PGA European Tour teams up with Xirrus Wi-Fi
The PGA European Tour has teamed up with Xirrus Wi-Fi to provide fans with home entertainment experience on the course
Xirrus, the provider of wireless networks, has joined up with the PGA European Tour to provide spectators with high-performance Wi-Fi at its golfing events.
The wireless network will provide on-demand video, interactive content, location based services and Social Sharing applications.
The partnership was launched at Wentworth for the BMW PGA Championship in May. Xirrus's Wi-Fi covered the 2,000 seat grandstand as well as the PGA Village and hospitality sections of the course.
Graham Gifford, ICT Director at PGA European Tour, said: "Wireless is playing a fundamental role in helping us entice fans away from watching golf on their TV screens at home, and getting them out and enjoy the live event itself.
Our service includes live streaming of tournament highlights and we even have a player tracker app so visitors can navigate the course and follow their favourtie players throughout the day.
We can also capture users' preferences, redirect them to chosen content and tailor other promotional services to provide them with a more personal view of the tournament."
Gifford added: "During peak times at the BMW Wentworth Championship more than 3,500 devices were connected to the network, with 90% of those being smartphones.
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Feedback from users was that they couldn't believe they were getting ubiquitous coverage and on demand video without any connection issues."
Due to the success of the BMW PGA event, the next phase of the rollout will see the Wi-Fi network expanded across the entire 18-hole course to further improve the spectator experience.
The European Tour will also be deploying a similar Xirrus Wi-Fi network at Future golfing events throughout the year.
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