Etherlive – Event Technology Experts

Event, Festival, Wi-Fi, WiFi

At WOMAD in 2010 over 3,500 attendees used the Wi-Fi network, a 300% increase on 2009

Providing Wi-Fi access to crew, traders, exhibitors and production teams at events is pretty much expected these days from the smallest to largest events, but providing access to attendees is only now becoming a hot topic.

Even just a couple of years ago the technical challenges of providing large scale Wi-Fi were great enough to make it financially unviable. Couple that with the fact there was no demand as no one had Wi-Fi devices and it’s easy to see why the idea was in the backwaters. This, however, is all changing very quickly.

Three years ago the number of Wi-Fi enabled mobile phones was around 3%, by the end of 2010 this is expected to be around 20%, and within another year or so it is expected to pass 30%. These figures represent all mobile phones, if you focus on certain groups such as the 16-30 age group or the more affluent then the figure is much higher. Alongside this there has also been massive growth in other Wi-Fi enabled devices such as iPods, iPads, Nintendo DSs and Sony PSPs. Factor in the demographics of individuals who attend different types of events and you find that at many events over 50% of attendees could have a Wi-Fi enabled device at an event within a year or two.

Wi-Fi enabled devices though are only part of the story. The other huge change is the growth in mobile Internet use. The smartphone growth driven by the likes of the iPhone and Blackberry is changing our use of the Internet at an incredible rate. In the US mobile data usage has already surpassed mobile voice traffic and the UK is expected to follow very shortly. More and more people now use the Internet primarily through a smartphone or ultra mobile device rather than a laptop or desktop computer and that trend is accelerating, with predictions of a 25x increase in mobile data volumes by 2012.

The Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are well aware of this growth and it’s causing them great pain because their networks were not designed to deal with the volumes of data predicted and scaling the network infrastructure would be very costly. Evidence of these issues is commonplace at any larger event where the mobile networks struggle to deal with voice calls let alone data. Placing temporary mobile towers onsite can assist for voice calls but it barely scratches the surface when it comes to data. What’s changed more recently though is the approach, a couple of years ago the MNOs were scared of Wi-Fi as they thought it would impact their revenue streams and so resisted any move to integrate it as an alternative to 2.5G and 3G. That has now all changed, with MNOs positively encouraging people to use Wi-Fi whenever possible to reduce the data load on their networks.

This leaves event organisers in an interesting situation as with more and more users and more and more event related applications and content, attendees are getting increasingly frustrated at the poor mobile service at events. If you look at the reviews of many of the festival and event applications the common theme is complaints about them not working at the event itself. Realistically the only way to improve the situation is to deploy public Wi-Fi as extending mobile capacity to the levels required is generally not feasible. Even next generation 4G is looking unlikely to resolve the high density issue and 4G is many years away from becoming mainstream.

So should organisers deploy public Wi-Fi? Technically it is a lot more feasible than a few years ago and providing a good quality Internet connection to users will improve their online experience considerably which is especially important if you are promoting an iPhone or Android application for example. However, there is a much bigger play to this as mobile users are sharing information and commenting all the time through social media like Twitter, Facebook , Tumblr, email etc. By providing public Wi-Fi controlled by the event organiser this interactive element can be shaped and utilised, offering new opportunities for marketing, sponsorship and revenue streams. Rich content can be delivered directly to attendees, coupled with online purchasing and increasing the opportunity of developing a ‘sticky’ relationship. It even becomes a crowd management tool enabling organisers to send targeted messages to the attendees delivering everything from emergency messages to ‘secret’ rumours.

In the large scale pilots we have run the data gathered backs these trends with significant usage and very positive feedback. At the festivals this usage has been widespread across the arenas and campsites throughout the day (and most of the night! ) and represented somewhere in the region of 80%+ of the enabled devices. It’s not all just about Twitter and Facebook (although they are at the top, accounting for three quarters of a million hits at WOMAD this year), there is the practical side too – news, bus, train, coach, weather, car share information etc. all of which help to spread the load of information dissemination. Couple that with event applications and premium content and the bundle becomes very attractive.

