Since launching in 2011, Bournemouth 7s has grown into one of the UK’s biggest sporting and music festivals, drawing more than 30,000 people over an action-packed three-day weekend.
Hosted on the grounds of Bournemouth University, the festival turns its sports fields into a stage for rugby, netball, hockey, dodgeball, football and fitness competitions by day. As night falls, the site shifts gears and becomes a major live music destination, with headline sets from the likes of Rudimental, Chase & Status, Ella Henderson, DJ Spoony and Brandon Block.
Delivering an event of this scale takes careful planning and a team you can rely on. Bournemouth 7s event connectivity had previously been handled by another provider, but as the stakes rose, Bournemouth 7s brought in Wireless Solutions to make sure the event WiFi was up to the task.
Working alongside Project 30, our first job was to keep the production crew, artists, traders and guests online, so the event could make the most of its revenue. We also installed security cameras across the site to help keep everyone safe.
As our first year at Bournemouth 7s, we wanted to deliver a clear step up in both connectivity and service.
Early planning meetings gave us a clear picture of what was needed: where connectivity was required, how it would be used and by whom. We also agreed a captive portal to capture data on who was using the WiFi, valuable insight for the future development of the event.
We reviewed the event’s security needs at the same time, identifying camera locations and the central monitoring infrastructure required. All of this fed into a detailed site plan, signed off well before the event, which gave our team plenty of time to prepare.
With the design agreed, our tech team built and configured the network before arriving on site. Every element was pre-built, tested and labelled in advance, from the core network and switches to the WiFi access points and security hardware. That meant installation was fast and efficient.
As with every event we support, the network was built to our high availability standard, with full redundancy in the core infrastructure. Critical hardware was duplicated, so there was no single point of failure. If a device failed, automatic failover would move traffic to the backup seamlessly, with no interruption for the production team or traders.
The network performed exactly as planned, with 100% uptime from build through to breakdown. We even deployed early for the production team, so they were the first to get online.
Production teams, event staff, traders and artists all had reliable, uninterrupted connectivity, and the security cameras ran continuously without issue.
Support was exceptionally smooth, too. There were no technical issues to resolve during the festival.
The result was a brilliant experience for everyone at Bournemouth 7s, with dependable connectivity underpinning the event’s success.
Wireless Solutions has proven that they can get the job done time and again, and they allow us to get on with delivering successful events. It’s a strong partnership and we’re excited to evolve it further.
Bournemouth 7s has a new event technology partner of choice, and we’re looking forward to building on a strong first year.
Having proven the network, we’re now working with Project 30 to get more from it, year on year. The captive portal data gives the team a clearer picture of who’s attending and how they use the site, which can shape everything from sponsor activations to the way the festival grows.
With one partner covering WiFi, security cameras and live support, planning is simpler for the production team. We know the site, we know the team, and we’ll be ready to scale the technology as the festival grows.
Bournemouth 7s is getting bigger every year. Our job is to make sure the technology keeps pace, so the crowds, the music and the sport stay the focus.
