The Brighton Centre Chooses Simoco for Mobile Radio Upgrade

The Brighton Centre, which is the venue for this year’s Labour Party conference, is upgrading its professional mobile radio (PMR) system to the latest digital standard with the installation of Simoco Xd, the DMR (digital mobile radio) range from Simoco.

The new system, which is to be installed through Simoco partner, Chatterbox Ltd. includes base stations and portable hand held terminals providing critical communication across the venue, a well-known exhibition, conference and concert destination. Simoco Xd offers a number of benefits for the centre including simultaneous calls for user groups with no queuing and interoperability within the system allowing extra capacity for external users during busy periods. South London-based, Chatterbox Ltd. will provide on-going support and also the provision of additional rental portable radios for use by conference organisers.

The Simoco Xd replaces an ageing Motorola system and has been designed to provide two-way communications to facilities management teams, catering and support staff throughout the venue. It also eradicates previous issues related to poor signal coverage in remote zones. Using DMR technology, the Simoco Xd provides more reliable coverage right to the edge of the signal range which is an important factor for public safety and efficient operational management. Furthermore coverage can even be extended to provide radio communication to some of the local hotels so that delegates can stay in touch even when away from the venue.

The new infrastructure was ordered in time for the 2013 Labour Party Conference this autumn. The 4500-seater venue hosts a range of commercial meetings and events in addition to a lively programme of concerts, shows and public exhibitions. As well as the main auditorium there is a wide variety of meeting rooms, exhibition halls and offices that all need radio communication. The Brighton Centre’s Business and Operations Manager Penny Parker commented: “Radio communication is absolutely critical to the safe and successful management of the venue. We have recently invested heavily in technology and were one of the first venues to provide free WiFi. With the upgrade to DMR we will have reliable two-way push-to-talk radio communications throughout the site.”

Simoco Group CEO Ian Carr commented: “This new deployment of Simoco Xd into such a prestigious venue demonstrates the high response we are having to Simoco Xd. With DMR, the Brighton Centre can have confidence that their system is built on international standards that allow interoperability offering an excellent platform for future expansion. As well as offering functions including group calling to specialist users, such as security or catering staff, Simoco Xd can be upgraded to provide trunked radio, using the DMR Tier III standard, which provides greater call flexibility, increased call capacity and more efficient use of the network resources.”

Source: Simoco