There is no doubt the mobile revolution is well established and nowhere more so than at events, for event organisers there is an opportunity to grab this area and shape it to their benefit.

The Perils of ADSL (Part 2)

09 Oct 2010

ADSL, Broadband, Event Show, IT, Technology

In the first part of this article we discussed some of the challanges associated with using ADSL technology to support an event or business. Despite the government’s sabre rattling and some serious investment from certain parties in newer fibre technologies, ADSL is, and will continue, to be the way much of the UK gets its broadband for some time to come. So until we all enjoy fibre links to the doorstop (don’t hold your breath) it helps to know a little bit about ADSL and how you can get the most out of it…so we’ll continue where we left off:

From this comes the magic of broadband. Thanks to treehugger.com for the image

It’s just copper – The POTS (plain old telephone service) hasn’t really changed that much since the days of the 1880’s. In the 1970s things started to go digital at the back end but in terms of actual delivery to the home it has remained a pair of copper wires. It was well known even then that the wires carrying all those voice calls could do much more. In fact a copper line being used for a phone call is only using about 0.3% of the theoretical throughput. Early work on using the phone system for data goes back as far as 1948 but it was the mid-1980s where most progress was made, first with ISDN and then DSL. DSL actually covers a number of variations (often called xDSL) of which the most common is ADSL or Asymmetric DSL.
Why do speeds vary so much? – ADSL currently uses a technology called Discrete Multi-Tone (DMT). Essentially it divides your copper line into 247 different 4-kHz channels. You get the equivalent of 247 channels divided across the phone line with which to potentially send data back and forth. Each channel is monitored and, if the quality is not good enough, the signal is shifted to another channel. The system constantly shifts signals between different channels, searching for the best channels for transmission and reception. In addition, some of the lower channels (those starting at about 8 KHz), are used as bidirectional channels for upstream and downstream information. As the system constantly monitors all the channels and stops using those that do not provide a good enough signal it is not unusual to see the overall line speed vary from day to day or hour by hour depending on interference or even weather conditions!
ADSL needs to ‘train’ – In an effort to make sure everyone got the best speed possible and knowing the variation in the condition of the copper which makes up our legacy telephone system, ADSL is designed with an inbuilt sliding scale. Once the modem is installed and the service is live the modem will start negotiating with the equipment at the exchange, initially trying higher speeds and then slowing down until it finds a compromise between speed and quality. Over the first 48 hours or so it will continue to do this, varying the settings it uses automatically. Some modems are better at doing this than others so it’s worth investing in reasonable kit if you want to see the maximum speed your line will maintain.
It say’s up to 20Mbps, I’m getting 2Mbps! – Distance is the bg problem as the further you are from the exchange the weaker the signal is by the time it reaches you, which means more of those little channels are unusable. In the real world unfortunately very few people will get the headline speed. There are some steps you can take to help the situation though. Firstly, try to minimise any additional cabling so that you are not adding to the length in you house, ideally an ADSL modem should be connected to the master socket (where the the phone line enters the house) to minimise any further loss or interference. Make sure you use a reasonable quality micro-filter, saving an extra £1 on the cheapest filter may end up losing you some speed. All ADSL modems are not the same, some are more sensitve and use better quality components leading to a more stable and better performing connection so do your research when purchasing. If you do have to run additional cable in your house then make sure it is connected correctly as mis-wiring can cause all kinds of problems. It is also worth routing any cable away from power cables and pipes where possible to minimise any interference.
Sharing the service – One of the main challenges with ADSL is the contention within the service. In most cases ADSL is offered as a consumer service which is cheap. Like everything with a price point that means it has a catch which is normally the contention ratio. A contention ratio is managed by the ISP and means you could be sharing your 20 Mbit/s download with up to 50 people at the same time (each ISP has different rules, you’ll see it in the very very very small print). If all users in the same contention group play fair the chances of everyone downloading content (websites, email etc) at the same time is low and therefore everyone enjoys the Internet at a fast speed. However the model falls down when people download much larger files, stream video content or share files with others. It’s not the user’s problem (or, to be fair the ISP since there has to be some money somewhere!) it’s just a reality of offering a competitively priced service.

