Regarded as the world’s most prestigious team golf event, Boston Networks delivers a full turnkey solution, supporting a multitude of technology for the Ryder Cup in Gleneagles.
The Ryder Cup
Played in Europe only every four years, The Ryder Cup is regarded as the greatest tournament in match play golf. With the entire world watching the events unfold at Gleneagles, undoubtedly, Technology will play a critical part in what is set to be the most technically advanced golf event ever run.
The scale of this truly global event is astonishing. With 45,000 spectators following the action every day on course, hailing from 75 countries, a worldwide TV audience of 630 million from 180 countries and over 3000 corporate hospitality places each day, the numbers are quite staggering.
Overview
Boston Networks has been working with The European Tour for over 18 months to deliver a world class communications infrastructure and intelligent IP security system for the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles.
Designed to provide a fully resilient network backbone, the communications network will not only facilitate the legendary tournament but will remain as a legacy network at Gleneagles, adding significant value to the finest golf resort in the world.
The robust cabling infrastructure will fully support Data, Voice, Video, IP TV and the Wireless Network, throughout:
- Operation Centre and Championship Office
- Opening and Closing Ceremony
- European and American Team Lounges
- Media Centre
- Broadcast Centre
- Spectator Village
- 11 Hospitality Structures
Gleneagles Hotel
Executive Offices of PGA of America and GB
As well as the thrilling competition, a key part of running any major global event is the security and safety of the players and the estimated 250,000 thousand spectators that will visit Gleneagles.
Boston Networks has designed and deployed an IP security solution that will provide 24/7 protection of the golf course in the pre-event weeks, to preserve the course ahead of the competition and a further system to provide complete event surveillance, to support public and player safety over all practice and competition days.
Event Critical Communications Infrastructure
Working in conjunction with Ryder Cup and Gleneagles Hotel, our systems have been designed to provide maximum flexibility, and the highest level of resiliency. The infrastructure will support a multitude of technologies and stakeholders, to enable the delivery of this globally acclaimed sporting event, including:
- 800 of the world’s journalists and media
- Leader boards and On Course Big Screen Displays
- 60 TV cameras, to capture all the sporting action for a global audience of 630 million
- 100 on course Xirrus Wireless Arrays for Free Public Wi-FI
- 50 CCTV cameras, throughout Gleneagles, for public safety and event security
- 600 TV screens to bring the live action to players lounges, hospitality suites and the spectator village.
As well as enabling The Ryder Cup, the infrastructure will remain intact and fully operational for Gleneagles to utilise for years to come. Throughout the design and installation process, the project has also rigorously adhered to Boston Networks ISO140001 and the Ryder Cup’s Green Drive initiative to ensure this will be the most sustainable event with the lowest environmental impact.
Bespoke Network to support Tournament Broadcast
With an expected global audience of 630 million, the broadcast infrastructure is a critical component of this prestigious sporting event.
To ensure European Tour Productions and NBC broadcast team can transmit the sporting action securely and in real time straight to the central TV compound and out to the waiting world, Boston Networks has designed a separate highly resilient network around the course.
The Fibre backbone will facilitate over 1000 cores, exclusively for European Tour Productions, ensuring every shot is captured in SD, HD and 4K.
Media Centre
With the worlds media set to descend upon Gleneagles, the performance and capability of the media centre is key to the success of the Ryder Cup. The Media Centre is fully connected to the Boston Networks infrastructure and will guarantee high speed connectivity for journalist to enable rapid communication and the instantaneous transmission of news from around 600 journalist desks, as well as over 80 photography and radio booths.
Greens Protection
To ensure the PGA Course is protected and critical event preparations are uninterrupted, Boston Networks has deployed a full Course protection surveillance solution to monitor all areas of the course in the lead up to this prestigious event.
Using infra-red IP surveillance cameras, the entire course is monitored and footage is transmitted to multiple locations, via the cabling infrastructure for simplified control by on site security staff. The deployment of this solution ensures that anti-social behaviour and vandalism and deterred and critical assets are protected during the event preparations
Tournament Time Surveillance
The sheer volume of visitors that Gleneagles will welcome during Tournament Time demands a dynamic security solution to ensure public safety is never compromised
To fully support the Ryder Cup event security and safety strategy, Boston Networks has designed and delivered an IP Security system to run across the on course network and provide megapixel views of all areas of the course, as well as the key public transport routes leading to Gleneagles.
Providing a complete visual overview of the course and key local transport locations, the security solution has been designed with visitor movement in mind and will encompass high speed HDTV IP cameras, providing 30x optical zoom and precise pan/tilt performance for wide area coverage and optimal detail when zooming.
All surveillance footage will be transmitted in real time, via the IP network infrastructure, to the main operations centre, to our video wall which will provide complete situational awareness. The high performance solution will be powered by a leading edge video management software platform (VMS) and will enable:
- Multiple, intuitive viewing interfaces to simplify real time monitoring
- Multi Screen Video wall to provide real time event awareness from more than 60 on site cameras
- Integration with 3rd party camera feeds from off-site transport hubs and other security organisations
- Efficient video search tools to easily find relevant footage and accelerate exporting.
- Motion detection to monitor specific motions and areas, such as visitors entering unauthorised areas.
Tournament Time Support
Boston Networks will be providing network infrastructure and CCTV event support in the Operation Centre for the duration of the tournament.
The entire on course infrastructure and key operational areas will be constantly monitored to guarantee optimal performance, with a full disaster recovery strategy in place to manage any unplanned outages.
Our event CCTV Security team will guarantee the seamless operation of the IP security system and be onsite to support Ryder Cup, Police Scotland and other key technology providers to deliver unwavering support for the safety and security of the visiting public, players and dignitaries.