May 2006
Advertorial
Operations 2.0: Emerging Technologies
Four of the industry’s hottest new technologies and tips on how to get the most out of them

1. Webcasting
Webcasting is an audio-visual digital broadcast (over the Internet) of a live or pre-recorded event. The content can be provided in real time by streaming the data on a Website to be seen by the desired audience at an appointed time, or it can be archived for later viewing.

This technology is available to show management and exhibitors at Smart City facilities through a partnership with iStreamPlanet Co. The turnkey service makes it possible to provide Webcasting, Web conferencing and secured media delivery built on patent-pending technologies from iStreamPlanet and Windows Media 9 Series.

Show organizers can set up a Webcast as a free service or as a Paycast. Sponsorships can be sold to defray costs and provide additional revenue. Or, iStreamPlanet offers Paycast services that allow show organizers to aggregate, digitize, encrypt and securely deliver their media assets live or in a downloadable form whereby viewers must pay a fee to access the content.

This service is built on the latest digital rights management (DRM) technologies from Microsoft and is capable of facilitating hundreds of thousands of requests for access at once.

Webcasting tips from Smart City engineers:
• Arrange to use a private network to avoid digital breakup.
• Manage services through a Webcasting company, like iStreamPlanet, which provides webpage and server posting and offers paycast encryption features.
• Reserve bandwidth, because the amount of bandwidth needed will depend on how many users view the Webcast.

2. Wi-Fi
Just a few short years ago wireless networks, or Wi-Fi, were a hip, tech-savvy perk to offer show attendees. Today, it’s becoming an expectation, and Smart City convention centers are meeting the market’s demand. At a major technology show at the Anaheim Convention Center, Smart City networked several surrounding hotels to the center to allow attendees the same wireless service in a 1 square-mile area for the duration of the show.

Wi-Fi networks are also becoming less vulnerable to viruses or other intrusions. At the TechEd show at the San Diego Convention Center, there were zero viruses and zero successful intrusions onto the wireless network, as well as a 99.92 percent network up time during show experience, despite the fact that during the six-day event 98,430 intrusion attempts were recorded at the Smart City Network Operations Center.

Wi-Fi tip from Smart City engineers:
• Buy Wi-Fi private networks with enhanced security features for the best experience with larger Wi-Fi networks.

3. Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
VoIP is a streaming application that’s carried over a single line for voice, data and video, and therefore cannot be offered over a shared connection. While not always ideal in a show environment, an increasing number of exhibitors and show organizers are requesting VoIP because their equipment is already programmed to use it. Smart City can support customers’ VoIP applications by offering a dedicated circuit to provide needed bandwidth.

VoIP tip from Smart City engineers:
• For this to work seamlessly in a trade show environment, get a dedicated (private) custom network with reserved bandwidth to accommodate the high-bandwidth demand of the product and eliminate the possibility of interference that a shared network would create.

4. Enhanced Security
In the trade show world, the result of an exhibitor hooking up an infected machine to a show’s network could be catastrophic. Smart City counteracts the problem with the latest in security technology, as well as an education campaign to enlist the help of show organizers and exhibitors in heading off any problems before they arise. Smart City works closely with convention center management to ensure everyone connecting to a show’s network has signed a Network Security Declaration stating that they have taken all the necessary precautions to ensure their PC is virus free.

Security tips from Smart City engineers:
• For shows that require a lot of external demand, use a custom designed network that includes encryption features.
• Educate your staff and exhibitors about things that could increase the risk of contracting a virus. Among these, turn off and remove unneeded services.
• Keep patch levels up-to-date especially on computers that host public services and are accessible through the firewall, such as HTTP, FTP, mail and DNS services.
• Configure e-mail servers to block or remove
e-mail that contains file attachments commonly used to spread viruses such as vbs, bat, exe, pif and scr files.