17 May 2024
Event organisers, media broadcast outlets, on-site emergency services personnel and visitors will all continue to have access to reliable connectivity at the largest outdoor sporting event in Ireland for the next three years.
This is thanks to a contract extension awarded to Telent to provide the voice and data communications infrastructure for the North West 200, with their successful collaboration set to span two decades.
This year’s motorcycle road race took place on 6-11 May and attracts more than 150,000 visitors and is streamed to millions across the globe every year. Telent installed the equipment at various points around the race circuit and had a team of ten staff for on-site support during the event to quickly address any additional requirements or potential technical incidents.
“We are delighted to have secured a three-year extension with North West 200, building on our success together and supporting its technical requirements for the past 18 years,” said Jo Gretton, CEO at Telent. “Telent plays a crucial role as a trusted partner in supporting critical digital infrastructure, and at this year’s race, I was one of the 150,000 fans in attendance, benefitting from the reliable communications the event had to offer.”
Delivering the telephony, radio voice communications, timing infrastructure, race clocks and timing screens, Telent also provided the off-site TV production company, which livestreamed the event, with a “fibre to the camera” solution. This involved the provision of cabling to cameras, radio communications from the off-site producer to the cameramen and commentators via DMR (Digital Mobile Radio) communications and 4G SIM based back-up backhaul.
“As we welcomed hundreds of thousands of fans across the globe to this year’s event, a cutting-edge network that promises seamless connectivity, live-streaming and communications is as critical as ever. Telent’s continued support once again proved to be crucial,” said Mervyn Whyte MBE, Event Director at North West 200.
The greenfield site is transformed annually into a racetrack, with all of the communications equipment installed as part of the set-up and then removed from the site following the event. The technical solutions as part of the project included IP microwave link deployment, IPTV solutions for timing and BBC video distribution, Cisco switch infrastructure, provision of the spectator LED screens and messaging, DMR solutions, analogue radio-controlled red lights and IP telephony and safety camera solutions.
