Fulham goes wireless

Forty wireless access points were installed at English Fulham's grounds, Craven Cottage, which allowed the ground stewards to use handheld gadgets to access ticket information right away.

The club also set up a leased line to improve its Internet access speed and to connect its stadium, training ground, community department and club shop.

Spencer Haywood, Fulham IT support manager, said connecting phone lines and other systems to the new network would happen in the coming year.

"Previously, internet access was provided via the corporate network from our head office at Motspur Park," said Haywood. "This made the connection cumbersome and slow, particularly for press and photographers reporting live from matches."

At the beginning of the season, the network supported new PDAs that were launched along with smartcard ticketing equipment.

"Fans can now approach a steward with their smartcard and get seat and ticketing information," said Haywood. "Bluetooth printers are also linked to 10 of the 25 PDAs so tickets can be printed."

ISP Pipex has given the wireless network, as well as the leased line, to connect Fulham's locations and improve corporate communications. A back-up line offers additional flexibility to lessen trouble communicating on match days.

Pipex is sponsoring the club web site on two load-balanced servers, while a third database server is used for its online megastore.

Mark Blowers, an analyst for Butler Group, said since the staff does not have the time to log onto a PC on match days, the football stadium is a great environment for the wireless network.

"Staff can use the devices to send and receive information to head office in real time while moving around the ground," he said. "It also opens up the possibility of introducing voice-over IP while freeing up the corporate network."

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.