March 28th, 2009
The last thing you need is your site network going down mid-event because someone has tripped out a generator. It only takes a drop in power for less than a quarter of a second to cause most IT equipment to restart and that fraction of a second can lead to a lot of frustration as calls get dropped, CCTV stops and users get dropped off the network.
Last year we introduced our ruggedized battery backup units that could run our network units for over 12 hours, this year we have gone much further. Our latest smart power supply offers nanosecond switching between redundant power sources and highly efficient power conversion which has allowed us to push up battery operation to over 24 hours and, with the option for multiple hot-swap batteries, this can be extended indefinitely.
These units can source their input power, what we call ‘red power’, from 110-240V mains supply or from a generator and now, with an eye on the environment, they also have the option of using solar, wind or fuel cell generation.
The smart power supply deals with providing the protected ‘green power’ to the network units and other associated devices such as CCTV cameras or VoIP phones, only switching to a battery if required. What’s more is that these units are designed with remote monitoring so that we can see the status of each unit in our network operations centre.
The important thing is that whether you are a running a small press centre Wi-Fi zone or a 150 acre festival site you shouldn’t just cross your fingers and hope the power stays on.
Tags: Event, Event IT, Festival, VoIP, Wi-Fi, WiFi, Wireless
Posted in Events, VoIP, WiFi | No Comments »
March 21st, 2009
The 12 hour Gymathon. Nothing could be simpler – you turn up to the gym for your first class at 7am and finish your last class at 7pm. Enjoy the delights of Salsa, Aerobics, Body Pump, Core Training, Football, Dancing, Basketball and Circuits all in one day. It’s such a simple idea it’s hard to say no, especially when it’s for The Meningitis Trust.
So on unlucky Friday the 13th Tom McInerney along with employees from Intel UK sweated through and raised £1,500. Congratulations to all and if anyone still wants to sponsor the team please use the Just Giving Link here
Tom McInerney from Etherlive and the team from Intel UK
Tom Dances for the Gymarathon (30 mins on these machines is serious stuff!)
Tags: Charity, Meningitis Trust
Posted in Charity, General | No Comments »
January 25th, 2009
With attendee numbers at The Event Show at Olympia last week apparently up on 2008 figures, there was a positive feel and vibe to the show. Yes, there were plenty of conversations about whether the downturn was having an impact but all in all it was business as usual, with organisers and suppliers planning as normal for the 2009 season.
We took the chance to discuss some of the new products and services that we are launching for the 2009 event season. In the Wi-Fi space we have increased our range of solutions to include a new market leading technology that is ideal for the events industry as it is specially designed to work in ‘noisy’ environments using a patented beam-steering technology. This gives excellent connectivity even when rogue wireless units appear on site or large lorries start creating disturbances! These devices also support the new ‘n’ standard giving a much higher (300Mbps) throughput, ideal for services such as video streaming.
Alongside this our location tracking capabilities have also stepped up another gear with a new hybrid location tag that allows us to use GPS, Wi-Fi or RFID to identify location, reducing the infrastructure we require to cover large festival sites and providing outdoor, indoor and close proximity capability.
Power independence remains a key factor in our site designs so that our network and communication services remain operational whether a generator fails or not. Our power units switch from generator/mains to battery in a few milliseconds with no loss of service and can remain on battery for up to 24 hours (or longer if required) if site power is a problem.
Site Operations is another area where we have been busy. Extending on our modular ‘POD’ design we now have a special version aimed at providing all the key services at a remote site from a small unit that can be deployed quickly when staff first arrive on site. It’s pretty much a portable ‘office IT environment’ keeping a site operations team connected and productive from anywhere.
To round off the enhanced line-up a new mobile phone ‘portal’ or event guide was also on display. Working across a large range of phones (with no Java download) the guide is highly customisable and varies user experience based on their connection type (2G, 3G, Wi-Fi, etc). It can also be used in an interactive fashion enabling features such as uploads and voting.
As always further information is available on the website or we are more than happy to demonstrate these new technologies and services either at our base in Wiltshire or on a suitable customer site. Let’s just hope that 2009 brings a better summer!
Tags: Event, Event IT, Festival, Location tracking, Wi-Fi
Posted in Events | No Comments »
