The first Smart City fully IP
SOLUTION
In Expo Smart City - the "mini smart city of the future" - visitors lived the theme of sustainable feeding through an innovative, easy and entertaining citizen experience, using cuttingedge services and technologies.
Visitors have been guided along main Expo streets with images and videos about the event theme and daily shows.
The Expo staff and operators of the national pavilions have had the support of innovative solutions such as communication and collaboration technologies voice and high-definition video.
Visitors have been guided along main Expo streets with images and videos about the event theme and daily shows.
The Expo staff and operators of the national pavilions have had the support of innovative solutions such as communication and collaboration technologies voice and high-definition video.
In fact, the experience of visitors and the response to the needs of the participating countries have been entirely digital, thanks to the management and interconnection of all infrastructures, systems and services, from security to energy, from lighting to payments.
Expo Milano 2015 is the first global event of this level we can call a "Fully IP" event, with a network infrastructure that can ensure the safe, efficient and functional management of a global event.
Italtel was the main system integrator for communication and identification systems, remote management of lights and plants, energy consumption and service continuity monitoring, video surveillance and security.
In particular, the contribution of Italtel encompassed a variety of scopes:
In particular, the contribution of Italtel encompassed a variety of scopes:
1
Digital Signage
2
Collaboration & Video
3
IP infrastructure and wifi network
4
Quality Assurance
5
Security
6
Managed Services
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION
Digital signage – Along the main streets of the Expo site, Italtel installed, on behalf of Telecom Italia, 44 dual-face totems (88 media players) with Full HD images and videos for promotion and advertising.
It was guaranteed the opportunity to frequently update your media with reduced costs thanks to a centralized management based on the AppSpace platform for the Cisco Digital Signage, installed by Italtel within Telecom Italy’s data centers.
Collaboration & video – It was provided a complete set of UC&C services of high quality to 30 domestic and 10 thematic cluster pavilions, through an infrastructure of collaboration and communication based on CUCM and HCS solutions by Cisco in local and remote Data Centers.
Using the flexibility, ease of configuration and re-usability, a full response has been secured to the needs of the event, without neglecting the protection of the investment, being able to reuse the HCS solution once the event is over.
Using the flexibility, ease of configuration and re-usability, a full response has been secured to the needs of the event, without neglecting the protection of the investment, being able to reuse the HCS solution once the event is over.
Italtel, thanks to a direct relation with the different ICT staff (National pavilions and EXPO), has installed and configured both the solutions: data centers and terminals, with a total amount of about 3000 users, hard and soft phones, video terminals and 200 faxes. Moreover, thanks to its NOC, Italtel has guaranteed the constant monitoring of the entire solution.
Italtel has realized, in its laboratories in Castelletto, near Milan, three ghost pavilions, with the presence of all the different kinds of terminals and softclients (PCs, smartphones and tablets) to ensure safe operations in case of critical situations.
Italtel has realized, in its laboratories in Castelletto, near Milan, three ghost pavilions, with the presence of all the different kinds of terminals and softclients (PCs, smartphones and tablets) to ensure safe operations in case of critical situations.
IP infrastructure and wifi network – Expo Smart City could not refrain from ensuring that all visitors experienced excellent connectivity, by offering a free wifi service that was reliable and high-speed, across the whole exhibition area.
Fabio Florio, Business Development Manager ed Expo 2015 Leader of Cisco Italia says “With the exceptional commitment of about 150 people on the team dedicated to the Expo, between our staff and our partner Italtel, we were able to ensure the continuity and quality of the Expo experience of all those who have visited it and worked on it”.
In fact, Italtel has installed and configured the entire wireless network, designed for 200,000 active devices simultaneously, with 1,800 access points positioned indoors and 450 outdoors, 850 waterproof covers (for Access Points and power supplies), 8 + 8 Wireless LAN controller and the Cisco Prime Management system, and the captive portal for visitor registration.Quality Assurance – In the delicate context of a global event, preventing potentially critical conditions that may impact on internet services used by visitors is a strategic move.
Having the quality of the network access service under control is therefore essential.
Having the quality of the network access service under control is therefore essential.
Italtel provided a Quality Assurance solution to perform test campaigns to pro-actively monitor the quality of the service offered.The solution is based on the proprietary product from Italtel, i-QAC, and composed of a series of agents that communicate with a central server and that are capable of simulating internet access.
Italtel has enhanced its solution in order to achieve appropriate performance measures to the specific characteristics of the Expo network.
The same solution has allowed to test the access to the Expo website.
Security – Authorized personnel could control the entire Expo network in terms of users, content, applications, network attacks and malware via a single management solution, with the latest generation Firewall, DNS and DHCP services, and both wired and wireless network access control solutions.
Italtel has provided the technology (Next Generation Firewalls Cisco ASA with FirePOWER services, Cisco Identity Service Engine, Cisco Access Control System, Cisco Prime Network Registrar) and installation and commissioning services, the configuration and training.
Managed Services – Working primarily with Cisco technology, Italtel was in charge for all the activities ranging from the ICT infrastructures design to the actual implementation, including physical installation and testing, throughout the life span of the Universal Exhibition and over the whole area of the site, both in common spaces (decumanus and cardo) and in more than 50 pavilions.
With its Service Center in Milan, Italtel has ensured the services for all the Cisco technologies, in particular:
• Service Assurance (Level 1 / Level 2 Support)
• 24×7 Monitoring H24
• IMACs
• Provisioning
• Reporting.
• Service Assurance (Level 1 / Level 2 Support)
• 24×7 Monitoring H24
• IMACs
• Provisioning
• Reporting.
Even after the event, the Italtel staff continued to work on the equally delicate phase of “dismantling”, with the same professionalism and accuracy of the implementation phase.
CONCLUSION
Italtel played an important role in the Expo Milan overall project and worked hard as system integrator for almost all the technological sponsor of the event (Cisco, Telecom Italia, CAME, ENEL) as well as participated in the deployment of the network and control infrastructure of the whole site and of the most part of the National pavilions.
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