Etherlive – Event Technology Experts

Event, Event IT, Event Production Show 2011, Festival, RFID, Showground, Trade Show, Wi-Fi

The Etherlive team are now in the last stages of planning in preparation for the Event Production Show at Olympia on 2 – 3 February. We are on stand 620, on the right hand side of the main isle not far from the entrance. As usual the team will be ready to answer questions, discuss services and demonstrate equipment. With a Royal Wedding this year and the Olympics next year it is important to get services booked early – we are already seeing a knock on impact from these events, for example lead times are increasing for telecommunication services and this will get worse during the year.

Alongside our normal array of solutions for connectivity, communications, monitoring and interactive technology we will also be demonstrating three new services:

Crew Accreditation System – A contact-less RFID card (or wristband) system which makes managing crews simpler. The system uses a PC or touchscreen terminal to manage crew as they book out keys, radios, plant equipment and doubles as a crew catering system replacing those pesky paper vouchers. Multiple terminals can be used over the site such as in the catering tent and production offices. All the data is easy to manage allowing production to forecast catering requirements and track items quickly.

Dynamic Secure Wi-Fi – There has been a lot of press recently about the security of wireless networks and even though we already have a very secure system we will launching an even better solution. What’s great about it is that it’s easier for the user but more secure as every user has their own unique encryption key. Aimed at events when privacy is critical it will reside alongside our existing range of wireless services so that you can decide what level is appropriate for your event.

Communications Tower Light – Not completely new as it is in its second year of use by Etherlive but this palletised, environmentally tower light was a great success during the 2010 season so we have been improving it further. Supporting Wi-Fi and cabled networking, public address and CCTV from one unit, it is perfect for quickly deploying technology services in areas with no power. The 2011 unit now has multiple camera options with a new higher zoom and motion tracking enabled camera added to the range; and if you need high density outdoor wireless there are options for up to 750 simultaneous Wi-Fi connections off of one unit.

Take a moment to register here if you plan to come along to the show to speed up getting in and of course if you want to set-up a specific time to meet you can get in contact beforehand.

We hope to see you at the show!

Wireless Security – Any Need to Panic?

17 Jan 2011

Encryption, Event IT, Festival, IT, Press Centre, Security, Technology, Wi-Fi, Wireless

The issue of wireless encryption ‘cracking’ has been in the news again recently thanks to Thomas Roth and his claim to be able crack WPA-PSK passwords in a matter of minutes. The basic methods used are nothing new, primarily a hybrid brute force and dictionary attack, which essentially is like you sitting at a computer and trying every word you can think of as the password. What was different in this case is the use of cloud computing to harness enormous processing power – enough to try 400,000 passwords per second bringing the time to guessing the password down considerably. This all sounds rather concerning, but is it really?

If you fit the best lock money can buy to your front door and then you leave it on the latch, can you really complain when someone opens the door and burgles your house? The important thing with encryption is the complexity of the password as the time it takes to crack a password depends very significantly upon the password strength. Roth himself said “If [the password is] in a dictionary it’ll be very fast, but if you have to brute force it and it’s longer than eight characters and its complexity is okay, it’ll take a very long time.” By ‘long time’ he means years and years, and the longer the password the longer it takes, in fact exponentially longer.

Security is only as strong as the weakest link

So, nothing to worry about then?…well not quite when you consider the way WPA-PSK is often used. The clue is in the name – PSK stands for Pre-Shared Key – and as it suggests the key is shared between all users. If you take a typical event site where organisers, press and crew require a ‘secure’ wireless network often WPA-PSK will be used, but it’s often not as secure as intended for two reasons.

Firstly, the password or key is being given to many people and it only takes one person to release the password into the wild and the whole network is compromised. Once compromised the only way to secure the network again is to change the shared password which means all users need to be notified of the new key, not very practical in the middle of an event.

The second issue is that because the password is being shared between many people generally a short, easy to remember one is used, opening up the network to the type of attack described above. Visit many media centres, event HQ’s etc. and you will see the network password printed on A4 pieces of paper stuck to the wall.

Network security is often seen as a hassle, along with the “it won’t happen to us” mentality but there are more and more reasons to take it seriously. Prior to the news about the WPA-PSK crack there was also news about a plugin for the Firefox browser that could ‘listen’ to other users’ data on a wireless network (either an open network or one where the key is known). Increasingly at events more and more data is transmitted across the network and much of it is sensitive. Yes there are secondary mechanisms such as VPN and SSL that are used to protect some data but often you will find file shares, websites and other data all unencrypted and open to see on the network.

