Cox Business is powering the temporary media center for the presidential debate at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) on Oct. 19. Cox will provide telephone service, a massive back-up internet connection as well as cable and broadcast channels for use in the Cox Pavilion, a multi-purpose indoor arena and site of the media center. Services will also be provided to the adjacent 18,000 seat Thomas & Mack Center, site of the presidential debate, and Mendenhall Center, a basketball practice facility attached to the Cox Pavilion to be used for food service.
“We’re pleased that UNLV has selected Cox Business to provide critical technology services in support of this third and final presidential debate,” said Derrick Hill, vice president of Cox Business Las Vegas. “We realize that with the world watching, reliable communications infrastructure is an absolute must. Our experience, enterprise-grade services and professional support can meet these customer demands at the highest level.”
“As a major urban research university, UNLV keeps thousands of faculty, staff, students and visitors connected every day,” said Gerry Bomotti, senior vice president of finance and business. “Over the next week, thousands of national and international journalists will be on campus for the final presidential debate and utilize the upgraded service to file their stories around the globe.”
The technology company has installed 500 lines of digital telephone service available at the Thomas & Mack Center, Cox Pavilion, Mendenhall Center and outside media trailers. The service will be provided through Cox Business IP Centrex, an advanced, cloud-based hosted telephone system with business-grade voice service.
Cox Business is also providing UNLV with a temporary, redundant 10-gigabit fiber-optic internet to help ensure internet connectivity for the media corps, vendors and guests.
The UNLV debate facilities will also have access to a customized tier of 20 high-definition cable channels and affiliate broadcasters made available on nearly 200 television monitors throughout. Included among these are BBC America, CNN, CNN en Español, C-SPAN, CNBC, Fox Business, News, Fox News Network, HLN as well as other providers on the Cox cable line-up. Local broadcast affiliates are also included in addition to the live debate feed.
Cox has provided video services to UNLV for nearly 20 years and was recently selected to expand the campus’ Wi-Fi network to include 3,258 access points.
