Canford Custom Fibre Panels Deployed By Adlib

The International Festival for Business 2016 (IFB2016) is "the biggest business festival in the world" attracting over 30,000 delegates from 100 countries

The 2016 biennial festival was held at the Exhibition Centre Liverpool, situated on the World Heritage Kings Dock waterfront. The state-of-the-art exhibition centre covers 8,100m2 of sub-divisible spaces, over three halls which can be used independently or combined for larger events.

Opened by George Osbourne, IFB2016 comprised of 10 conference venues built in temporary structures within the Exhibition Centre.

Adlib, an established provider of technical production services for all aspects of live events, were entrusted to supply lighting, audio, set, stage and video for the duration of the festival.

The scope of works included multiple daily change-overs, room joining, camera systems, recording, and operation.

The team deployed a video infrastructure based upon MTP fibre "backbones" which had to be laid during a "first fix" and before the cartridge floor was fitted on top. The application demanded rugged and reliable cabling as the Adlib team wouldn't have any opportunity to replace damaged cable runs. As such, Canford supplied several hundred meters of Neutrik MTP X-TREME, a 12-core fibre cable intended for demanding applications which offers a cut-proof and rodent resistant double glass yarn armoured jacket.

John Driver, Head of Design at Canford, worked closely with Adlib's Rob Crossland to design a fibre breakout solution. This led to Canford building custom MTP-SC fibre breakout patch panels (loaded and terminated) each consisting of two Neutrik MPO 12 connectors. These were broke out to twelve panel mount SC fibre connectors. Adlib installed the custom panels in each room to allow for rapid additions to systems according to the requirements of each event.

Adlib built custom panels based around Canford's angled tailboards where the standardised shape of the Neutrik opticalCON connectors meant that it was quick to configure a rugged system using standard off-the-shelf parts.

All projectors were double-stacked and Adlib used a single run of Neutrik opticalCON duo to send a main and backup feed to each stack in one cable, reducing the amount of time spent pulling in cables. Adlib chose the standard tactical grade of cable here to reduce weight in flown cabling.

Canford also supplied a SENKO Smart Probe II which will enable Adlib technicians to quickly and reliably inspect MPO fibre endfaces and fibre alignment during routine system maintenance. The Smart Probe uses Wi-Fi to transfer imaging and inspection results to a laptop, tablet or mobile phone.

This was part of a major video infrastructure investment by Adlib aimed at the corporate market, and included purchases of projectors, scalers, switchers, camera systems and media servers.

Rob Crossland, Adlib Service Manager, commented: "Erika, John, and all the team at Canford were very supportive throughout the entire process of designing, specifying, scheduling, and delivering on everything involved in this high-profile project. Knowing that we could depend on Canford to deliver the goods meant one less headache for me!"

Erika Dobie, Canford Business Development Manager, added: "We have a long standing and strong relationship with the team at Adlib. We've developed a wealth of experience and a good understanding and appreciation of Adlib's business. When Rob called to discuss the IFB project we were only too happy to offer our help and support. Designing and manufacturing custom panels and cabling to meet specific customer requirements has become commonplace at Canford, along with fibre termination. These projects demonstrate our collaborative approach which draws upon the unrivalled experience of our sales and manufacturing teams. The approach works very well, and has a habit of delivering distinctive products – only possible at Canford."

www.canford.co.uk

This article can also be read at BFV online here, page 38.

(JP/LM)