We do take network security very seriously and have been offering individual user names and passwords for network access for several years which gives us access control with a much better level of granularity, along with the ability to provide a full audit of users. For 2011 we are going a step further and at the Event Production Show in February we will be launching an additional service known as DPSK or Dynamic Pre-Shared Key. Using this service once a user logs onto the network they are transparently given a dynamic, unique encryption key. This means that all users have a different (and very strong) encryption key, ensuring all data transmitted is well protected and users do not need to know the key or share it with anyone. All the user needs to know is their username and password (which stills needs to be ‘strong’) but if that user’s details are compromised the only impact is to that user and that user’s account can be quickly blocked.

We understand that every event has different needs and aspects such as network security are a balance between risk and complexity so we have developed a range of solutions to meet those different needs. If you are concerned about the security of your IT systems at events then drop in for a chat at the Event Production Show or contact us for a discussion.

Pretty Darn Quick

From the Office

20 Dec 2010

Event IT, Festival, IT, PDQ

Chip and pin is part of our lives. Four digits and a piece of plastic is all that’s needed to pay for anything from a morning coffee to that expensive watch for Christmas (you have got all your presents by now – right?!) The chip and pin terminals or PDQs (Process Data Quickly) have become the staple of any company who want to take larger payments at events. As the cheque looks destined to bow out (perhaps?) shortly we take a quick look at some of the key points of PDQ machines in a mobile environment as they can be the cause of much pain.

Merchant Account – Anyone who accepts payments from a card needs a merchant account. Issued by the banks it can be a lengthy application process so leave plenty of time when applying. In our experience to keep a merchant account live you’ll need to have a PDQ of some type – this is typically a phone line based model you can keep in the office. The merchant account and terminal rental have a monthly fee normally around £20.

Transaction Fees– The downside of card payment are the transaction fees, typically for credit cards these are around 2.5% of the transaction amount. For debit cards the fee is normally a fixed amount of around 35p per transaction.

Mobile Terminals – If you are going to be using your PDQ out and about all the time then go for a mobile terminal as your default instead of a telephone line based model. The main reason people don’t go for these all the time is because mobile units (by which I mean GPRS connected) have a higher monthly charge just like a cellular data card.

Wi-Fi Chip and Pin Machine

GPRS Connectivity– When looking at a mobile terminal you’ll need to select the right type of connectivity to keep it working. A GPRS terminal works in a similar to a cellular Internet data dongle. Connected to the cellular data network the unit will work anywhere with mobile phone reception for whichever mobile operator you select. This is great for smaller stands who operate at venues or locations where the amount of attendees is not excessive, by which I mean the cellular network will continue to operate. The issue here is as the attendee numbers for the event increase the mobile phone network becomes slower to respond and may become overloaded. We have all experienced not being able to make calls at big events – the same problem exists for the GPRS terminal – it will just stop working, often at a critical point. In 2010 we have seen a significant rise in the number of events that have experienced problems with GPRS devices due to the network being overloaded.

Wired/Wi-Fi Connectivity – The latest PDQ units are now shipping with Wi-Fi or cabled network connectivity built in. For those people who work at large events when the mobile phone network is not reliable this type of connectivity is a reliable way of ensuring you can continue to process transactions regardless of the mobile phone networks. The challenge here is the event needs to have a Wi-Fi or wired network in place – many of the larger events now do but the best thing to do is check beforehand.

Short Term Terminal Rental– Many companies like the option of renting PDQ machines for a short period, especially for events where they need Wi-Fi or GPRS units. There are several companies that rent units (including ourselves) but it is important to note there is a lead time of around 14 days to get your merchant id added to the temporary unit and some banks have additional restrictions which need to be removed. For PDQ rental you still need to have your own merchant id.

So whatever choice you make a PDQ terminal can be invaluable for any business on the road. Increased transaction amounts and greater security are just some of the obvious benefits but beware the pitfalls and make sure you plan well in advance of when you need the service operating. As always we are happy to provide advice on types of machine, connectivity, pros and cons etc. to help you make the right decision for your business.

Satellite Broadband: Will it work for your Event?

