Press Release
03-06-07 - D&E Communications Makes Ordering Tickets On-line Possible for Harrisburg Senator Baseball Fans
D&E COMMUNICATIONS, INC. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 06, 2007 | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT PERSON: |
HARRISBURG, PA - Spring training has begun in Florida for the major leagues, and it won't be long before the crack of the bat can be heard at Commerce Bank Park on City Island. The Harrisburg Senators will be back in action on Thursday evening, April 12.
This year, buying game tickets has been made a lot easier with on-line ticket ordering - a service that the Senators management asked D&E Communications to design and implement for them. To buy tickets on-line go to www.senatorsbaseball.com, select the seats, purchase the tickets and then print them with a local printer or have the box office print them for pick up at will-call on the day of the game. Bar codes on the tickets are scanned at the gates for admission.
"Our new on-line capability probably will improve our ticket ordering process tenfold," said Todd Vander Woude, general manager of the Senators. "It's great for the fans, and it is great for us. The new system allows fans to select their seats in the stadium rather than corresponding back and forth with the ticket office on seat availability. That's the way we used to do it. Now, once selected and purchased on-line, it is as simple as printing the tickets at home or we can print them for you at our ticket office."
Douglas Shenk, Consulting Engineer at D&E Communications, said the process actually began in 2006 when D&E installed wireless routers to connect the Senators' main office and Internet to the press box and annex at the ballpark. This allows visiting press to broadcast live and report on the game over the Internet without the need for a landline connection.
The next upgrade took place in January when D&E upgraded the network and installed a new server to replace the ball club's aging equipment. Software was then installed by TicketReturn, a Web-based, ticket purchasing software company. To interconnect the system and manage seat sales, D&E connected the new system to the Senators' local area network (LAN) and installed a Web server to provide a highly reliable, manageable and scalable Web solution.
Harrisburg Senators On-line Ticketing
The final step at the box office was to set up printers for printing the tickets when they were ordered over the phone or put in will-call by on-line ordering.
D&E is now working with the Senators to install wireless handheld scanners to be used at admission gates. In addition to verifying the authenticity of a ticket, the scanners will collect important data on ticket sales and transmit the data to the Senators' upgraded information technology system via wireless access points.
Vander Woude said the Senators are ready for an exciting season and welcome on-line ticket sales as a new convenience for fans. Last year, the Senators had one of their top seasons in attendance with more than 250,000 tickets sold.
About D&E Communications:
D&E is an integrated communications provider offering high-speed data, Internet access, local and long distance telephone, data, professional IT services, network monitoring, security solutions and video services. Based in Lancaster County, D&E has been serving communities in central Pennsylvania for more than 100 years. For more information, visit www.decommunications.com.
About the Harrisburg Senators:
The Harrisburg Senators are the Class AA affiliate of the Washington Nationals -- National League East major league baseball team in Washington, D. C. The Harrisburg team was first formed in 1901, played on City Island in various leagues until 1952, and reformed in Harrisburg in 1987. In 1996, the City of Harrisburg bought the team as a Montreal Expos farm team. When the Expos moved to Washington D. C. in 2005, the club became the AA affiliation of the Washington Nationals. The Senators won its league championship, the Eastern League, in 1987, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999. For more information, visit www.senatorsbaseball.com.