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Press Releases

Ethnet Implements VoIP Over Wireless Mesh for Eisteddfod with Zultys and Firetide
1st-Aug-2008

As the festivities kick off this week at the National Eisteddfod of Wales in Cardiff, Siracom and its reseller partner Ethnet will be keeping a close eye on proceedings.That is because the event is supported by a voice and data network implemented by Ethnet, which integrates a large part of the Siracom product range. The system, based on Firetide Wireless Mesh and Zultys IP PBX, provides site wide voice and data communications and supports applications such as Internet access, and point-of-sale (POS) systems for the event organizers, merchants, exhibitors and visitors throughout the entire weeklong festival.

The National Eisteddfod of Wales is one of the world's greatest festivals dating back to the year 1176. This annual celebration, which runs during the first week of August, has attracted approximately 160,000 visitors in the past. The Eisteddfod celebrates Welsh culture and heritage and plays an important role in the life of the nation by promoting the Welsh language and arts. It also acts as a launch pad for Wales' most talented performers.

"The site chosen for this year's national Eisteddfod is a vast area of parkland that runs alongside the River Taff in the heart of Cardiff. The Eisteddfod has transformed the Ponte Canna fields into a thriving festival area comprising a main pavilion surrounded by 300 merchant stands, a theatre and many performance and exhibition marquees," explains Rob Leggett, Sales Director at SiraCom. "With short and rigidly defined timescales, Ethnet have transformed this huge open space into a fully connected festival area. They've done a fantastic job".

"The Firetide mesh provides a rapidly deployable, site wide Ethernet network, giving wired connections throughout the festival areas, with high speed, resilient wireless backhaul. This enables us to deploy wired security cameras, wired phones and PCs as well as wi-fi access points, supporting POS and wireless phones, wherever we choose" said Barry Lieberman, MD Ethnet (http://www.ethnetuk.com).

"The wide area connections are particularly important at temporary events", Barry continued, "and we have gone for a 'belt and braces' solution. We have a wired broadband connection with satellite back-up. Voice services are provided by internet telephony, from VoIP unlimited, and we use the Zed-3 Sip to GSM gateway to provide a final layer of telephony resilience."

"Zultys couldn't be more pleased that our U.K. partners have chosen such a marquee venue to fully demonstrate the robust integration capabilities and flexibility of our MX communications system. We wish all of the Eisteddfod participants the best as they celebrate their Welsh heritage and we hope the MX-powered network will be music to their ears," says Steve Rothenberg, CEO at Zultys.

"Firetide wireless networks are designed for rapid deployment and are ideal in environments where permanent infrastructure is not required. We are pleased that Ethnet selected Firetide to serve as a robust and secure communications network for the festival," says Bo Larsson, CEO of Firetide.

School's out for wired networks as Blackfen School for Girls chooses Meru's wireless technology
1st-Aug-2008

Blackfen School needed a wireless network that would allow classrooms of students to reliably and securely access the Internet and other networked applications. The school also wanted to avoid supporting a separate network for cordless phones.

Solution - 50 Meru AP201 access points deployed in a single channel Virtual Cell, plus two MC3050 controllers, provided by specialist distributor Siracom

Benefits -

  • The Meru solution outclassed the Cisco alternative on performance, flexibility and cost.
  • A class of pupils can be issued with laptops and logged in within five minutes
  • Meru Virtual Cell architecture dramatically simplified deployment and management
  • Multiple SSIDs make admin tasks easier for different user groups and device types such as handsets and printers
  • Single wireless infrastructure simultaneously supports data and seamless voice services

Read the Case Study.