Game, set and match for Airwave at Wimbledon
The system uses Motorola’s MotoTrbo digital radio technology With Airwave’s business partner, Servicom who provides a fully-managed service. Proposals have also been submitted to incorporate the management of the AELTC’s sprinkler system via telemetry to
Airwave has a three-year contract with The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) to provide a fully-managed radio solution which was successfully deployed ahead of the Wimbledon Championships 2013.
“We were looking to update our existing analogue system, as we wanted something to grow strategically with the Grounds and would scale accordingly with the changes that have been proposed. Airwave has been able to design and deliver a system that not only meets our needs today, but is future proof and in line with the improvement works we have planned over the next few years,” says Andreas Chrysanthou, IT Service Delivery Manager, AELTC.
The system supports around 100 devices during the year, which increases to around 1,000 during the two weeks of The Championships. The system uses Motorola’s MotoTrbo digital radio technology with Airwave’s business partner, Servicom who provides a fully-managed service. Proposals have also been submitted to incorporate the management of the AELTC’s sprinkler system via telemetry too.
The service consists of a primary site delivering voice and data communications above and below ground. This provides blanket coverage of the Grounds.
The service also includes a secondary site for added resilience meaning that, in the event of a failure of the main site, a complete back-up option can be up and running within 90 seconds.
Training was also key to the successful implementation of the system.
“We did this with the fulltime users of the system and it gave them ample opportunity to become familiar with it. In advance of The Championships, we also produced a user-friendly pocket guide to hand out to users - it incorporates radio instructions, as well as the terminology and phrases to use when communicating with colleagues over the radio,” adds Andreas.
“One of the biggest challenges we faced was designing and finalising the fleet mapping. Airwave and Servicom were instrumental in helping us design a fit for purpose fleet map and not let it scale out of control, and overusing valuable capacity.”
Around 500,000 point-to-point (PTP) calls were carried during The Championships with no losses of service.
“Airwave’s expertise in delivering a radio system tailor-made to our specifications, together with their willingness to work in accordance with our tried and tested procedures helped us deliver another very successful Championships,” concludes Andreas.
Source: Airwave
