Linktel Corporation, which operates Brazil’s largest independent network of WiFi hotspots, has used software from iBwave to help it deploy WiFi in several high-traffic venues across Rio de Janeiro in preparation for the upcoming Summer Olympics, iBwave recently announced. “Mobile data traffic at the 2016 Rio Olympics is expected to be 50 percent greater than the 2012 London Olympics, making it the most connected sporting event in recent history,” iBwave said when announcing its involvement in the process.
“An estimated 350,000 to 500,000 foreign tourists and a large number of local fans will arrive in Rio for the Olympics,” the company added. “This influx of people in a city of over 6 million means Rio’s WiFi networks are going to be overloaded beyond normal capacity, causing numerous bandwidth challenges. Luckily with the power of iBwave Design and iBwave Mobile Planner behind it, Linktel is able to survey, design, validate and deploy reliable WiFi networks.”
iBwave explained that its software has been used for, among others, the following projects.
- Rescue stations in some of Rio’s famous beaches, including Copacabana, the venue for Olympics competitions such as beach volleyball, open water swimming, triathlon and para-triathlon
- 23 stations on Rio Metro Lines 1 and 2, with an average daily ridership of more than 1 million commuters
- Santos Dumont National and Galeao International-Rio’s airports gearing up to receive a barrage of Olympics enthusiasts
- Several high-end shopping malls that are sure to see increased traffic during the games
“iBwave Design and iBwave Mobile Planner work hand-in-hand to deliver intuitive functionality that cuts down on design time and save on costs. With iBwave our WiFi projects are completed on time and with extreme precision,” said Jonas Trunk, Linktel’s chief executive officer. “Our engineers are able to conduct site surveys and share the data via cloud with other offsite team members. This has improved the quality of our projects and helped us meet even the toughest customer requirements.”
Angelica Potes, sales director for Central and Latin America for iBwave, added, “We are pleased to be able to leverage our past experience with Olympic venues to help Linktel bring reliable WiFi to end users, just in time for this high-profile event. We are continuously evolving the capabilities of our design tools and with the recent release of iBwave’s WiFi offering, our customers now have access to even-more-powerful WiFi network designs.”