, serves as the heart of local sports and entertainment. Home to the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies and the University of Memphis Tigers, the 18,000-seat arena hosts a wide variety of high-traffic events: basketball games, professional wrestling, bull riding, concerts, and graduations, among others. Across these diverse gatherings, attendees expect seamless connectivity that lets them share videos, post on social media, and stay updated in real time.

Overseeing the venue’s network is no small feat. With up to 9,000 fans connecting simultaneously during peak events, FedExForum’s IT staff must deliver robust, high-density Wi-Fi while also handling wired connections for media, security scanners, and point-of-sale systems. “We never know what each event requires until show day—we have to adapt quickly and easily,” says Darrell DeRosia, Sr. Director, Network & Infrastructure Services for the Grizzlies.

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## Business Objectives

1. **High-Density Wireless Performance**
The primary goal at FedExForum is to ensure that everyone—fans, vendors, production crews—experiences consistent and high-speed connectivity, no matter the size or nature of the event. “If our Wi-Fi lags, it hurts the fan experience,” Darrell says. “We want it to be seamless so it doesn’t even cross their minds.”

2. **Flexible Network Configurations**
Different events bring diverse technical requests. A touring concert might require dedicated VLANs for streaming; a sports broadcast might need robust, low-latency wired connections to feed 4K camera signals. The team must be ready to pivot configurations rapidly between NBA games, bull-riding events, or major concerts.

3. **Reliable Core with Minimal Downtime**
FedExForum is operational around the clock. Beyond game nights, employees use the space for rehearsals, vendor setup, maintenance, and administrative work. The network must sustain crucial functions like ticketing, security checkpoints, and broadcast coverage. Because the arena cannot simply pause operations, segmentation ensures that individual sections can be  updated or replaced without impacting the entire facility.

## Why UniFi

**Enterprise-Ready Scale**
FedExForum selected UniFi for its capacity to manage thousands of concurrent connections. “The Enterprise Fortress Gateway (EFG) was the largest gateway at the time, and it meets our requirement of getting 5,000-plus people online with no hiccups,” Darrell explains.

High-density environments often demand extreme throughput, so the IT team provisions multiple 10 Gbps circuits from different ISPs (Comcast and Verizon). NAT pooling further helps prevent port exhaustion when thousands of devices simultaneously try to connect.

**High-Density Wi-Fi and Intelligent RF**
Arenas present complex RF environments: large open spaces, thousands of bodies blocking signals, and multi-level seating. FedExForum’s bowl uses a combination of  UWB XGS (Wi-Fi 5, triple 5 GHz radios) and newer E7 Audience APs that add 6 GHz spectrum and pave the way for Wi-Fi 7. The older UWB XGS still delivers reliable performance, while the E7 Audience is already relieving congestion by offering more channels.

**Line of Sight and Under-Seat Coverage**
In lower bowl sections, APs mount just below the scoreboard. “Line of sight is king in high-density Wi-Fi,” Darrell notes. This approach minimizes interference since fewer spectators block signals. Meanwhile, certain levels incorporate under-seat access points to ensure strong coverage, placing them every 50 to 70 seats.  

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**Sophisticated Channel Planning**
Proper channel reuse is essential in a large venue. The team sets minimum RSSI thresholds, uses color-coded channel striping, and leverages the 6 GHz band to increase overall capacity. Current testing shows around 1.6 Gbps of aggregate wireless throughput during peak times, and the additional 6 GHz spectrum is expected to double or even triple that figure as more clients adopt newer devices.

**Integrated Switching for Seamless Power and Aggregation**
UniFi’s switching infrastructure complements the arena’s high-density Wi-Fi deployment. The ECS series switches offer robust PoE capabilities to power multiple APs and scoreboard systems, with ECS campus switches handling fiber aggregation on the wired side. This layered approach ensures the backbone can handle data surges—particularly when camera crews push large files or thousands of fans stream simultaneously.

Enterprise Fortress Gateway (HA Pair)

MCLAG high-density 100G/25G Layer 3 Switch

Enterprise Campus Aggregation

24-port Layer 3 Etherlighting™ PoE+++ switch with 10 GbE RJ45 and 25G SFP28 for high-availability design.

Enterprise Campus 24 PoE

48-port Layer 3 Etherlighting™ PoE+++ switch with 10 GbE RJ45 and 25G SFP28 for high-availability design.

