Telia and VA TLC-ISDN Technology Wins at UEFA European League Final

Telia and VA TLC-ISDN Technology Wins at UEFA European League Final

07/06/17, Dublin, Ireland. While millions of Manchester United fans celebrate their 2-0 win over Ajax in the UEFA European League final, we go behind the scenes to talk to Hans Hyttsten, Events Project Manager at Telia Company to see how Telia and Virtual Access technology was used to ensure the vital match played at Friends Arena, Solna municipality, Stockholm, Sweden, was broadcast smoothly to all corners of the globe.

Q: Can you describe the context of the project and the challenges you identified?

TLC-ISDN is an ISDN service over an IP network implemented using Virtual Access equipment. Features such as adaptive clocking, fastsync, packet loss minimisation and dual path operation all combine to allow customers to switch to ISDN over IP without the quality reduction that would come with standard VoIP conversion devices.

On the day, we delivered 50 TLC-ISDN connections, using Virtual Access broadcast quality ISDN to IP Gateways, and dedicated WAN links over DSL. The BRI ISDN connections were used by commentators for international broadcast as well as on-site services. Our own staff and Eltel technicians were also on hand to help if there were any problems.

For our part, this was the biggest event at which we have run the TLC-ISDN on such a large scale. This year’s European League final was broadcast in over 100 countries, and the final estimate of viewers is expected to vastly exceed last year’s figures of just under 5 million.

Q: No pressure then! How did it go?

It all went very, very well! 99% of the equipment was used for the live broadcast. As always in these contexts, it was stressful immediately before the program broadcast set up. We only had a few problems in the form of one broken modem and there were two TV companies who had problems with their own equipment.

That this event, using the TLC-ISDN service, went well is largely due to the great commitment of our team and partnership with Virtual Access. All the guys have been working intensively, testing and building the new platform to ensure everything was alright on the night.

For us who were there on the night, the support from the gang in Jönköping on the days before and during the event was invaluable. It was their strong commitment that contributed to the outstanding results.

Q: With this broadcast in the can, what’s next?

Following the success of this event, we have built and delivered a live, stable replacement service for ISDN-Duo. This is great for up-coming events and on Friday June 9th, we have another delivery for the World Cup qualifying football game between Sweden and France. Following the success of the European League broadcast, we feel confident that the TLC ISDN solution works extremely well for this sort of scenario.

Read about Transparent ISDN substitution

For more information, contact:
Bjorn Klebe, Nordics Sales, Virtual Access Ltd.
Smidesvägen 12, SE-171 41 SOLNA, Sweden
Tel: 070-551 5098

Patrick Conway, Sales Director, Virtual Access Ltd.
Unit 15, Trinity Enterprise Centre, Pearse Street,
Dublin 2, Ireland
Tel: + 353 87667 1636