Smart City Networks Services High-Profile Leadership Summit

By Jacoby Bancroft – Staff Writer

Smart City Networks strives every day to deliver the game-changing services to meetings and events across the nation. As the United States’ leading provider of technology services for the convention industry, we have been fortunate enough to take part in a wide variety of important and inspirational events over the years. One recent event that we thought deserved special recognition was the United States-Africa Leaders Summit 2022 that took place at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington D.C. It was a gathering that not only promoted enthusiastic, challenging discussions to strengthen ties with African partners, but also highlighted the hard work and dedication of the local Smart City team.

The summit lasted three days, with delegations from 49 invited African states and the African Union, along with members of civil society and the private sector all in attendance. President Biden, Vice President Harris, and members of the Cabinet were on-hand to engage, learn, and speak with one another regarding essential issues like economic engagement, democracy and human rights, and a response to the climate crisis among many other topics.

“The U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit was an incredible showcase for all that can be accomplished when we sit down and talk with one another,” Jim Erickson, Smart City’s General Manager at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, said. “To see all the inspirational work that was being done at this Summit was unbelievable, and being part of the team responsible for helping make this event a reality is exactly what Smart City strives for.”

Smart City was committed to providing a secure, high speed network for all attendees, but due to the high-profile guests in attendance, everything about the event prep was amplified tenfold. This included working to increase our secondary redundant circuit bandwidth. But thanks to our expertise and our preparation, Smart City was ready for anything. During the event, close to 2,150 unique Wi-Fi users were operating on the network, with a 400 Mbps Peak Usage and 125 Mbps average utilization for the entire Summit.

On top of the task at hand, the building was on complete lockdown, with extra care going to background and security checks. The team in place met the heightened restrictions head on and rose to the occasion. We are also proud to announce that our Customer Service Manager at the center, Donnita Butler, received a certificate of appreciation for her contributions that was hand delivered by the Secret Service after the Summit.

“I truly believe this certificate should have been awarded to my team because of their hard work, long hours, and tremendous efforts,” Butler said. “I couldn’t have done this without them!”

The U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit epitomizes the uniqueness of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and the team members located there. We look forward to more Summits being held in the near future and we will certainly be ready for them!