29 Nov 2010

ADSL, Broadband, Connectivity, Event, Event IT, Festival, Satellite, VoIP, Wireless

Last week in the news much was made of a dedicated satellite launch for broadband Internet access (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11846237). Satellite Internet access is nothing new and varying levels of service are available today but this launch, along with a couple of others that are planned, do bring additional bandwidth and some improved services. With this in mind I thought it would be useful to cover the good and bad of satellite Internet and whether it can help at your event. At a high level the pros and cons are as follows:

Pros

Relatively quick to deploy at short notice
No requirement for any physical wired infrastructure to the site
Relatively high bandwidth (primarily download) can be purchased compared to low-end broadband

Cons

Requires line of sight (roughly to southern horizon and an associated Fresnel zone area)
Requires alignment (although automatic motorised systems are now available)
Very high latency (delay) impacts usability for some applications
Can suffer weather impacts such as rain fade
Higher bandwidth tends to require a larger dish
Tends to work out very costly for longer duration events

For an event organiser some of these points are very important, for example the high latency makes the use of most VPNs virtually impossible which is a real problem if for example you need to run a ticketing system connected via VPN. VoIP services also suffer with high latency meaning delays and ‘Darlek’ effects. There are some improvements with the latest generation services but the simple fact is that satellites are a long way away and will always suffer high latency. It is also important to not assume a satellite dish will have line of sight – there are many situations where getting visibility to the southern horizon is harder than expected and it is also import to factor in the Fresnel zone, this effect means that a small gap between two buildings or trees may not work as expected.

Not all satellite services are the same. Different satellites have different ‘footprints’ meaning they cover different parts of Europe. Many providers also use contention ratios on satellite services too in a similar way to wired ADSL/Broadband services. There are a range of speed options ranging from consumer type services up to more business/professional levels, some services are also optimised for digital video links rather than web browsing.

So, in summary, when should you use satellite? When there really are no other options. We can, and do use satellite from time to time but it is the last resort and requires careful planning to ensure the service delivered meets the requirements. We always work with customers to review all options and recommend the most appropriate solution.

Event IT: Key Points from 2010 to help you in 2011

10 Nov 2010

ADSL, Broadband, Connectivity, Event, Event IT, Festival, Technology, VoIP, Wi-Fi, WiFi, Wireless

As the outdoor events season quietens down a bit and focus moves to planning for 2011, I thought it would be useful to list out some of the trends we have seen during 2010 which can help with 2011 planning when it comes to IT and communications at event sites. Although focused on outdoor events most of the topics below apply equally to indoor events. So here we go:

Plan and Book early – Connectivity providers have a few terms they love to use to push up costs – survey and expedite being two common ones. These costs mount rapidly and can generally be avoided by early engagement and planning. Last minute installations can end up being 2 or 3 times the cost of a normal installation. Other things to watch for include the ‘miscellaneous labour charges’, which often appear if a provider has to run cables around a site. This can be minimised by agreeing ‘demarcation’ at a suitable location and then cables being run by the event itself (we do this at most event sites and it can save £1,000s for larger deployments)
PDQ / Payment Systems – In 2010 we have seen a significant rise in the number of events reporting problems with GPRS (mobile phone) PDQ machines – these are the credit/debit card machines used for merchandise, box offices, traders, etc. The problem stems from the fact that at events the mobile networks (Vodaphone, O2, Orange, etc) cannot handle the amount of data that users are trying to pull over the network, and with all the network congestion the PDQ machines cannot process transactions. The reason the problem is getting worse relates to the increase in smartphones using more data and also some reluctance by operators to put in temporary masts due to their high cost. However it is important to note that just because a temporary mast is installed is does not necessary mean that data services will be any better as most temporary masts are more for the benefit of voice calls. The alternative to GPRS PDQs are Wi-Fi PDQs – exactly the same machines but using a Wi-Fi network instead. Obviously this requires a Wi-Fi network to be in place but it means the network is fully controlled and transactions on the machines are much faster. There are options to rent Wi-Fi PDQs (we offer this service) but 2-3 weeks notice is required as the machines have to be configured with the relevant banking merchant id.
VPN for Ticketing Systems – VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) are a method for creating a secure connection between two locations such as an event site and a central database somewhere. They are often used by ticketing and stock systems which are increasingly being used from event sites. There are two things to watch for, firstly VPNs require good network connectivity, especially upload, which means basic broadband will not support it very well. The second area is that VPNs often require special firewall configuration, particularly if multiple VPNs are to be used.
Wireless Spectrum Management – The use of wireless equipment on event sites continues to grow at a pace – general Wi-Fi, CCTV, ticket scanning, sound systems, audio and video links, etc. all make use of wireless solutions, many of which operate in the same frequency range. Harmony and reliable operation can only be achieved if everyone works together and early communication and coordination is key to ensure there is no interference.
Smartphone Hunting – The rapid increase in smartphone devices with Wi-Fi creates new challenges for onsite networks, even when the event network is not intended for public access. The issue is that smartphones will continually ‘hunt’ for Wi-Fi networks and when they find one they try to connect. This creates a small load on the network whilst they negotiate a connection (which will eventually fail if the network is secure) and with enough devices trying to connect this load builds up to the point where it impacts real users. The solution involves using wireless equipment designed for larger loads coupled with proper network management as low end Wi-Fi routers are not designed to deal with large numbers of users.
VoIP Phones – The use of VoIP phones at events is now commonplace and demand is growing as more people become frustrated with mobile networks at events. Use of VoIP is the best way to avoid having multiple BT lines and the only way to have a flexible solution allowing last minute deployment of additional phones.
Smartphone Apps – More and more events are now commissioning their own apps for use at events but few events are considering the full picture which is critical for success. Most of these applications (certainly the more useful ones) require connectivity at the event to get updates. Typically the mobile networks struggle with demand at events and so the user gets a poor experience and rates the app badly. Many users also turn up at the event expecting to download the app which creates further (significant) demand. One way around this is to provide a locally controlled Wi-Fi network for use by the app. This can then also be used to deliver local content direct from the site.
Public Wi-Fi Access – The increase in smartphones coupled with the massive expansion of publicly available Wi-Fi leads to more and more expectation that events will have Wi-Fi access. The costs of expanding an existing network being provided to site production, technical production, crew etc is not as high as people initially think and opens new avenues for sponsorship, advertising and rich content delivery.

