ARQIVA/EXCEL
Mobile phone use plays a key role in most business activity – and no more so than when people are away at an all day event. At the ExCeL London International Conference and Exhibition centre, literally everyone on site – staff, exhibitors and business visitors – is working in a remote capacity using a variety of equipment including mobile phones, laptops and PDAs.
Timo Bayford, Head of IT at ExCeL London explains: “When the first part of the centre opened in 2000, it was evident that mobile network coverage was a problem: there was none. And in a situation where you have lots of exhibitors needing to connect computers or wireless devices, as well as visitors who need to keep in touch while they are at an event, that’s a big problem.”
The lack of signal was caused by the building’s strengthened, column free structure, which shielded out signals from external macro cells. This was not only potentially problematic for visitors and exhibitors, it was causing operational difficulties for ExCeL London staff.
ExCeL London invited Arqiva to provide it with an InBuilding system offering high-quality, stable coverage.
Arqiva supplied the centre with an active DAS system (Distributed Antenna System) that included 40 antenna points. These were distributed evenly throughout the centre to cater for occasions when the venue hosts multiple events and the exhibition halls are split into a number of different spaces. The antennas were then connected to base equipment located in a centralised control room. Since the centre was still unfinished at the time, Arqiva had to tailor the InBuilding implementation process both to avoid any impact on events taking place at ExCel London and to accommodate the ongoing building work. The system was implemented in stages as each part of the centre became available, and is now being upgraded to 3G without any further disruption.
Details: www.arqiva.com
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