SIS LIVE’S David Meynell discusses the connectivity challenges of the forthcoming Rugby World Cup

Earlier this week SIS LIVE revealed that it had been appointed to serve as connectivity services supplier for host broadcaster ITV throughout the 2015 Rugby World Cup. The deal will see SIS LIVE furnish ITV with all communications and live feeds for the six-week tournament, which gets underway in September.

In advance of this globally-significant event, SVG Europe spoke to SIS LIVE managing director David Meynell about taking the RWC “to a new level of connected venues” and the criteria used for determining the success of its involvement post-event…

What would you say is the greatest connectivity challenge involved in producing a successful RWC?

Most probably putting into place the required infrastructure, with complete resilience at all levels to ensure that all services are completely secure and uninterrupted. Installing fibre into nine new venues with both microwave and satellite links helps address this, but it is the understanding and unrivalled experience from the SIS LIVE teams that really makes the difference.

In what fundamental ways will the connectivity set-up progress from the previous RWC?

This is a little difficult as connectivity is different in every country and for every event, although year on year, there is an increased requirement for bandwidth to cater for all types of new media and added broadcast services. There is no doubt that the infrastructure that SIS LIVE is putting in place is second to none and advances the RWC in 2015 to a new level of connected venues.

Post-event, what criteria are in place for determining the success (or otherwise) of the connectivity infrastructure for a tournament like the RWC?

We gauge our success by the satisfaction of our customer, and of course the viewers at home. Success will also be measured on the service availability, ease of use and performance of our teams. From a SIS LIVE perspective, we intend that the newly-fibred venues will have a legacy that helps us to achieve our objective to be the connectivity provider of choice for critical media content and leads to more contribution services for major events.