Enterprise Campus 48 PoE

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## Additional Highlights

**Wi-Fi 7 Readiness**
As new devices proliferate, FedExForum anticipates an uptick in Wi-Fi 7 clients. Although many fans currently use Wi-Fi 5 or Wi-Fi 6 devices, the E7 Audience APs can already broadcast on 6 GHz to give early adopters a significant performance boost. The team limits certain SSIDs on these APs to avoid overloading them with legacy devices, but has observed speeds of 500 to 600 Mbps even in crowded conditions.

**Maintenance Windows and Segmentation**
Because FedExForum operates nearly 24/7, scheduling downtime is tricky. The UniFi architecture lets IT isolate sub-networks for updates while keeping others fully functional. Ticketing, security scanners, and broadcast operations remain online if only a specific portion of the network is being upgraded. This segmentation strategy helps maintain reliability for critical services during firmware updates or hardware swaps.

Ceiling-mounted WiFi 7 AP, 6 streams, 6 GHz, interference-free in large-scale environments.

U7 Pro

Enterprise-grade indoor access point with 10-stream WiFi 7, 10 GbE uplink, and redundant GbE for high availability.

Indoor/outdoor AP for high-density use with 12-stream 5/6 GHz WiFi 7, 10 GbE uplink, and redundant GbE.

E7 Audience

Indoor/outdoor AP with 10-stream WiFi 7, PRISM™ RF filtering, and built-in directional antennas.

E7 Campus

## Handling Seasonal Peaks

During key NBA matchups or major concerts, the venue can see well above 9,000 concurrent wireless devices. The network balances load across APs and channels, ensuring that every seat in the lower and upper bowls receives adequate coverage. Under-seat APs supplement scoreboard-mounted units, preventing radio interference and maximizing throughput. This design allows spectators to post on social media, watch replays, and capture high-definition videos in real time, without network lag.

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## Conclusion

From casual fans checking social media during a basketball game to roving production teams streaming 4K video at a sold-out concert, FedExForum’s networking demands span a broad spectrum of use cases. By deploying a UniFi-centric solution—featuring EFG gateways, ECS PoE switches, and high-density access points—the Memphis arena has built a foundation that comfortably supports both today’s Wi-Fi traffic and tomorrow’s influx of 6 GHz and Wi-Fi 7 devices.

All the benefits of UniFi 7 and 6 GHz, tailored for interior design

U7 Pro Wall

Third-generation, indoor/outdoor NFC reader and intercom with Touch Pass support.

G3 Reader Pro

All-weather 4K PoE camera with a 1/1.8" 8MP image sensor, Multi-TOPS AI Engine, and long-range IR night vision.

G6 Bullet

All-weather, tamper-resistant 4K PoE camera with 8MP sensor, Multi-TOPS AI, and 3-axis adjustment for flexible installs.

G6 Turret

Plug-and-play 4K WiFi camera with 8MP sensor, Multi-TOPS AI, and two-way audio.

G6 Instant

In a high-density environment where thousands of people converge, FedExForum’s seamless Wi-Fi experience stands as a testament to thoughtful planning, cutting-edge technology, and a commitment to giving every guest the best possible experience—no matter how big the show.

See how FedExForum’s IT team delivers bleeding-edge Wi-Fi with pinpoint precision to over 18,000 Memphis Grizzlies fans—raising the bar for stadium connectivity and fan engagement.

Delivering Reliable Connectivity to Iconic Events Across America.

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FedExForum - Memphis Grizzlies

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Delivering Reliable Connectivity for 50,000 Visitors at GelreDome Stadium with UniFi

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SociallyU Virtual Production Studio

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De LaSalle Academy

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Waverly Community School District

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Connecting Two OB/GYN Sites with Secure UniFi SD-WAN

IT Integration and Deployment for Jiangyin Nuclear Power Components Factory

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Transforming IT at the American School of Ulaanbaatar with UniFi

A U.S. Antarctic Program research ice-class vessel supporting 72 scientists across six decks, operating between Australia, South Africa, South America, New Zealand, and U.S. stations like Palmer and McMurdo in Antarctica.

RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer (Research Vessel Icebreaker)

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Network

## Background

Shopify Summit 2025 brought together 6,500 Shopify employees for a four-day internal event in Toronto, centered around innovation, hackathons, and team connection. Nearly 2,000 additional attendees joined across the street for Editions.dev, a separate but concurrently supported event for Shopify platform users. Despite being distinct experiences, both events shared the same underlying network infrastructure, supporting nearly 8,500 users across multiple buildings — all delivered through a unified, high-performance UniFi network deployment.

