3 speakers, 3 countries in 3 consecutive days but 1 main topic on their minds!

Did you know that 20 of the world’s 100 tallest buildings are in the United Arab Emirates? It is not surprising, then, that our iBwave team decided to return, once again, to the Arabian Peninsula where they have an established presence in one of the fastest-growing in-building markets, to host a series of seminars focusing on the latest in-building wireless network challenges, particularly for large structures and high-rise buildings…

During their 3-day Middle-East tour, our Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Dominique Gauthier, accompanied by Yvan Guyot, Sales Manager MEA and Peter Thalmeir, Director, Sales Engineering EMEA traveled to the jewel of Qatar, Doha, to Abu-Dhabi in the UAE with its spectacular skyline and all the way to the golden beaches of Muscat to meet with a vast number of partners (including Etisalat, du, Zain, Ooredoo, Ericsson, Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent, NSN, Comba, Commscope to name but a few) and wireless professionals from all parts of the in-building ecosystem.

Dominique started the sessions by providing a general overview of in-building market drivers as well as the technological trends that will transform the industry in the years ahead.

With Africa and the Middle East being two of the fastest growing regions in the world in terms of mobile communications and Internet adoption/usage, he underlined how important it is for industry experts to fully understand the local culture as well as the changes that are, and will continue to affect the market and consumer behaviors in the region.

Peter went on explaining the complexity of implementing and maintaining IBS networks in multi-technology environments (more specifically for high-rises, stadiums, subways, airports, and air-conditioned shopping centers!!!) and in a world that constantly demands faster speeds and a greater volume of streaming data.

He then highlighted some of the solutions that were successfully implemented to overcome both coverage and capacity challenges in high-density venues, giving the Metlife stadium in New Jersey, USA which recently hosted the Super Bowl in 2014 and attracted close to 83,000 fans, as an example. (for more info, please check out our “Delivering a First Class Wireless Fan Experience at the Big Game” webinar recording here.)

Our participants were extremely enthusiastic and participative, which made for some very engaging and stimulating discussions.

As always, the sessions ended with a draw for a free seat at an upcoming iBwave Certification session and with 10 lucky guests happily trading their taqiyahs for our traditional Canadian tuques.

Despite their busy schedules, our globe-trotting team took some well-deserved time to sample the local food and nightlife, and visit the atmospheric souqs.

VIDEO: Behind the Network at Amsterdam Arena

We’re always looking for interesting videos showing our customers at work. A shining example is this recent clip on KPN’s wireless network at the Amsterdam Arena.

The challenge was to provide GSM, UMTS and LTE service for a capacity of 55,000 spectators. To achieve optimum coverage, KPN, led by RF Engineer Cees Spierenburg, installed 40 directional antennas that are precisely mounted using cranes above the stands so as to provide coverage for each sector of the stadium. These antennas are fed using active equipment located 40m above the pitch in four strategic locations and 5km of cables. After the antenna beams are precisely geared using laser and digital cameras in order to avoid overlap between the sectors (which would decrease network performance).

The video does a great job at illustrating the real world challenges faced when deploying a large scale wireless network but what really gets us is the feel-good moment at the end when Cees and his team can finally say that the job is done.

The video is narrated in Dutch but we’ve added English subtitles in our version:

Thanks to Cees Spierenburg at KPN for sharing. If you have a video you’d like us to share, please email marketing@ibwave.com.

To the Wireless Network at MetLife Stadium: Ready or not, here comes the Big Game!

Seahawks or Broncos t-shirt
Game day tailgate refreshments
Ticket that is worth more than your monthly car payment (unless you were lucky enough to be invited by someone else!)
Smartphone
Network connection for live tweeting, Instagram selfies and instant replay streaming

Whether or not you’ll be watching the Big Game this Sunday directly from the MetLife Stadium (leave us a comment if you’ll be working there!) or, more likely, from the comfort of your living room, us in-building geeks will definitely be thinking about more than the final score throughout the pre-game, first kickoff, halftime show and winning goal. The major US operators and their subcontractors have been working tirelessly for months to ensure a 1st class wireless fan experience during the game but on game day, anything can happen. Remember the power outage at last year’s game?

Delivering a 1st Class Wireless Fan Experience at the Big Game

If you weren’t able to attend one of the recent webinars we put on with AT&T and TE Connectivity about wireless networks inside stadiums, specifically that of the MetLife Stadium, then here’s your chance to have a look and see what goes on behind the scenes during events of this magnitude.

Click the image below to watch the video recording from one of our sessions and then leave us your comments / questions below this blog entry.