The LA Theatre was one of the most interesting venues that I have worked in.This historic theatre happens to be the last and most extravagant of the ornate movie palaces, built on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, between 1911 and 1931. Designed by S. Charles Lee with a French Baroque-inspired décor, its majestic six-story main lobby and 2,000 seat auditorium of carved plaster ornamentation, mirrors, and cove-lit murals recall the glamorous days of 1930s Hollywood.

This said it does not make it an easy venue for a keynote where the client needs a wireless Internet connection for up to 2,000 delegates and they are broadcasting the keynote live on the web.

We had to have a 300.0Mbps line installed into the venue and the only way of doing this was with a line of sight, this was installed at the back of the theatre which meant I had to run lines all over the building.

We installed 12 x Xirrus wireless Arrays to manage the Wi-Fi and had up to 1200 unique devices attached at any one time.

I am pleased to say that the event was a huge success and the client, Ubisoft was very happy, they were showing off their latest titles including Assassin Creed 3 and the new Rayman game for the soon to be released Wii U hand held games console. Check out the keynote here

“huge thanks for all the help getting this show up and running, Ian and team were fantastic. The client was thrilled and we found out today they were voted “Best Press Conference of E3” on Gametrailers, one of the big industry gamer news sites. That was in addition to a ton of other rave reviews, blog posts etc…” -Project Director.

Next Stop – San Francisco!

Ian Rutland

Senior Director

The Venue: The Messe, Düsseldorf, encompassing 17 halls of Exhibition space!

The Client: WRG for Ricoh.

The Experience: 2000m² of floor space showcasing the latest Ricoh hardware and software technology. Interactive user experience zones that will tailor and create marketing collateral to the needs of the enquirer, dependant on which bar codes are scanned by the attendee. There is a Social Sports bar, Piazza and executive meeting space serving drinks and snacks.

The highlight:

A 3D resin printer that will print a solid object with you wait and a visit from the Japanese Ricoh President and CEO.

The Tech Spec:

• 3000m of Cat5. Cable
• Two servers running 3 networks.
• Two Xirrus arrays running 3 wireless networks.
• 50 desktop pc’s and monitors.
• 40+ man days on site. 5 Live show days left, then we have 2 days to pack up the equipment and fly home.

This has been a long but fantastic event…

Alan Stephens

Senior Consultant

We were tasked with providing full wireless coverage throughout the public areas of the venue as well as a selection of wired and wireless coverage in key areas for speakers, staff and crew. Support the keynote production and of course provide some technical equipment which included: Cisco switches, 4 x Xirrus arrays, 10 x laptops, a TMG server, printers and 1.2km of cat5 cable.

The venue itself was a challenge, being just a shell it couldn’t provide us with the power and internet requirements we needed so it meant power generators being hired in and a line of sight internet connection being ordered and beamed to us across the Berlin skyline from 1.5 miles away.

The show went ahead and was beamed via satellite from Berlin to London where it was webcast live to the world.  A full recording of this inspiring show can be found here

Andrew Clark

Technical Consultant

Photographs courtesy of Mike Reid Photography

1) Pandora  – A free personalised radio that only plays the music that you like, after selecting your favourite artist, song, composer etc. Pandora automatically searches similar music and creates a custom station.

2) Penny Talk – a calling card which gives you a convenient way to save on all your long distance calls, available on any phone in the US or Canada for 1¢ per minute.

3) Espn - Score centre, gives you one-tap access to your personalized set of scores.  Never miss another goal, pitch, basket, try, touchdown or wicket.  ScoreCenter brings you the fastest and most reliable game details like plays, key stats, leaderboards, boxscores and scoring summaries.

4) Netflix - ability to enjoy unlimited movies and television episodes, on line. Perfect when you are travelling. Available on PS3, Wii, Xbox, PC, Mac, iPad, Apple TV.

5) Yelp - Fantastic app especially if you are travelling, with ease you can look up local shops, restaurants, bars, nightlife and more – all with a review from past users.

6) Flashlight - Flashlight uses the LED light on iPhone 4 and fills your screen with bright white light to illuminate your world when you find yourself in the dark.

7) Networktool kit - Network Toolkit LITE is a collection of tools for any network administrator. It provides the basic tools needed in a daily job: PING, TRACEROUTE, WHOIS and SUBNET CALCULATOR

8) Eventful - This app allows you to find local events wherever you are, listing: venues and tour dates for over 130,000 performers.

9) CNN - View the latest headlines, race results and major events live on the CNN App for iPad. Perfect for keeping up-to-date with everything happening back home when you are away.

10) Angry Birds Space - Super fun and does not take up a ton of time to play.

“In 2004, the folks at Penny Arcade decided they wanted a show exclusively for gaming. Sure, comics, anime, and other nerd hobbies were cool, and those activities all had their own shows… so what about games? From that idea spawned a small 4,500 person event in Bellevue, Washington, focused on the culture and community that is gaming.

