Winning football matches and becoming a World Cup champion will be difficult. But, spreading news of your favorite team's fortunes from inside many of Germany's stadium sites will be easy, thanks to world-class wireless network solutions installed by Andrew Corporation throughout most of the host country's tournament locations.
The 2006 World Cup matches in Germany, one of the world's biggest multinational sporting events, will bring tens of thousands of football fans to stadiums in various German cities, all with the expectation that their teams will do well and their mobile devices will operate perfectly. To meet these high expectations for network usage, most German wireless operators turned to Andrew Corporation, a global leader in communications systems and products, to furnish the indoor coverage and capacity distribution systems needed to support the high volume of wireless traffic expected at the month-long tournament, which begins June 9 in Munich.
Andrew designed, supplied, and installed single- and multi-carrier indoor coverage and capacity systems in nine of the 12 stadiums to be used during the games and in metro rail systems in several of the German host cities. Most major operators in Germany contracted these systems to ensure enough network capacity to enable the approximately 40,000 to 60,000 visitors per game to call a friend, send a text message or photo, or download highlights from other games without the risk of overloading networks and frustrating users.
"The international prestige of the World Cup requires a world-class solution to ensure that spectators and working journalists enjoy full network coverage," said Andrea Casini, vice president of Europe, Middle East, Africa sales, Andrew Corporation. "With Andrew's support, mobile operators in Germany now can seamlessly handle huge spikes in network traffic during the matches, while their customers stay in contact with friends and family during the games, making the spectator experience that much more enjoyable."
Andrew installed wireless indoor solutions at the following World Cup sites: Olympiastadion (Berlin), Westfalenstadion (Dortmund), Waldstadion (Frankfurt), Arena Auf Schalke (Gelsenkirchen), Fritz-Walter-Stadion (Kaiserslautern), Zentralstadion (Leipzig), Allianz Arena (Munich), Frankenstadion (Nuremburg), and Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion (Stuttgart). For several metro railways in World Cup cities, such as Stuttgart, Cologne, and Hamburg, Andrew also provided optical multi-operator/multi-band systems of considerable size for distribution of wireless signals down tunnels and throughout stations, much like is done to carry signals to hard-to-reach places inside stadiums.
Andrew's ION(TM)-M distributed antenna and repeater system, the coverage and capacity distribution solution chosen by most of the wireless operators for these World Cup-related projects, supports the GSM900, GSM1800, and UMTS frequency bands. The ION-M's flexible design and high power output resulted in easy customization to the unique spatial requirements of each stadium and railway, and success in overcoming outside signal interference. The systems' basic architecture involves fiber optic and coaxial cables, master and remote units, and other subsystem products that receive and transmit signals from dedicated operator base transceiver station radio equipment to customer handhelds throughout the indoor facility, and vice versa.
"Andrew's indoor wireless solutions include everything from network planning and system design to equipment supply, installation, commissioning, and maintenance," said Bob Hudzik, group president, Wireless Innovations Group, Andrew Corporation. "Ensuring wireless customers get coverage in signal-challenged venues such as stadiums at international sporting events, airports and underground rail systems, or large public buildings and convention centers is one of the things Andrew does best."
Andrew offers a complete line of robust and field-proven distributed communications system solutions for difficult coverage areas, tunnels, metros, and buildings, and has more than 15 years of experience in designing, installing, and managing large and complex radio frequency distribution systems for metropolitan railways, building owners, and public mobile radio and telephone operators throughout the world. Major projects include the Hong Kong metro, Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport, Sydney Olympics, Montreal metro, Turin metro, and Germany's Inter-City Express high speed rail.
About Andrew Corporation
Andrew Corporation (NASDAQ:ANDW) designs, manufactures, and delivers innovative and essential equipment and solutions for the global communications infrastructure market. The company serves operators and equipment manufacturers from facilities in 35 countries. Andrew (www.andrew.com), headquartered in Westchester, IL, is an S&P 500 company founded in 1937.
Editors Note: Photography is available upon request.
ION is a trademark of Andrew Corporation.
Forward Looking Statements
Some of the statements in this news release are forward looking statements and we caution our stockholders and others that these statements involve certain risks and uncertainties. Factors that may cause actual results to differ from expected results include fluctuations in commodity costs, the company's ability to integrate acquisitions and to realize the anticipated synergies and cost savings, the effects of competitive products and pricing, economic and political conditions that may impact customers' ability to fund purchases of our products and services, the company's ability to achieve the cost savings anticipated from cost reduction programs, fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, the timing of cash payments and receipts, end use demands for wireless communication services, the loss of one or more significant customers, and other business factors. Investors should also review other risks and uncertainties discussed in company documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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