Triangle connects Bristol International Balloon Fiesta

Bristol International Balloon Fiesta is Europe’s largest ballooning event, taking place annually over 4 days in August. From small beginnings in 1978 the festival has grown exponentially and now caters for 300,000 spectators over the course of the weekend.

As well as the breathtaking mass balloon ascents, the festival hosts nightglows with the balloons lighting up to music, attended by up to 50,000 people.    

The Opportunity 

With Triangle focused on working with the property sector and technology businesses to deliver connectivity to SMEs and enterprise customers, an event the size of the balloon fiesta offers a unique opportunity to demonstrate the capability of ultrafast connectivity and fibre infrastructure. 

The Balloon Fiesta has a larger population than most business parks! In fact, its population is comparable to that of a large town comprised of a number of key buildings with varying requirements from each. 

In the case of the Balloon Fiesta, the requirements vary from connectivity for key stakeholders for communication purposes through to the live streaming of event coverage for the important media partners. 

In partnership with our IT experts, and the balloon fiesta team, each year the Triangle team challenges itself to demonstrate operational expertise in delivering connectivity on time and with little fuss.  

The Challenge 

The site is located within a natural bowl, which is excellent for protecting balloons ahead of their take offs, but difficult for connectivity. Poor connection would cause disruption for the teams working on the fiesta, limiting critical communication within teams and externally. Good internet connectivity helps to stop delays in messaging.  

The fiesta team have previously had to rely on the use of radios, which are expensive and inefficient as not every team member can carry one.  

Key infrastructure like trader payment systems rely on internet connection so any disruption to connectivity could mean loss of revenue, especially at key trading times. Connectivity is also required for the scanners at car park entry points where efficiency is key, and a huge media presence from outlets all over the world rely on the internet for live and sending back pre-recorded broadcasts worldwide.  

Testimonial 

Ben Hardy, Executive Director at Bristol International Balloon Fiesta said: 

“The importance of connectivity on any event site cannot be underestimated, but for the Fiesta it is essential. From simply being able to access our web-based file storage for access to our schedules and site plans during the build, running multi agency meetings with the emergency services via video conference and running our live, multiuser command and control logging system, a strong, reliable and data connection is essential. Overlay this with the requirement of over 300 accredited media from around the globe, Triangle have become an integral part of the Fiesta’s delivery team”. 

The Triangle Solution 

Each year, Triangle delivers a gigabit leased line service and more than 2km of fibre and wireless connectivity to reach the balloonist’s village at the opposite end of the site.  

A live connection was maintained for the press team and major media outlets like BBC Radio Bristol and BBC Breakfast, who used 500GB of data throughout the event weekend improving the reach for the fiesta’s coverage.  

Triangle installs this connection on a 6-month term which is much more flexible than standard leased line contract terms (normally 12 or 36 months). In the case that a backup connection was required, a Starlink system is put in place so teams always have the reassurance that they would have the connectivity they need. 

Wireless technology is deployed, mimicking business park connectivity, connecting bars and traders throughout the site so that they could take card payments using PDQ machines without fear of losses caused by dropouts.  

To ensure safety across the site a connection is deployed for Severnside Security Ltd’s CCTV system, like that of a City Centre deployment, allowing them to monitor crowd movements throughout the site and act on any reported incidents.  

Hardwired internet and Wi-Fi points are installed in the event control area, allowing Richmond Event Management to deliver and run the event effectively. A partner’s cloud telephone system allows the team to take external calls and to communicate internally. 

The Wi-Fi access points serve as access for users in every marquee onsite and public, carrier grade Wi-Fi ensures strong coverage throughout the whole event for the network of event partners. Nearly 2000 clients were able to connect over the course of the weekend, showing how seamlessly Wi-Fi technology can manage access between public areas, something that is becoming increasingly important for hard to reach high-rise and rural premises. 