Since then, the show hasn’t looked back. Doubling in size each year until venue capacities were reached, in 2010 the show expanded into Boston for PAX East, drawing tens of thousands of attendees in the inaugural year. The shows in Seattle and Boston represent the two largest gaming events in North America!” – PaxSite.com

F1 Consultancy were excited to be at PAX East supporting our client, Even though gaming shows are really great to work on and can be a lot of fun, there is a lot to cover, and the pressure is on! Starting with all the pre-event preparation, to set up and support on the live show days, right through to packing up and heading back to base. Here’s an insight into our role at PAXEast:

Pre-Event preparation:

• We have to image and prepare all the gaming PC’s
• Flash, prep and prop builds to the Demo consoles
• Design the network topology for the event

Arrive on site and straight to it:

•  Configure the network – both Intranet and Internet
•  Setup and configure all consoles and PCs, plus assisting the 1st and 3rd party game Developers in propping their builds onto the Demo consoles.
• Audio Visual setup of the gaming & display screens
• Troubleshoot EVERYTHING

On-Site Support throughout the event included:

•  Monitoring and managing the internet connectivity for the booth
•  Technical support for all the consoles throughout the show.
•  Provide general support and assistance for technical aspects of the event.

The 3 day show was full on and exciting, if you didn’t make it here are a few things you missed:

• Gamer & actress Felicia Day (Supernatural, The Guild, Eureka) made her way to PAX East to talk about her latest endeavor Geek & Sundry, a new premium YouTube channel featuring original web-shows that showcase the best of indie geek culture. On Friday and Saturday, Felicia signed autographs, showed off her channel and challenged fans on Xbox LIVE.
• The first public hands-on for Steel Battalion Heavy Armor, the Kinect Sports: Season Two basketball DLC
• Estimated 70,000+ people attended.
• Announced they have locked in for 10 years at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center
• 1st PAX East held in the Hynes Convention Center but the extremely successful inaugural year had an estimated 60,000 attendees (twice the number originally planned for), which led organizers to move the show to the BCEC.

Block out your diary - Pax is returning next year! 22nd – 24th March 2013.

Doug Zappone

Senior Technical Consultant

Discovering which Technical services are provided by the venue and which ones you may need to source externally can be a time consuming process, so we put together this handy guide to get you started:

1. How much bandwidth do you currently have available and can it be dedicated to our event?

2. If we want to bring in our own internet drop from another ISP, is that possible?

3. Is there an onsite company that manages your network or is it managed remotely?

4. Do you use an in-house AV company or is there an outside company that holds the contract?

5. Do you manage electrical needs internally or is there an outside company that manages that for you?

6. Do you have a loading bay? If so, what is the maximum size lorry it can accomodate?

Keep these handy for the next time you are planning an event…

So what is the Facebook Hack Road Show? Well, it’s a competition and seminar all rolled into one. It allows for some of the worlds most gifted coders to come together for the day to discover new tools and techniques for developing  apps for the Facebook mobile platform. Once the delegates have attended technical sessions they are encouraged to “Hack” away, coding as if their lives depend on it and assisted by Facebook engineers if need be. The team with the best APP wins. It’s that simple.

So why are F1 Consultancy here? An event like this requires a solid Internet connection and a robust WIFI network. Connectivity options at the venue are a little limiting, so we arrange for an External ISP to install a WIMAX radio link. We add three floors within the venue to our WIFI network to get the 200+ users the event attracts connected. Monday, time for the main event. All goes well, the day flies by and it’s over before you know it. Time to pack up and load up for Stockholm.

Facebook Hack Stockholm                                                                                Tuesday; It’s my first time visiting Stockholm. First impressions are good, the trip from the airport to the town centre via the very comfortable Arlanda express is quick and easy. We check into the uber stylish Lydmar hotel and settle in for the night.

Wednesday; We get to the venue, unload then start to rig. This time we have a 100Mbit fibre internet connection, so no need for the extra WIMAX link. The event space is open plan, so the WIFI deployment is a little more challenging than London, but the installation goes well and we are ready for the main event the next day.

Thursday; The morning sessions pass without a hitch and we are soon thrown into the main event. The atmosphere is pretty chilled, music plays and pizza and beer are served as the 170+ developers “Hack” away. All goes well and we pack up and load for the last time, as the Road shows next destination is Tel Aviv Israel.

Facebook Hack Tel Aviv                                                                                            Early Sunday morning again, and we’re sat on the tarmac at T5 Heathrow. Today’s destination is Tel Aviv, which turns out to be a very warm and sunny 30 degrees as we step off the plane.

Monday; F1 have been engaged to manage the in house WIFI suppliers so there is no equipment for me to install or configure this time. We have pre booked a 60Mbit Internet link for the 300 “Hackers” that will attend.

The hotel in Tel Aviv is right next to the beach, making the 30 minute walk from our hotel to work every morning along the sea front a brilliant start to the day. You would never think we were only 30 miles away from the recent rocket attacks and bombings at the Gazza Strip but life goes on here. .

