Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest Unplugs for Enhanced Fan Experience

Cisco wireless solution provides Wi-Fi for concert live feeds and updates while enabling festival attendees quick and easy access to social media and mobile applications

TORONTO/OTTAWA, Ontario, July 5, 2011 – Cisco today announced the 18th annual Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest, one of Canada’s foremost music festivals, will take advantage of a state-of-the art Cisco® Wireless Mesh Networking Solution to provide a highly secure, public Wi-Fi network throughout festival grounds.

Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest takes place in LeBreton Flats Park, between July 5 and 17, and is expected to garner an attendance of more than a quarter-million music fans. Cisco’s wireless mesh solution will provide festival participants a richer, more interactive, personalized, and social experience using their mobile and handheld devices on the Bluesfest grounds. In addition, attendees will be able to view live feeds of concert performances, as well as up-to-the-minute festival updates, on strategically located Cisco Digital Signs throughout the venue.

Key Facts/ Highlights:

• The Cisco solution includes more than 30 wireless mesh access points throughout the festival grounds, including the Cisco Aironet® 1524 Lightweight Outdoor Mesh Access Point and dual-band Cisco Aironet 3502 Mesh Access Point for indoor. Cisco Aironet 3500 Series Access Points with CleanAir technology are the first 802.11n access points to create a self-healing, self-optimizing wireless network with the ability to automatically detect, classify, locate and mitigate interference.
• Festival attendees will be able to easily use their mobile devices and smartphones over the wireless network, enabling them to quickly access social networking and mobile applications, including a Bluesfest specific mobile app for iPhones and this year’s new Android app.
• Bluesfest will also provide text-to-screen updates, and broadcast live feeds of the performances from their two main stages to seven Cisco Digital Signs throughout the venue, allowing attendees to view their favorite bands regardless of location and ensuring they never miss important updates. Powered by Cisco Digital Media Players, interactive digital media content, including high-definition video can be instantly pushed and updated across individual or groups of digital displays.
• The wireless network also provides a cost-saving and eco-friendly solution by reducing the need for paper flyers and cumbersome festival programs, and will help ease the pressure on cell phone networks during the 12-day festival.

Supporting Quotes:

Mark Monahan, executive and artistic director, Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest:

“With Cisco’s wireless network solution, this year we are able to offer Bluesfest participants an unparalleled interactive, mobile experience anywhere in the park. Attendees can take advantage of our ongoing Twitter feed, up-to-the minute text updates, exciting daily deals and the ability to post their Bluesfest photos on our Facebook page and see them quickly appear on digital screens throughout the venue. It’s a fantastic and easy way for fans to get proactively involved in the festival and we’re confident it will result in an experience they’ll never forget.”

Kim Devooght, vice president, public sector, Cisco Canada:

“Leveraging a wonderful decade-long relationship with Bluesfest, we are excited to provide this new level of broadscale wireless connectivity so fans can stay informed and maximize their experience at the festival. Cisco’s outdoor wireless mesh technology is uniquely suited to this type of deployment because it’s highly secure, easily scalable and optimized for support of high-bandwidth applications such as voice and video.”

Supporting Resources

• Text BLUES to 393939 to receive up-to-the-minute Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest info and daily offers
• Text APP to 393939 for a link to Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest iPhone and Android Apps
• Visit Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest: http://www.ottawabluesfest.ca
• Follow Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ottawabluesfest
• Visit Cisco Canada Wireless Solutions and Blog
• Follow Cisco Canada on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ciscocanada
• Become a fan of Cisco Canada on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CiscoCanada

About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO, news, filings) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Cisco Canada Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Cisco, has offices across Canada dedicated to customer support, sales and service. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com/canada/.

Ottawa is home to one of Cisco’s global research and development centres. The Ottawa R&D Centre focuses on the development of advanced routing technology.

Tags, Keywords:
Cisco, Canada, Bluesfest, Cisco Wireless MESH Networking Solution, Cisco Aironet 3502 MESH Access Point, Cisco Aironet 1524 Lightweight MESH Access Point, Cisco Aironet 3500 series, Cisco Aironet 1520 series, Cisco CleanAir Technology, Cisco Unified Wireless Network, MESH, Wireless, Ottawa, Music, Festival, Le Breton Flats

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