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With thousands of developers and highly technical users relying on consistent, high-speed internet access for intensive coding, software deployment, video streaming, and real-time collaboration, the event required an exceptionally robust and expansive networking infrastructure. Rapid deployment, seamless management, and exceptional reliability of the network were particularly critical given the planned high network utilization and the 24-hour event schedule.

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## Why UniFi?

UniFi's wireless performance is unparalleled, providing the critical horsepower necessary for pushing bandwidth limits in extremely dense, high-demand environments. Given the modern hardware and intensive bandwidth demands of the developers in attendance, the wireless channel plan called for utilizing the entire available 5 GHz and 6 GHz spectrum. This demanding scenario meant that maximum capability from every access point was crucial. UniFi's advanced wireless technology delivered, ensuring maximum throughput and minimal latency for thousands of simultaneous, high-bandwidth users.

Scalability was a decisive factor in selecting UniFi. While initial plans projected fewer connections, this full-stack UniFi Network scaled to more than 27,000 connected devices at peak times during the event.

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UniFi’s rapid deployment capability was critical, with over 1,200 devices—including 330 wireless access points and almost 1,000 switches—installed quickly and efficiently within a stringent five-day window. This agility ensured minimal disruption and seamless operations throughout the event buildout, all managed via a single on-site Cloud Key Enterprise.

A UniFi Console designed for managing massive-scale UniFi Networks.

CloudKey Enterprise

UniFi’s Enterprise Migration Assistance Program was instrumental in the deployment’s success. Through the program, Ubiquiti connected Shopify with industry experts—like [WLAN Pros](https://wlanprofessionals.com/) for RF design. The program also provided end-to-end support, including pre-sales consultation, network design assistance, on-site deployment assistance, and NOC support throughout the event.

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## 6 GHz for 6,500+ People

The wireless networking for Shopify Summit 2025 was expertly designed and executed by [Wireless LAN Professionals](https://wlanprofessionals.com/) (WLAN Pros), led by Ferney Muñoz and Keith Parsons—recognized experts in high-density Wi-Fi deployments. Leveraging UniFi’s advanced wireless technology and best-in-class practices, WLAN Pros delivered robust and reliable wireless connectivity, effectively handling the demands of thousands of simultaneous users.

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**AP Selection**

UniFi’s Wi-Fi 7-capable E7 Campus access points, equipped with directional antennas, were strategically selected to meet the event's high-density wireless demands. These advanced access points provided focused coverage, ensuring robust signal strength even in challenging open spaces. The choice of directional antennas was instrumental in minimizing interference and maximizing channel efficiency.

The E7 Campus APs, deployed primarily on trusses and strategically placed tripods, effectively covered large, densely populated areas. Their directional design helped manage radio frequency utilization by reducing interference from neighboring APs, ensuring consistently high performance even under peak network demand conditions. The E7 Campuses were further aided by Ubiquiti’s patented PRISM technology on 5 GHz, further enhancing their ability to ignore adjacent channel interference and increase client throughput.

In breakout rooms throughout the venue, UniFi’s E7 access points were also deployed for traditional omnidirectional coverage.

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**Capacity Planning, RF Planning, and Design**

Capacity planning involved meticulous RF modeling and extensive predictive simulations to accurately forecast and meet the substantial wireless demands of thousands of simultaneous connections. The RF planning and design process was comprehensive, leveraging advanced predictive modeling tools to visualize coverage patterns and identify potential areas of interference. To achieve this, WLAN Pros used [Sidos](https://www.sidos.com/) for RF modeling and validation—a professional-grade platform that natively incorporates UniFi’s antenna patterns, ensuring highly accurate simulations and placement strategies. Initial site surveys and predictive models were validated and fine-tuned with rigorous on-site testing, using professional RF measurement tools and techniques.

This meticulous approach to RF planning helped identify ideal AP placements, optimal antenna angles, and power settings. Continuous monitoring with AirView within UniFi Network and proactive adjustments during the event ensured minimal channel congestion and maximum throughput, demonstrating UniFi’s superior capabilities in managing complex, high-density wireless environments.

The ability to rapidly modify configurations and redistribute resources allowed the UniFi solution to dynamically adapt to real-world conditions, maintaining consistent performance throughout the event. Initial projections accounted for significantly fewer devices, but the flexibility and robust capabilities of UniFi enabled seamless scaling to accommodate over 17,500 wireless clients.

UniFi Case Studies