ADSL is in many ways a great technology for home use but does have significant limitations when it comes to business or critical services, especially when you consider there are no real guarantees on service or performance. You can never predict exactly how a line will behave until it is installed and has been running for a few days – not ideal in our case where we are deploying services for short periods. There are a few other options though:

Bonding and Load Balancing– this is a complex area in itself and often mis-sold but there are cases where it makes sense to ‘bundle’ multiple ADSL lines together to give improved performance. There are many cases though where this approach will not significantly improve things and can lead to all kinds of other problems (VoIP and VPN for example are very intolerant of many bonded solutions).
SDSL (Symmetric DSL) – A variant of DSL which as the name suggests offers the same upload and download performance. The catch? It is limited to 2Mbps per line and many exchanges do not support it. Where it can be used though it is normally offered as a business service with little or no contention so will often outperform a much ‘faster’ ADSL service. SDSL lines can also be bonded or balanced in a similar way to ADSL but again there are catches.
Alternative Leased Line technologies – There are several newer technologies being rolled out which although they still use the copper wires can deliver much higher speeds. Presently they tend to only be available in major towns and cities and are more expensive than broadband DSL services but they are an alternative to technologies like fibre which are very expensive unless an existing service is in place.
Optic Fibre, Satellite & Wireless MANs – Beyond the copper wire there are several other technologies to deliver high speed connectivity which all have their pros and cons too. The detail of these will have to wait for another day.

The key point though is that if you need connectivity at an event it is very important to talk through with someone the requirements and options available. It is all too easy for an event to be hampered by poor connectivity and there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach. In the last few months alone we have used all of the methods listed above at events, from a 1Mbps ADSL line to 2Gbps of optic fibre. It is also worth noting that in general there are at least 4-6 week lead times on getting phone lines and DSL services installed so good up front planning is also very important!

Ready to Go: Showman’s Show 2010 – 20th and 21st Oct

05 Oct 2010

CCTV, Event, Festival, iphone, Press, RFID, Showman's Show, Wi-Fi, Wireless

We are now in the final stages of planning for the Showman’s Show 2010 and looking forward with meeting new and existing customers around the marquees and stands. This year our indoor stand (in the warm, number 68 ) is right on the main row whilst our outdoor stand (171) is at the end of avenue G. Whatever the weather it would be great to see you there.

If you haven’t had the chance to make your way over to the Newbury show ground before, The Showman’s Show is the trade show of choice for the events industry. An eclectic mix of everything from portable toilets, stages, marquees, lighting companies and of course event technology suppliers (us!)

The Showman's Show - Etherlive will be at stands 68 & 171

A little taster of some of the things we will be exhibiting:

Reliable Connectivity – We’ll continue to talk about our passion delivering temporary connectivity – wired and wireless for any size and shape of event, from media centres to entire festivals.

An Overview of Connectivity Options – From a phone line and broadband to high capacity fixed line and satellite services. We have a range of options to meet all needs.

Mobile Phone Data Offload – Fed up with smartphone apps not working at events? Find out what we have been doing to resolve this problem.

RFID Solutions – After successful trials in 2010 we will be demonstrating our Smartcard system for crew catering (no more paper vouchers!) and other authorisation aspects.

That’s just a few of the things we will be talking about, along with some old favourites like the Communications Tower Light, CCTV, VoIP, network management & monitoring, flight-case based network hubs and more. Drop in for a chat, a coffee or a bottle of the finest Etherlive water.

The Showman’s Show, Newbury Showground is open 20th and 21st October 9:30am – 4pm.

The Perils of ADSL (Part 1)

30 Sep 2010

ADSL, Broadband, Event, IT, Technology

ADSL. Never before has one technology been responsible for liberating thousands and frustrating just as many at the same time. Some may think I’m overplaying its importance but this one implementation of technology has made huge changes to our lives. I’m not suggesting it’s the light bulb or the printing press but as we install temporary connectivity services for our event customers around the UK it astounds me how high expectations are with regards to connectivity. Even better (or worse – depending how you see the world) is how quickly everyone has forgotten the pain of the dial-up modem which, until a few years ago, was our only way onto the Internet!

