The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) has selected Freedom Communications and Alcatel-Lucent to upgrade its current IT infrastructure in order to consolidate multiple physical networks, reduce hardware duplication and provide a scalable, high capacity network.
The new infrastructure will streamline individual networks including the event network, the corporate network and an array of access control and security networks, resulting in a single system across the entire NEC campus.
In addition, the new infrastructure will be channelled through to a new venue operations centre, supporting a coordinated and proactive approach to its management, said NEC.
NEC operations director Riach Ryder said in the age of the digital revolution, this is a vital investment and the upgrade to this new, intelligent system means they will be able to better serve their customers and support future technology enhancements.
Freedom Communications strategic account manager Gary Thomas said the final offering was to build a single network around existing Alcatel-Lucent OS9 series switches with the addition of new OS6400 series access switches, which extends the reach of the network into the hall roof spaces.
"Links connecting the network core have been increased to 10GbE and CCTV IP traffic optimised using multicast and QOS policies," Thomas said.
NEC expects to see the new infrastructure in place by autumn this year.
