What better opportunity to showcase the capabilities of an advanced location analytics tool than one of the largest tech events in the world? Take an exclusive look into the footfall and visitor engagement data from the Extreme’s stand at GITEX Global 2023 and witness the true potential of ExtremeLocation Essentials!
GITEX Global, which took place on October 16-20 at the Dubai World Trade Center, is renowned for its ability to exhibit cutting-edge technologies, and this year was no exception. Extreme Networks hosted its showcase at booth C10 in Hall 20, where visitors were given the opportunity to explore the boundaries of what can be achieved by leveraging networks as strategic assets, driving operational excellence, enhancing user experiences, and positively influencing organizational outcomes.
One of the standout features of the event included the live demonstration of ExtremeLocation Essentials, a location analytics tool seamlessly integrated into the ExtremeCloud management IQ platform.
The wireless setup at GITEX Global 2023
Extreme’s booth at GITEX Global 2023 was equipped with four wireless access points, set up in a way to enable optimal radio coverage, as shown in the heatmap below.
Figure 1. The setup of APs at the Extreme booth during GITEX Global 2023
As you can see, there was some overlap with the neighboring stands; However, our radio coverage radius and tracking threshold were configured in such a way as to maximize the “real” impressions and footfall traffic statistics of the Extreme’s stand. For the purpose of this analysis, we will be utilizing the following nomenclature identifying two main categories of visitors:
- Inside Engaged Visitor – a visitor that was inside the -50 dBm threshold for more than 5 minutes
- Outside Visitor – a visitor inside the -90 dBm to -51 dBm threshold that was seen by the wireless stations for less than 5 minutes
Figure 2. Inside Engaged Visitors – devices within the white circle radius (red to yellow range) and Outside Visitors – devices outside the white circle radius (yellow to green and beyond range)
An important note: when defining the thresholds, we tracked all wireless and Bluetooth enabled devices, no matter if they were connected to the Extreme Wi-Fi or not. This is possible due to the nature of wireless transmission, as each device sends out wireless beacons to discover nearby access points. Simply put, we were capturing those beacons and recording the devices as they entered and left the wireless range of our access points.
Figure 3. How visitors can be defined in ExtremeLocation Essentials
Footfall numbers
Throughout all five days of GITEX Global 2023, we have identified 83,070 Inside Engaged Visitors, or in other words, the visitors that remained in close proximity to the Extreme stand for the minimum of 5 minutes. If we compare this to the statistics from the previous year (47,485 Inside Engaged Visitors), we’re looking at an impressive growth of almost 75%. The number of Outside Visitors (passers-by seen for less than 5 minutes) also increased slightly – from 61,038 in 2022 to 69,412 in 2023, resulting in a 14% growth rate.
This equates to a total number of 152,482 impressions, i.e. visitors who at least saw the Extreme Networks stand through the entire GITEX Global 2023. Compared to 2022, that means that we had an increase of impressions and footfall of 40.5%.
Figure 4. Total footfall at the Extreme Networks stand during GITEX Global 2023
Unique visitors
A value that we didn’t capture in the past editions of GITEX was the number of impressions and footfall of devices that we saw for the first time each day, meaning unique users. This year we saw a combined sum of 55,731 unique Inside Engaged Visitors through all five days. Most unique impressions (13,310) were recorded on the first day of the event (Monday, October 16), when the local government visits GITEX.
Figure 5. Unique visitors per each day of GITEX Global 2023
Similarly, we were also able to track the number of devices that we have seen before and run a comparison against the ones that we saw for the first time – this is an interesting trend when compared to last year. We can see a far steeper decline in the number of first time visits versus repeat visits; However, the total number of visits in 2023 still massively outperforms 2022.
This could be indicative of all the changes that GITEX made in 2023, where visitors were going back and forth between all the stands more often – this was to be expected, as Extreme Networks was stationed in the main walkway of Hall 20, one of the most popular halls of this year’s GITEX!
Figure 6. The number of first vs. repeat visitors – a comparison between GITEX Global 2022 and 2023
Visitor dwell times
Now, let’s take a closer glance at the specific amount of time the visitors remained engaged with the Extreme stand. Among all the 83,070 recorded Inside Visitors, most (31,259) spent less than 5 minutes in close proximity to the stand (-50 dBm), which is to be expect in a trade show environment. What’s really interesting here is the significant increase in other dwell time groups, compared to GITEX Global 2022: 15,493 visitors between 5 and 20 minutes (a 147% growth), 18,134 visitors between 20 and 60 minutes (a 226% growth), and 18,054 visitors between 1 and 6 hours (a 220% growth).
Figure 7. Inside Engaged Visitor dwell times
Groups 1 to 3 can be deemed as “real” visitors: people within the range of the stand, engaged either directly (joining discussions) or indirectly (listening in, watching demos etc.), as well as externally engaged visitors – attendees who could see, hear or at the very least notice our stand.
Group 2 (marked green) is what we tend to call the quality impressions. We estimated that an average visitor would spend between 5 to 20 minutes listening to a pitch or demo, or stopping by to listen in and enter a conversation. This massive increase of quality impressions over the last year (a 145% growth) can be linked to the Manchester United engagements we had, among other things. In other words, about 1 in 5 attendees (19%) visiting the Extreme booth spent enough time to either hear our messaging or engage with us directly.
Daily and hourly breakdown
Here's an interesting observation: through all five days of GITEX Global 2023, we recorded a fairly consistent volume of engagement with the people who stayed at the Extreme booth for at least 5 and up to 60 minutes. The number of quality impressions (the ‘magic’ 5-20 minutes) ranged slightly from 3,121 (Monday) to 4,402 (Tuesday).
Figure 8. Daily breakdown of the dwell time categories
Additionally, ExtremeLocation Essentials allowed us to identify the most busy hours during the event. Our primary focus here is again the quality impressions. We can see that the valuable engagement typically started around 10:00 AM and typically lasted till 5:00 PM, after which a steep decline can be observed. Clearly, the ‘rush hour’ was around 2:00 PM.
Figure 9. Hourly breakdown of the dwell time categories
Extreme at GITEX Global 2023 in a nutshell:
- 74% increase in 5 minute+ footfall & impressions, compared to 2022
- 55,731 unique-device impressions throughout the week
- 147% increase in quality footfall & impressions (5-20 minutes), compared to 2022
ExtremeLocation Essentials – the ability to see more!
The purpose of this blog is to give you a hint of the numerous possibilities and capabilities of ExtremeLocation Essentials.
The solution provides enterprises with powerful multi-tier location services that can scale to thousands of branch sites and be used to monitor workflows and assets to improve overall operation and efficiency. To that end, ExtremeLocation offers a range of accurate and granular location insights, including:
- real-time and historical location analysis
- new and repeat visitor tracking
- engagement time monitoring
- site or zone specific intelligence
- assets and employee tracking
Whether combined with Extreme's enterprise-grade wireless networking, or as an overlay with your existing network, ExtremeLocation is an easy to use cloud-based platform that helps you transform your business!