Everyone wants Wi-Fi (from compguy.co.za)

Broadband take-up in the UK currently stands at 73%, having more than doubled since 2005 when Facebook.com had only just been bought by Zuckerberg and friends for a mere £200,000. Fast broadband was something most people just didn’t have. I don’t mean people out in far flung corners of the country (that’s a generalisation I know…I’ll get to it shortly) but I mean people in towns and large villages where you were still stuck paying by the second for modems to squawk and shriek their way through six or seven emails at a time.

Now we expect, nay demand, always on fast Internet. Fast enough we don’t have to wait for the download to finish or the web page to render. Even in my short time on the planet I struggle to think how I ever survived on a 33k dial up modem (yes I had one). I remember the first time I used my newly purchased snap on modem module for my Palm Pro PDA at other people’s houses. I literally got rounds of applause for checking the weather using my Freeserve account through an 0845 telephone number. Nowadays if someone hasn’t got “20 Mbit/s” (megabits per second) broadband with Wi-Fi connectivity prevalent within the house I don’t stop for coffee, let alone dinner.

My point, I guess, is that broadband (now synonymously coupled with Wi-Fi) has become as ‘expected’ as the TV or the complimentary coffee. Not only does it mean companies like Etherlive exist to meet that expectation but, with or without technical partners like us on board, it’s expected to be provided and work, 100% of the time.

So in this, the first of two articles, we go back to the basics a little – what is ADSL? What are its limitations?

First things first – ADSL stands for Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line, referring to the technology rather than ‘broadband’ which can be applied to other technologies such as cable modems. The term ‘asymmetric’ alludes to a very important point, ADSL is designed to offer better download speeds than upload speeds, no one had thought about all the content sharing that was possible when ADSL was conceived in the early 90’s!
What flavours of ADSL can you get – Like any technology the only constant is change. Depending on the technology at your closest telephone exchange dictated which generation of ADSL you are stuck with. The original ADSL was approved in 1998 and has been superseded many times but you may still only be able to work with this technology because your local exchange hasn’t been upgraded. The latest forms of ADSL are ADSL2 (2002) with 12.0 Mbit/s download and 1.0 Mbit/s upload and now ADSL2+ (2003) supporting a maximum download of 24.0 Mbit/s and upload of 1.0 Mbit/s
Don’t forget your filter – The little white box which should go on every phone socket that has broadband is a simple bit of hardware which blocks all signals above a certain frequency from entering the phone line. Without it your broadband will not work properly and you will probably have some unpleasant sounds when you make a phone call!
It’s all about distance – Simple really, the further you are from the exchange the lower the speed you can expect. You only get the full ‘headline’ speed when you near enough live next door to the exchange. Also add on to that the fact that older wiring will tend to perform more poorly as cables deteriorate over time. Once you get to a couple of km from the exchange you may be lucky to get a 1Mbps connection.
‘Unbundled Exchanges’ – This refers to whether an exchange has been opened up to other telecommunications companies, currently it is still primarily cities and large towns that have unbundled exchanges. The advantage of unbundled exchanges is that other companies can provide and control the level of service, whereas in a standard exchange it all goes back to BT (no matter who you use).
Beware of the small print – I won’t go through the full technical details in this article (we’ll save the best for part two) however there any many ‘gotaches’ with ADSL which you should check before signing up with an Internet service provider. These include, but are not limited to, the contention ratio of the connection (how many people are sharing it, often up to 50), the ADSL technology (ADSL, ADSL2, ADSL2+ etc), download limits, throttling or blocking of certain protocols (important for peer to peer fans) and other terms of use. Not all providers are the same and on the whole the less you pay the lower the level of service you can expect.

That’s part one of our review. Even with other options (explored in the next part) ADSL is sometimes the only option. In the next article we’ll also look at some of the more technical aspects associated with ADSL and what you can do about squeezing every little bit of speed from your connection.

‘High Density’ Media/Press Rooms

Chris Green

22 Sep 2010

Election, Event, Media Centre, Press, Press Centre, Wi-Fi, WiFi, Wireless

A well connected media centre goes a long way to keeping journalists happy at events, but all too often I see comments in blogs and on twitter about poor Wi-Fi, slow connections and network meltdown. We operate and support connectivity for many media centres during the year ranging from small rooms with only a few users to large centres catering for hundreds of simultaneous users, so I thought I would share our approach to delivering an excellent experience.

