Member Article

British Airways i360 and Curve IT celebrate three years of connectivity at 138 metres

British Airways i360 and Brighton based Curve IT, the networking specialist, are celebrating a partnership that has brought WiFi connectivity to the top of the UK’s highest coastal viewing tower for more than three years.

Thanks to Curve IT’s technology, visitors to the Brighton seafront-based attraction enjoy fast and reliable WiFi connectivity throughout the building and within the moving glass viewing pod, which ascends from sea level 138 metres into the sky.

The solution also enables PCI complaint card payments at the Nyetimber Sky Bar within the pod and includes partitioned WiFi for the event spaces so that conference and event clients can get bespoke IT delivery.

In 2016, Curve IT was brought on board in order to design and deploy the attraction’s entire IT infrastructure, including its main communications room. This included high-speed, building-wide, reliable and secure network connectivity for visitors and staff alike.

Throughout the construction phase, Curve IT worked closely with Marks Barfield Architects and the British Airways i360 operating team, advising on design, procurement and installation of the entire IT infrastructure. To deliver reliable WiFi in the pod from the bottom to the very top of the observation tower, Curve IT designed a set of line of sight transmitting and receiving antennas on the ground and on the base of the moving pod.

Three years on, visitors to the BA i360 have been able to enjoy uninterrupted connectivity at the top of the tower. This has resulted in completed card payments for thousands of glasses of English sparkling wine, a whole host of successfully uploaded selfies and many high-profile events, including a live broadcast of the Heart FM breakfast show from 450ft.

Anna Prior, head of marketing at British Airways i360 said: “Providing customers with reliable WiFi is a must in the hospitality sector – and that’s no different at the top of the BA i360. We welcomed our millionth passenger earlier this year, and Curve IT has been a trusted partner all the way. Curve IT’s depth of technical knowledge and practical experience drives their intelligent IT solutions, and we are delighted that we chose them as our specialist IT consultancy.”

Simon O’Hare, CEO at Curve IT, said: “British Airways i360 has rapidly become a truly iconic sight on the Brighton seafront, and we couldn’t be prouder to have worked with them from early in construction right through to operation. We love an interesting challenge and ensuring that WiFi would remain just as reliable at 138 metres in the air as it is on the ground, was a particularly unusual one. Line of sight transmitting and receiving antennas proved the ideal solution. We look forward to working with British Airways i360 for many years to come.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Curve IT .