The Blair Castle International Horse Trials are one of the largest 4* eventing meets on the equestrian calendar. With around 20,000 visitors a day, spread over 220 acres it’s a huge event and has a very specific requirement for internet connectivity and WiFi. From hundreds of traders with their payment devices and social media needs, to VIP designated zones wanting event updates, key sponsors sharing brand awareness, remote parking locations, ticket scanners, security teams, scorers and officials needing to update official records, this event has such a wide scope of requirements it really pushes technical expertise to the edge.
A need to provide a basic network for traders where payments are assured but also to have an option for them to pay for an upgraded service allowing social media, emails and browsing was significant as across the previous 25 years of events they had not offered this so it would be challenging to present this in the right way and give the matching service too.
Its big – VERY big. There aren’t many temporary events in the UK which need as wide a variety of requirements as this. With a lot of remote areas needing coverage, time would be a factor as you can only do so much before structures are in place then it is a race to get complete before the event opens. We planned for a sizeable team to carry out the installation and testing, with as much of the pre-configuration and staging carried out back at the lab in the Fli-Fi offices before travelling up to Scotland. With over 5km of cable, multiple fibre routes and in excess of 65 wireless access points on the plans, we only had effectively three days to get it all in place on what are normally fields with sheep grazing on them in the beauty on the fringes of the Cairngorms.
The site itself is so remote that only one mobile phone mast supports it locally and once the event visitors start to arrive then the mobile networks fall over, meaning that it is critical the connectivity does not fail as everyone is simply relying on it. The success of the event itself rests obviously on the horses and riders but in an environment like this, if the traders cannot sell then it can quickly be perceived as a disaster.