The Sky Media Centre had a main room and several breakout & broadcast rooms

One example I will drawn on is the media centre we operated for Sky News for the Election Debate Broadcast earlier this year which had some interesting requirements. It was an unusual event in that the centre was only to operate for about eight hours in total but during the peak hours around the debate it was expected that the room would be used by over 400 journalists, politicians, television and radio crews simultaneously. The brief also required that all access was to be wireless and that various ‘network throttles’ had to be used to block certain types of transfers and maintain fair usage across all users. Although this event was larger than the average media centre the same principles apply whatever the size, the main aspects of which are as follows:

1. The Right Internet Connectivity

This may sound obvious but the wrong connectivity lets down a significant number of media centres, you may have the best wireless on the planet but if the internet connectivity is not good enough the users will be frustrated. The most common problem is using a broadband/ADSL line for connectivity which for all but the smallest of centres is likely to be totally unsuitable. The usage in a media centre is different from typical internet usage in that uploading of data is more important than downloading data. Broadband/ADSL lines are designed primarily for downloading and have a very low upload speed, typically only about 400kbps. The second issue with broadband lines is that the vast majority of providers use a high contention ratio on their service, this means that even if the connection says it’s 8Mbps, at the exchange the connection typically is then shared with up to 50 other users. The busier the exchange the worse the experience becomes.

So what options are available instead? There is no straight forward answer to that as it depends on location, requirements and budget but the key thing is there are different options and with some up front planning the right solution can be put in place which can make a huge difference to the users experience. For the Sky Election Debate we had a 1Gbps fibre link with a second diverse routed failover link providing a typical wireless upload experience of 20Mbps per user (this varied based on the client device, an 802.11n client typically had 80Mbps). I’m not suggesting that all media centres need to offer that sort of speed but it shows it can be done.

2. Wi-Fi / Networking Equipment

Connect up a wireless access point, put it in the corner and off we go…which leads to a favourite Dilbert cartoon of mine.

Delivering a good wireless experience is not ‘plug and play’, but it is a lot less painful if the right approach is used. Firstly never use consumer or low-end business wireless products, they will not deal with the simultaneous usage and throughput required, it needs high-end business wireless products to deliver a good service and even then capacity planning is critical. Wi-Fi is a shared medium meaning that if your client is connected at 54Mbps (and unfortunately although 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi is promoted as having a speed of 54Mbps in reality this is closer to 20Mbps), that is a best case assuming no one else is using the network at the same time. As soon as another user connects the available bandwidth is shared between them. Put 25 users onto one wireless access point and each user may only see 800kbps!

Providing good bandwidth to lots of users therefore requires multiple wireless access points, which can be achieved in several ways, but it requires careful planning otherwise choas results with all of the wireless access points interfering with each other. This area is complex and will make this blog way too long but a truly managed environment is the only way to deliver this successfully and that requires:

2.4 GHz & 5GHz 802.11n Wireless Access Points – to maximise throughput and share load across the wireless spectrum
Air Time Fairness – to stop older wireless clients slowing down and hogging the network
Beam Forming – this is a technique that focuses wireless signals on the client that is ‘talking’ giving better performance and reducing the impact of interference.
Band Steering – to balance wireless clients between the available frequencies
Load Balancing & Roaming – to ensure wireless clients are evenly and seamlessly distributed across the wireless access points
User Throtling – the ability to limit the maximum speed of a client connection
Client Isolation – the ability to stop one wireless client ‘seeing’ another wireless client on the network

The wireless portion then needs to be backed up by good switching and routing, typically all running at gigabit speeds. For critical media centres redundancy in terms of network design and power backup also come into play. Other factors include authentication (username and password, shared key, etc) and breaking the network into mutliple ‘virtual networks’ so that different services can be offered to different user groups.

