Posts Tagged ‘Festival’

• 4 Thoughts on 4G for Events

  Date: 2011.11.24 | Category: Events, IT, Technology | Response: 0

  What does it say about society that a report on two UK 4G trials hits prime time nine o’clock news on the BBC? Probably that everyone still can’t get their heads around billions of Euros being thrown about and is looking for a little good news or at worse a new topic.

  I thought the report, which had to address a rather wide 9pm audience was good. In summary 4G is coming and the speed and performance look great. A quick Google search finds that Gizmo have been using the O2 London based trial for a week and are giving it rave reviews.

  So with that good news ringing in our ears we may think the battle of mobile data is done but unfortunately wars are never that straight forward.

  If I think to the event world there are a few thoughts that I would highlight to discuss that, whilst 4G will help tremendously with getting data access where we want it, it won’t address the primary challenges.

  The march of progress; when 3G was starting to hit the market in 2003 it was going to be the fastest, most reliable service in the world. At that time most people in the UK used GPRS services on their devices which delivered a speed of 9 kbps (pioneers at the time where using data cards with their laptops) so compared to that the theoretical throughput of 3G (2048 kbps) the speed jump was immense. 3G was released and what happened? Firstly deployment was slow and the real world speeds were much slower than the hype. Even nearly 10 years on coverage is patchy and performance erratic. Then we all got smartphones. So now not only do we want access to web sites, we want to watch iPlayer. We don’t make calls any more we want to use face time. You get the picture (no pun intended). These developments are brilliant and make us more productive, keep us in touch with our families, etc. but what we continue to do is increase our data demand exponentially. That demand will not stop; 4G will just catch up, arguably to behind the demand curve when it eventually comes to market.

  

  All mobile networks end with a cable somewhere

  Law and order; OFCOM controls all licenced wireless broadcasts in the UK. For any UK carrier to broadcast on a 4G frequency and therefore offer services they must buy the licence. The sales of those licences has just been pushed back until the back end of 2012. So first not only do the carriers have to buy the licence (a massive investment which even for the largest carriers is a significant spend) but then they have to actually start to pay to upgrade their base stations to 4G just like they have with 3G. Have they finished upgrading all base stations with 3G yet? Ah. Good point.

  The density spike; a key point for our event customers. 4G fundamentally operates in the same way as all GSM technologies in that it’s designed to be broadcast from several central points to cover a town. The design relies on relatively consistent demand. Throughput is constrained by the amount of spectrum each company has purchased from OFCOM and not solely on the amount of hardware deployed. Therefore when that bandwidth is fully utilised during abnormal spikes of activity there is not much that can be done to improve service. You can’t deploy 30 base stations around a site however much you wanted as you can’t service any more customers than you can with say 4. Service can be cleverly deployed using the topography of the site but in reality you are designing around the limitations of the way the system is designed. Here Wi-Fi has the edge since each ‘cell’ is much smaller and can be deployed all over an event site.

  The cost; as always this is the million pound question. The carriers learnt from a lot of mistakes when they deployed 3G – and we should all sympathise. They purchased the licence from OFCOM for billions (Vodafone paid £5.9 billion for the rights to some 3G spectrum in 2000) and then tried to charge per MB but no one bought it because they found themselves operating in a world where customers want unlimited tariffs just like their home internet. Now they have to pay again for 4G licences. How will the charging model work? People want data ‘free’ but there is a huge infrastructure cost at a time when chargeable call volumes are dropping.

  Just a little food for thought, it will be interesting to see how the trial in Cornwall, which is looking at how 4G can be used to help get internet access to remote locations (a great application) goes over the next few months and how manufactures start to line up devices for us to enjoy this need for speed with.

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• Showman’s Show 2011

  Date: 2011.10.16 | Category: Events, General | Response: 0

  This week sees our 4^th consecutive year exhibiting at the Showman’s Show. The show, at Newbury Showground on Wednesday 19th and Thursday 20th October, in a way marks a transition from the 2011 outdoor event season to the start of the 2012 season, although these days we see a variety of outdoor events year-round.

  

  Etherlive prepares for its 4th Showmans Show

  2012 in the UK is of course a bit of a one off with the Olympics and Paralympics occurring right at the peak of the outdoor event season. We are providing a number of services for Olympic related activity, such as all the IT, communications and broadcast provision for the London Media Centre, but we have been very careful to ensure this has no impact on our existing customers and their events.

  What is important though is booking and planning for 2012, especially in London and other locations that will see Olympic activity. Provision of connectivity such as fibre and broadband services will see longer lead times due to sheer demand (we are ordering many services already so that they are provisioned very early next year). Transportation is another area which is impacted with requirements on suppliers to submit transport plans for London well in advance of events if they occur during the broad Olympic period. These aspects and others are all good topics for discussion at Showman’s if you are planning an event in 2012.

  This year we are on Stand 71 of the indoor hall where we will be demonstrating a new generation of mobile VoIP handsets – allowing the freedom of a mobile phone with the cost advantages of VoIP. These units also couple up with an alarm and monitoring system providing a new level of integrated service for event organisers.

  We will also be launching our latest innovation; Event Band, a suite of tools using RFID technology facilitating payment systems, loyalty services, accreditation and crew management. This technology will sit alongside the latest generation wireless chip & pin PDQs providing reliable payment methods for bars, merchants, exhibitors and ticketing.

  The latest networked noise monitoring support offered by Etherlive will be on display, along with a demonstration of next generation satellite broadband, offering internet anywhere from the new KA band with higher internet speeds.

  Alongside all the new products we will also have our core network, communications and CCTV technologies on display, solutions that have been used time and time again across a wide range of events connecting thousands of users. Outside we will also have one of our communications tower lights offering CCTV, Wi-Fi and public address as well as an economical lighting system. This can be found on the Aceplant stand (169) at the end of Avenue G.

  Recently we announced that Etherlive has joined ESSA (Event Supplier and Services Association), alongside ongoing membership of the AIF (Association of Independent Festivals) and the ASAO (Association of Show and Agricultural Organisations). As well as actively participating in these organisations we also offer special services to fellow members.

  We will have plenty of staff on hand to discuss event requirements and provide cost effective solutions to a broad range of connectivity, communications and other event IT needs.

   

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• Reach for the Sky – Temporary Satellite

  Date: 2011.07.30 | Category: Events, Satellite, Technology | Response: 0

  Our latest investment in the new KA band satellite equipment means more flexibility when providing internet connectivity for temporary events.

  Satellite internet connectivity can offer significant benefits to customers who are looking for a solution which can be setup in less than 30 minutes and support high speed email and web browsing. The system uses a 0.8 metre diameter dish which needs Southern facing sky to provide download speeds of up to 10 Mbps, similar to a normal ADSL line. The dish communicates with geostationary satellites located in orbit approximately 36,000 kilometres above the equator so is not suitable for all uses but we can advise on where and when satellite works well. Included with the dish and modem is pre-fetch technology which reduces the load time of websites.

  In conjunction with Etherlives mobile networking equipment the satellite internet connectivity can quickly be shared out through Wi-Fi networking for press, production crews and exhibitors. In many cases satellite services may be used for first day services followed up with higher speed connectivity as the site builds.

  More information on our satellite service is available from our website here or give us a call

  

  Deploying satellite has never been so easy. Image courtesy of Google.

   

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