In addition to the fixed-wire infrastructure, the Triangle long-range wireless connections provide internet access to the more remote Sky Lounge and the Balloonist’s Marquee areas allowing guests to log onto local Wi-Fi equipment to share content including pictures and videos online. 

A whopping 750GB of data was used over the course of the four-day fiesta, more than some of our customers use in 12 months. The Bristol International Balloon Fiesta takes place on the second weekend of August annually. For more information visit https://www.bristolballoonfiesta.co.uk/.  

Enabling international businesses to grow and succeed

In collaboration with leading tech managed services ITEC, we brought one of the continent’s top cheese manufacturers into the gigabit revolution.

Dalter UK, part of the Dalter Group, is an Exeter-based supplier of major restaurant chains and retailers with high quality italian produce. Dalter UK was set up in 2011 but grew rapidly, reaching 10 employed and a turnover of £18 million in just six years.

While Dalter UK remained relatively small team-wise, a simple broadband connection was sufficient. However after their rapid growth, development and relocation to a larger premises in 2017 a second ADSL line was installed. However as activity increased, the low bandwidth began to hamper performance.

ITEC’s Joshua Beck explains;

“On the business park where Dalter UK are located, there was no fibre to the cabinet (FTTC), so they were running on ADSL copper and the only alternative was a Leased Line. For a business of Dalter’s size, this was just overkill.”

For this reason Dalter held back and like so many businesses in its position, simply learned to live with a sub-par connection. However, extra bandwidth was much needed, the company was running it’s systems - even productivity apps - remotely from the Italian parent company’s servers. This would place significant strain on connectivity and made reconnecting post outages - which happened three or four times a day - a time consuming affair.

After launching the CityFibre Exeter Gigabit City project in September of 2018 we opened communications with Dalter UK and by October had installed a superior gigabit connection, where it was much needed.

This also proved to be a cost effective solution for Dalter UK, as they now have the same service SLA and fix times as a leased line, but for a fraction of the cost. The 500mb connection has the same price as a 100mb leased line circuit.

Enabling Exeter Castle’s stakeholders with gigabit internet

Exeter Castle is a truly unique and premium events venue combined with residential and business tenants, making a premium internet connection vital to its operations.

Exeter Castle’s existing 100mbs connection was proving to be unwieldy and inflexible, since signing up for their incumbent contract, technology had moved on and they were falling behind in terms of what they could over residents and visitors.

Sharing a 100mb connection between everyone working and staying within the building presented a significant challenge.

Post-installation, Exeter Castle now boasts a 1gbps connection, which allows them to deliver the performance and capacity needed to meet the demands of its residents, business tenants and event guests.

“From that point on we have never had any downtime in our service. The communication from Triangle is great, so if there is any work going on or they feel there might be an issue, they let us know. But we certainly have not noticed any disruption to the service.”

Chris Jones, Exeter Castle’s events manager

Reducing daily upload times from 48 hours to 0.5mbps

Layered Technologies, a Bristol-based software provider, connectivity and IT security consultancy has a huge international remit working across EMEA with a wide client base from startups to blue chip organisations.

With heavy reliance on cloud access, having access to a stable, consistent and low latency connection is vital. So upon moving to a new city centre office and the discovery that they could only access a 0.5mbps ADSL line, this was a critical issue.

With daily uploads taking as long as 48 hours, and with teams working from wireless dongles as a stop-gap solution, Layered Technologies approached us to solve this critical connectivity issue.

Lee Watts, Managing Director at Layered Technologies said:

“It was a no brainer when we learnt how easy it was for us to connect to the CityFibre network. Upload speed has always been a necessity for us so to get a 1 gigabit per second speed on both download and upload was music to our ears.”

 “It’s been a boost to the staff”, they love the new connection because they feel they now have all the tools at their fingertips to perform their job.

It took just three weeks for the connection to be live, after which Layered Technologies could utilise the total power of full fibre, providing a huge boost to staff productivity and morale

The circuit speed has also enabled Layered Technologies to implement a range of online tools such as Gmail, Office 365, Adobe, Cisco spark and Webex, providing video conferencing tools that would have struggled on their previous connection.