3. Network Management

Once the network is designed and implemented it would be nice if it looked after itself but in a busy media centre there are still more challenges. The most common issue is interference, particularly in the 2.4GHz frequency range (which is the most common one for wireless clients) as many other items use the Wi-Fi frequencies too – bluetooth, DECT phones, ad-hoc wireless networks, RADAR, microwave ovens (yes I’m serious, particularly industrial ones) and various pieces of broadcast equipment such as video senders. These sources of interference can wreak havoc on Wi-Fi networks. A managed Wi-Fi network can automatically deal with some interference by switching channels and power output but in a busy media centre there is often no option but to use a spectrum analyser to constantly scan and identify interference sources so that they can either be eliminated or avoided. During the Sky Election Debate 113 sources of interference were identified and dealt with!

Spot the wireless cameras - always a concern for Wi-Fi

Active monitoring of the network is also important, this gives real-time information on the status of all the devices such as the wireless access points, the data passing through the network and how much capacity is being used. This facilitates making tweaks to the network before problems occur. It also has the benefit of providing a post event report with lots of data on usage.

4. Support

Having people to provide good technical support to users in the media centre is one of the best ways of keeping journalists happy. For example the Sky Election Debate happened not long after the launch of the Apple iPad in the US so a number of people had imported them from the US and hadn’t got to grips with them yet, the support staff not only helped them connect to the network but also gave some basic usage assistance. That level of support is highly appreciated and tends to lead to favourable comments in the articles they write.

Delivering a good experience in a media centre is not without its challenges but those challenges can be overcome by using the right tools for the job, good planning and a technical team that know that they are doing. At the end of an event when journalists come over to specifically say “it was the best wireless experience I’ve ever had” then you know it was a job well done.

Top tips to Make Sure your Press Event Wi-Fi doesn’t fail

21 Jun 2010

Event, iphone, Press, Wi-Fi

Good Wi-Fi delivery can be critical

At the recent launch of the iPhone 4 Steve Jobs, Chairman and CEO of Apple, was forced to ask the audience containing the world’s tech press, to turn off their Wi-Fi devices because the demonstration he was giving on stage kept failing. Later it was suggested that some 500 Wi-Fi networks were operating in the room, overloading the network.

Tom McInerney, from event technology company Etherlive, gives some tips on how to stop this happening at your next big event to make the network meets attendee requirements.

In our experience any large press pool will require significant amounts of bandwidth and wireless connectivity. Importantly they will require download and more significantly high upload speeds so information can be posted quickly. Many want to post pictures immediately, live blog or video stream the event to their audience and expect a wireless network to be fast and available.
Asses the quality of any existing Wi-Fi network on site. Is it going to support the number of attendees at the event who may want access concurrently? You need to think about who is going to support it on the day, and how you can ensure your organisers and demonstrations get the internet speeds they require. Many permanent networks are designed for a specific purpose which is probably not hundreds of people in one room at one time, many also only operate to older wireless standards (such as 802.11b) which cannot provide as much access as newer faster protocols (802.11n). So to make sure you have the coverage you need, think about deploying a network specifically for the event which has onsite support and can provide multiple bandwidth controlled networks, for example ‘Organiser’ and ‘Event Press’.
Press who attended the Apple event where either not provided with a shared network or have learnt to distrust the in house service and instead opt to setup their own (typically linked to the cellular network repeated locally) Due to the amount of channels to play with in the 2.4Ghz spectrum setting up their own wireless hotspot only causes more issues for everyone else. Imagine everyone in the room with a set of speakers trying to broadcast their own radio station…eventually you can’t hear anything. So setting up a high quality centrally managed wireless network, which everyone can share (one broadcast), is a much better idea – but it will need to work first time otherwise attendees will find an alternative.
Several products are available on the market which can scan the relevant wireless spectrum to confirm how noisy it is. At least if you can see too much is going on in real time you can act (perhaps changing demos) instead of having to ask the audience.
The 5Ghz radio spectrum has a lot more channels available than 2.4Ghz and is therefore less congested. The most modern laptops can use 5Ghz networks and should be actively encouraged to use that instead of 2.4Ghz. Several technologies exist that can encourage devices that have 5Ghz radios to join that network instead of the 2.4Ghz.

Showgrounds Waking up to the Need for Connectivity

01 May 2010