Batelco’s Technology Support Ensures Seamless Integrated Communications

Batelco is proud to have been selected as the sole communications’ services and technology provider for the Bahrain International Air Show 2010 (BIAS 2010), stated Batelco Chief Executive Bahrain, Gert Rieder, on the closing day of the 3 day event.

“We have worked alongside Bahrain’s Civil Aviation Authority from the outset of the project to support them in delivering a successful inaugural show. We thank the Bahrain Defence Force for selecting Batelco to be the sole provider of telecommunication infrastructure on the Sakhir Airbase which has played host to this prestigious event.”

Batelco Chief Technical Officer Ebrahim Zainal said that  Batelco and the CAA between them chose a state of the art IP solution to serve the Bahrain International Air Show.

“As part of the implementation process, IP Telephony was provided to 150 IP Phones and 50 analogue telephone adaptors which were required to support analogue devices like fax machines and point of sale machines,”  he said.

“The IP Telephone solution was easily expandable to accommodate 500 users without any need for upgrading components. The IP network also provided the backbone for the provisioning of free-of-charge secure wireless internet access which served trade visitors, the media, VIP guests and the general public,” Mr. Zainal further explained.

“Additionally, in order to ensure that internet customers experienced the best possible service, Batelco provisioned a 100Mb link between the Sakhir Airfield and their Internet Platform.”

“Furthermore, the IP network was also used to distribute 50 channels of IP TV to 100 TV sets that were distributed around the site,“ he added.

Mr. Rieder continued to add that as an all services provider Batelco kept its own mobile subscribers and visitors to the show, very much in mind, by ensuring they could remain in contact seamlessly with family, friends and business colleagues, by installing two dedicated mobile base stations that provided GSM 2G and 3G services.

“Having laid an estimated 140km of cable around the airfield site we were able to adapt to all requests for service across the site. This included regular telephone service, data, ISDN basic and primary rate and broadband internet access.”

Batelco had a team of 20 skilled technical staff on hand at the airshow site to tend to any requests for telecommunications services and to deal with any issues that may have occurred. In addition to on-site support, Batelco’s  NOC (Network Operations Centre) carried out  real time monitoring of the network infrastructure and services that were used by BIAS visitors.

“Batelco’s executive management team extends their appreciation to the team for their 24/7 service and support to deliver such an impressive service. This weekend Bahrain has been in the spotlight internationally and we are delighted to have played such a crucial part,” added Mr. Rieder.

“We also want to say a huge thank you to the many VIP, government, military and trade visitors from Bahrain and overseas, who visited the Batelco Chalet to meet  the Batelco Chairman, Board of Directors and senior management,” concluded Mr. Rieder.