A tremendous amount of planning goes into even making a bid to host the Olympic Games, from the venues, to accommodations, to travel, to technology.  Once a decision has been made, however, the challenge becomes meeting the requirements set forth by the Olympic Committee and other associated groups.

 

With every Olympic year, however, the technology demands become greater thanks to the incredible advances in communications technology.  This is, perhaps no more true than during preparations for the Winter Olympics, which have to consider considerably more difficult terrain and weather conditions than most Summer Games locales.  However, it is part of the deal, and it is what the infrastructure developers overseeing the upgrade to Vancouver, British Columbia’s Sea-to-Sky Highway (STSH) ahead of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, are having to contend with (STSH is a Highway 99 improvement project from West Vancouver to Whistler).

 

The STSH is already the primary connection between Vancouver and the Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort, but the 2010 Winter Games will create a previously unseen spike in traffic — necessitating improvements to the highway.

 

However, in order to ensure the project moves along smoothly and on schedule, a reliable communications infrastructure is needed, for which Peter Kiewit Sons (PKS), the general contractor heading up project, opted to work with RAD Data Communications (News - Alert).

 

To enable voice and data communications along the length of the 100 kilometer stretch of road, the contractor has deployed RAD’s Vmux voice trunking pseudowire gateways and Airmux-200 broadband wireless multiplexers.

 

Prior to working with RAD, there was little, if any communications infrastructure along the highway, but PKS needed to quickly deploy a solution that would enable voice and data communications between field workers and five satellite offices. Now, they are able to communicate using a variety of means — voice trunks, two-way radio, Ethernet, Internet, fax. The network now connects more than 800 staff working on the project.

 

“From a customer perspective, the voice quality and the overall network integration have performed extremely well,” said Troy Van Bostelen, a manager for PKS.

 

Having the communications in place to avoid unnecessary commuting between points along the route means less wasted time, and also the ability to have more work ongoing simultaneously — which, in turn, enhances the probability the road will be ready for the traffic it will have to handle for the Games.