Tuesday; and the Hack is on, so far so good…

Grant Wescombe                                                                                                        Senior Technical Consultant                                                                                            F1 Consultancy

Once the kit was all setup, we proceeded to test the Gigabit Cat-5 and Fibre network by streaming media to every single computer at the same time and at varying speeds. We did this many times just so we can ensure a positive viewing experience for the delegates. Then showcase opened it doors and for 4 days the delegates would come in and choose from hundreds of episodes to watch, meanwhile we were in full support mode: monitoring the network and machines from the Server closet.

On the final day at 17:00 it’s time to load out. What took weeks to prepare and setup, took only 5 hours to tear down, pack, and put it all on trucks. We were out of the ACC by 22:00, just enough time for a couple of pints at the nearby pub!

This year’s Showcase was extra special as four of the F1 Colleagues from the states, I included, were invited to help out. A fun time was held by all as we all worked together as one team to pull off another successful Showcase and I am looking forward to next year.
Todd Langowski

F1 Consultancy

We have all been there and understand just how frustrating it is when you are right in the middle of something (usually of high importance) and your computer slooooooows right down. But hold on just a minute, before you pick up your computer and head to the nearest window! We at F1 Consultancy have a few tips for you to keep at hand…

• Run a Virus / Malware scan  Click here to Download free tool

• Check OS updates or service packs Go to -  Start button, click All Programmes, and click Windows Updates Mac Users Apple icon, select – software update – follow the steps

• Close Windows that are open and not being used to free up space

• Check available Memory / Hard disk space Ctrl + Alt + Delete, select – start task manager, hit Performance Tab to get your results. Dependant upon the results you may wish to upgrade your memory. Mac Users Finder – Select Applications – Utilities – Activity monitor – System Memory, At this point you will be able to view your usage through various charts.

• Check your available Bandwidth. Run a speed test for your PC – www.speedtest.net Please note this is rough guide and not a 100% accurate but will give you a very good idea of your internet speed. It maybe useful to run this a few times and to take a note of your results – e.g if your results are showing an average of 5mb, you are paying for 50mb; you will need to contact your service provider.

Venue Bee Hive Mill – Manchester Hosted in the loft of a 5 story beautiful Converted old Mill. The mission was to expose Manchester’s Digital great and good to the capabilities of Windows Mobile. Treating all guests to the movie ‘Carnage’ (currently starring Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster and recently nominated for 3 Golden Globes) and also a live performance of selected scenes from the film, in a live ‘home’ environment. Although the building and conversion was fantastic from an ascetic point of view, it was just a shell with no existing infrastructure, lacking Power or Cabling.

The Challenge was to install and manage two wireless networks. The downfall was that the broadband was limited, in available bandwidth and contention ratio.

The Solution involved running and securing over 100meters of cable down the lift shaft to two separate venue routers based on the third and ground floor, securing cable to the ceiling of the loft so it would not look like an ad-hoc network and not be seen by the guests.

The Result A complete success! The cabling went undetected by the guests who enjoyed the Movie and selected scenes seamlessly.
Alan Stephens                                                                                                           Senior Consultant

While day 1 in Amsterdam met us with -12 degree celsius and several inches of snow it was not enough to stop our team from getting the show up and running! The doors opened on Tuesday welcoming around 2,000 developers from all over the world to hear from their new CEO and debut the Blackberry Playbook 2.0 beta software.
The event took place at the Amsterdam RAI which is the largest convention center in Holland.  The 2 day event consisted of:

Keynote, 6 breakout rooms with around 50 sessions, 2 x 50 person hands on labs,  Aside from supporting each area, F1 handled the entire network which landed 3,100 devices connected to Wi-Fi throughout the venue.

This is a new client for F1 and our first time supporting the event, not only was this a fantastic opportunity it is also an extremely successful show and the biggest BlackBerry DevCon to date.
Ian Farmer                                                                                                                           Senior Technical Consultant

Busy week just kicking off, we have tried to reach as many places and possible and have so far this week managed a presence in Seattle, Amsterdam, England and India! Pictures and more coming soon….Plus news from a new client and a sparkly new contract….

The End of January is here and that can only mean one thing for the team at F1 “Pre-Staging time” This event for our client requires a complete dress rehearsal before the Live show in 4 weeks time! It began on Monday with shipping kit, un-packing boxes, setting out cables and grabbing a coffee when we could!

Monday Arrived safe and sound (although a bit chilly) to find all tables and power waiting for us just as we requested….. good start!!

9:00 courier delivers Switches, 5000 metres of Fibre, 3000 metres CAT-5, 250 4-way’s, 650 mains leads, Kettle, Tea bags and Mugs (china kind).

9:01 Put the kettle on

9:30 Split into three teams, Power, CAT5 and Fibre and began laying cable.

13:00 Over to Subway for lunch, put the kettle on.

17:00 Headed for the hotel

With this amount of kit it takes us about two days to get all the CAT-5, Power and Fibre cabling in. We then need to test all cable runs, ensuring all desks have power before the PC’s arrive tomorrow. We have some photos from the very beginning and we will be up-dating these  all week. Any thoughts on what could be in my crate?

More Soon

Howard Beck

F1 Consultancy