Full gigabit connectivity for Bristol’s Computer Geeks.

When Bristol-based IT service provider Computer Geeks came to us with the challenge of seriously upgrading their connectivity, we knew it was one we could meet and surpass.

As an IT service provider, Computer Geeks specialise in a broad range of technology services for their clients, ranging from cloud storage and web development to digital infrastructure. However, the usage demands they required was simply not being provided by a shared 25mbps internet connection at their former premises. After moving into new facilities on Thomas Lane in Central Bristol, they knew they needed a better solution.

After receiving a gigabit connection from CityFibre, day to day internet problems were removed. But the most prominent benefits came with the ability to offer new services to their clients. Gigabit connection allowed Computer Geeks to set up a new data centre to be used for co-located backup. This 64TB storage system now enables Computer Geek’s clients to access cost-effective back-up processes with the options to expand at an affordable scale.

Nick Richards, Managing Director at Computer Geeks.

“An ultrafast connection for us was crucial for us maintaining excellent customer service,”

“We only sell what we use ourselves,” said Nick, “and the results we’ve seen within our organisation give us tremendous faith in the value, quality and delivery of Triangle Network’s Cityfibre service. When you can go to your clients and offer an internet service that delivers five times the bandwidth of the traditional providers, for half the cost, in a quarter of the installation time, that’s something well worth talking about.”

Enabling digital businesses to work rapidly

Bristol-based JonesMillbank is a video production company, delivering a dynamic array of services from 4k, aerial, 360 degree and VR video content. With a six-strong team delivery all aspects of video production, from shooting through to post production.

Heavily reliant on moving large files and graphics, there is a significant need for speed  and reliability. However, JonesMillbank’s ability to compete in a busy market was stifled by a frankly crippling ADSL connection of just 12mpbs down and 1mbps up.

Overnight uploads to client accessible shared locations was common practice, as was sending raw footage to clients via hard-drive and post. Archaic work-arounds that have no place in a modern, fast paced creative setting.

For Russell Jones, MD of JonesMillbank this ADSL installation was far from a functional connection for their business.

“We desperately needed something faster, but couldn't get  a suitable provider to give us the bandwidth we needed at a realistic price. I can be completely honest when I say this: the CityFibre connection has been a revelation for our business.”

Triangle Networks presented JonesMillbank with the connection they had been crying out for, a 1000mbs gigabit connection and with full fibre connections at their fingertips, JonesMillbank could focus on providing exemplary work.

JonesMillbank very quickly put this connection to good use, operating a cloud system which hosts 14TB of raw and fully produced work, which can now be accessed and distributed rapidly.

Making VOIP and rapid working possible for ARV Solutions

A UK leader in offsite construction recruitment, ARV Solutions has a stellar reputation as the go-to recruiter for the engineering, construction and manufacturing industries.

Following an operational expansion which saw ARV increase it’s employee count to 25 as well as moving to a new larger operation centre at Aztec West Business Park, it was found that the internet provider for this new facility, could only offer a 6-8mbps connection.

This speed, or lack thereof, was not nearly enough for ARV to run and maintain their portfolio of 90 clients. The next option for ARV was to look at leased line options, though on further research this was not a cost-effective option. 

Upon discovering Triangle Networks and our ability to offer low-cost ultrafast connection, the contract was signed, the connection installed and live within just a couple of weeks.

Jim Roach, Managing Director at ARV Solutions said of the new connection:

“We have really embraced new cloud technologies across the business. Our new recruitment software is fully cloud-enabled, so connectivity is crucial. Since joining CityFibre’s network we’ve also implemented ‘voice over IP’ across our workforce with great feedback.”

“Triangle and CityFibre have been tremendous every step of the way, delivering a connection for us that is ultrafast and very affordable.”