Technology, Books and Other Neat Stuff

Go behind the (tech) scenes at the Tour de France, with words by marypcb, and pictures by me...

Imagine installing connectivity for an office of over 1600 people from scratch, with everything from ISDN and voice lines to DSL and IP video conferencing. Now imagine doing it over and over again in a new location every day, sometimes in the middle of a city and sometimes on the top of a mountain, using WiMax and satellite connectivity because there isn't an exchange to plug in to.

The Tour de France is an endurance event, for the cyclists - and for the technical team setting up the finishing line for each stage and the telecoms infrastructure to connect the media reporting on the race. Hours before the riders set off each day, Orange's Temporary Solution Team are at work laying cables, positioning aerials and connecting voice, data and video lines. Two thousand people work in the arrival zone; project manager Henri Terreaux-Barjou, calls it "a little city, moving every day".

Lots of lorries, cables and telecoms hardware.