As always, whether you a run a small event or a large event, we are always happy to provide advice, support and services to your event to ensure technology does not get in the way of delivering a great experience.

Wi-Fi Direct: Potential Disaster for Event Wi-Fi Networks?

31 Oct 2010

Event IT, Festival, IT, Media Centre, Press, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, WiFi

There’s plenty of press coverage of the recent, much anticipated, announcement of the approval of the Wi-Fi Direct standard. On the surface non-technical folks would be unlikely to give it a second thought but if you rely on Wi-Fi networks at events then Wi-Fi Direct could be a cause for concern. So what exactly is it and why the concern?

In simple terms think of Bluetooth but using a Wi-Fi standard i.e. device to device communication without the use of a ‘Wireless Access Point’. OK , but we have Bluetooth so why bother? Potentially better range, better performance and a single wireless standard across devices. Also factor in that Bluetooth has never really made it big in the US whereas Wi-Fi has.

But the more technical folks already know how to do ‘ad hoc’ wireless networks today using laptops and wireless adapters so what’s the difference? Not a lot, other than making it simpler and giving it a standard so that a wider range of devices can be certified. Sounds great, so I can connect my laptop directly to my wireless printer? Yes, and any other device that becomes ‘Wi-Fi Direct Certified’.

On one level Wi-Fi Direct is potentially a great addition to the connectivity tool-set, not a replacement for Bluetooth but a complimentary offering, a sort of next level up from a Personal Area Network (PAN), however there is a downside.

The downside is two fold, firstly imagine what happens when you put hundreds of users in a small space all firing up Wi-Fi Direct. Remember what used to happen in a room full of laptops with infrared connectivity and the constant ‘whoosh’ noise as they all kept finding one another and tried to establish a connection! Imagine that over a much wider area with all types of devices.

Today we are still seeing issues at events with the virus which creates an ad hoc network on an infected computer (using a very similar approach to Wi-Fi Direct) called ‘Free Public Wi-Fi’. Unsuspecting users connect to this and then become infected themselves. This virus has been around for some time but has recently gained more press coverage, thankfully it is easy to resolve but it is a nuisance at events where we often see dozens of infected computers.

The second issue is one of interference. The 2.4GHz frequency range that the majority of current Wi-Fi devices use is highly congested. Everything from microwave ovens to Bluetooth devices emit radiation around this frequency, all of which appears as interference to Wi-Fi devices and reduces performance. Now add in hundreds of Wi-Fi Direct networks all emitting in the same frequency range and chaos results. Recent large launches such as the iPhone 4 were hampered by interference caused by hundreds of MiFi devices; Wi-Fi Direct will add a whole new level of interference.

So how bleak is the situation? Hopefully the Wi-Fi Direct standard will address these concerns but details are hard to find at present. Also many of these aspects exist in one form or another today and hence already have to be managed at event sites but it does place increased pressure on the professional network. Two major factors which come into play and can assist are the use of the 5GHz frequency range for critical services where currently there is far less interference (although that is changing). The second factor is to use equipment designed for difficult environments, features such as interference rejection (using aspects such as beam-forming) and automatic channel management become highly important in maintaining a usable network.

The picture may become clearer as more details are made available around the Wi-Fi Direct standard but for any organiser planning on the use of Wi-Fi at an event, especially where there is likely to be a high density of users such as a media centre, it is critical they engage a professional team who have the right tools, equipment and experience to minimise the risk and deliver a quality network.

Etherlive Performs at the Showman’s Show

From the Office

24 Oct 2010