The Challenge
Nexus Coworking operates 40 shared workspace locations, each hosting dozens of tenants ranging from solo freelancers to 50-person teams. Every tenant shared the same WiFi network with a single pre-shared key posted in common areas, creating both security and operational headaches.
With no network isolation between tenants, sensitive business traffic from law firms and financial advisors traveled on the same network as visitors in the lobby. WiFi uptime sat at 94%, well below what tenants paying premium rates expected. And every time a new tenant moved in, the IT team spent 30 or more minutes manually provisioning credentials, configuring bandwidth policies, and walking the team through setup.
- Shared PSK passwords between all tenants with no network isolation
- No segmentation between tenant traffic - serious security liability
- Manual onboarding taking 30+ minutes per new tenant
- 94% WiFi uptime causing regular disruptions to paying members
- IT team overwhelmed with WiFi-related support tickets
The Solution
Nexus deployed IronWiFi's WPA2-Enterprise solution with per-tenant VLAN isolation across all 40 locations over a 6-week phased rollout. Each tenant received their own secure network segment, completely isolated from every other tenant's traffic - without requiring any changes to the existing access point hardware.
The centerpiece of the deployment was IronWiFi's self-service onboarding portal. New tenants received an invitation link, created their credentials, and connected all their devices in under 5 minutes - no IT involvement required. The multi-tenant management dashboard gave Nexus's small IT team centralized visibility into all 40 locations from a single interface.
- WPA2-Enterprise authentication with per-tenant credentials
- VLAN isolation ensuring complete network separation between tenants
- Self-service onboarding portal for new tenant provisioning
- Centralized multi-tenant management dashboard
- Per-tenant bandwidth policies and usage monitoring
"Setting up a new tenant used to take our IT team half an hour. With IronWiFi's self-service portal, tenants onboard themselves in under five minutes."- James Rodriguez, Director of Technology, Nexus Coworking
The Results
The transformation was dramatic. WiFi uptime jumped from 94% to 99.8%, and the per-tenant isolation eliminated the security concerns that had been a growing liability as Nexus attracted enterprise tenants handling sensitive data.
IT support tickets dropped 83%, freeing the technology team to focus on improving the member experience rather than troubleshooting WiFi issues. The self-service onboarding portal eliminated a persistent bottleneck - community managers could sign new tenants without waiting for IT availability.
The security improvements also became a selling point. Nexus now highlights per-tenant network isolation in their marketing materials, and the feature has been cited by several enterprise prospects as the deciding factor in choosing Nexus over competitors still running shared networks.
Timeline
The rollout was completed in 6 weeks using a phased approach: 10 pilot locations in weeks one and two, followed by the remaining 30 locations over the next 4 weeks. Each location was configured remotely through IronWiFi's cloud management platform, with existing Ubiquiti and Aruba access points pointed to IronWiFi's RADIUS servers. No hardware changes were required at any location.