For companies serving the fast-paced retail sector, seamless indoor connectivity is not a luxury—it is the backbone of operational efficiency. Managing a large corporate headquarters alongside dozens of nationwide satellite offices requires constant, flawless synchronization between executive management, logistics, and regional operations. However, severe structural signal blockages and restrictive local zoning laws can stifle standard outdoor cellular coverage and isolate critical indoor environments.
Le défi
This was the challenge facing Next Phase Enterprises at its headquarters in Phoenix, so the company turned to its technology systems integrator, Engineering Wireless Services (EWS). Next Phase Enterprises is a full-service sales, marketing, and logistics organization in the retail industry. Its client roster includes some of the world’s largest retailers. The company services its clients from 15 nationwide offices located in proximity to its customers’ global headquarters and regional buying offices.
Shortly after moving its corporate headquarters to the upscale Arcadia district, company officials realized the cellular coverage for two of the three major carriers inside the 45,000-square-foot building could not support the level of productivity and service that they required. Next Phase IT staff met with the EWS team, who performed a preliminary site audit. The team quickly realized that, of the three major carriers, only AT&T, whose tower is located across the street, was able to reach the building with sufficient signal strength.
Due to strict zoning ordinances in the Arcadia district, the closest Verizon and T-Mobile cell sites were more than a mile away. In addition, the Next Phase offices—formerly a Whole Foods grocery store—feature internal structural materials that impede RF signals.
The technical challenge for EWS was how to sufficiently boost the weak signals from Verizon and T-Mobile and distribute them throughout the building to ensure seamless multi-carrier coverage. Time was also a factor; each day without reliable and ubiquitous coverage was costing Next Phase in terms of productivity and revenue.
“Due to the location of the building and the unique RF environment inside, we needed a solution that could thread the needle in terms of multi-carrier performance, quick deployment, and future scalability,” said Jon Szeliga, CSO at EWS.
Even before the EWS team finished the preliminary site audit, they had the answer: The new BARS distributed antenna system (DAS) from SOLiD.
The Solution
EWS is a long-time partner of SOLiD, a leading provider of advanced DAS solutions. By the time the SOLiD BARS platform officially hit the market, members of the EWS engineering team, including Project Manager Michael Barton, were already familiar with it.
“The BARS DAS platform is pretty much built for a project like the Next Phase network upgrade,” Barton explained. BARS is an advanced DAS solution that’s optimized for Middleprise buildings like the Next Phase headquarters. Its active headend provides a localized signal source that minimizes cabling complexity and reduces the overall system footprint compared to traditional repeating systems. The compact headend filters, balances, and amplifies RF signals for all three carriers, which are then distributed over standard Cat6A cabling to remote units (RUs) throughout the building.
Unlike traditional DAS solutions that require two cables per RU, the BARS solution uses only one Ethernet cable per RU. In an existing building like the Next Phase headquarters, where existing cable pathways may be limited, this made deployment much easier, faster, and less disruptive.
For EWS and Next Phase, the SOLiD BARS solution checked all the boxes, and the project was a go. The final design featured one headend unit and eight RUs. The entire installation required just two technicians, one manager, and four days.
“The simplified cabling architecture basically cut installation time in half,” reported Barton.
Results
Today, Next Phase, powered by the SOLiD BARS Middleprise DAS, is operating at full speed with users already reporting improvements.
“We have a lot of feedback on performance improvements,” said Abe Alirez, Director of IT at Next Phase. “Including notably better service throughout the building, including finally being able to receive text messages inside.
With support for up to three bands per carrier, there is plenty of headroom for future growth. When Next Phase is ready to expand coverage, BARS’ built-in fiber expansion makes adding more hubs and antennas quick, easy, and non-disruptive. A single headend unit can support up to 40 RUs.
The low power consumption and minimal maintenance requirements of the BARS hardware also help Next Phase meet its sustainability objectives while providing one of the lowest total costs of ownership in the industry. With an easy-to-use network management system and web-based user interface, ongoing commissioning, monitoring, and system optimization couldn’t be simpler.
By leveraging the SOLiD BARS solution, Next Phase and EWS have set a new benchmark for Middleprise indoor cellular deployments. The project proves that reliable cellular coverage can be achieved without the complexity of traditional large-scale DAS, provided the right technology and expertise are in place.