The Project:
Working with our friends at Burberry, Noba were engaged to deliver 2 x main internet connections on separate ISPs for stability and various backup connections for their SS24 show. Our objective was to ensure the online demands of the show were met, including the live stream viewed by 100k+ in real-time across all major social media platforms.
WiFi connectivity was also provided for production, press, back-of-house and VIP guests.
Our Solution:
Our connectivity solutions included:
- 2 x 1Gbps synchronous internet connections
- 4 x VDSL, 2 x Priority Starlink and bonded 5g backup connections
- LAN – Site-wide, fully managed WiFi6 network
- Dedicated bandwidth hardwired drops
- Onsite support engineers throughout the show
Due to the location and timescales, the main connection was delivered via a relay p2p from a nearby church roof, with the backup coming via rapid install VDSL lines installed in a nearby cafe.
Challenges:
The geography of the park and short lead times proved especially challenging for this event. The show field where the connectivity was required is surrounded on all sides by 25m+ high trees and has no structures where a land-based internet connection could be installed. In addition, the footprint of the show meant there was no room for us to install a mast above the trees.
Not one to be defeated by a connectivity challenge, the Noba crew contacted local businesses and even a school surrounding the park to find a suitable roof location to install our point-to-point internet equipment. A church roof proved to be the ideal solution, with a perfect line of sight to several of our central London internet base stations.
However, there was no direct roof access, and the only way up was via a cherry picker. Compounding this problem was the fact that we needed a specialist pavement plant licence from the council to get the cherry picker into a suitable position to get us onto the roof. This usually takes up to 6 weeks to be issued and we only had 3 days!
After careful negotiations and the implementation of a traffic management solution, Islington Council agreed to fast-track our application.
Following some agreed park maintenance to trim a few branches to give us a perfect line of sight from the roof into the show space, we were ready to deliver seamless connectivity for the show.
