In support of its client Underbelly, Texaport is helping ensure that some of the world’s biggest festivals and events are being successfully delivered in Scotland and throughout the world.
Edinburgh is the world’s leading festival city with amazing events and festivals taking place all year. These are an important part of the city’s culture and economy, creating jobs and putting Scotland’s capital in the global spotlight. At the heart of many of the biggest gatherings is the UK-based live entertainment company Underbelly. Its events and festivals division runs one of the largest operations at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, selling nearly half a million tickets for over 200 shows in 22 venues over 25 days in 2019.
As impressive as this is, Underbelly’s influence stretches far beyond the Fringe. As well as producing Edinburgh’s Christmas and Hogmanay celebrations, the company is also responsible for managing major London events including Christmas in Leicester Square, West End Live in Trafalgar Square and Pride in London. Further afield, the company has also managed major scale international events including the 2016 ‘Udderbelly Festival’ in Hong Kong.
Texaport were brought on board by Underbelly in 2016 to implement an IT solution to efficiently and seamlessly manage the multiple operations required to deliver these impressive events.
Texaport were brought on board by Underbelly in 2016 to implement an IT solution to efficiently and seamlessly manage the multiple operations required to deliver these impressive events.
The initial work was focused on Underbelly’s Edinburgh event networks, covering all its key sites across the city. Texaport implemented a design and build programme which involved creating a network and installing cabling across all sites. This was essential to allow its client to manage sales for all ticketed events and enable payments to be taken from the many bars and other retail outlets which service the festival-goers.
Working in partnership with Edinburgh University, Texaport set up a high-speed fibre optic internet connection within Appleton Tower, the centrepiece of the university’s George Square complex, which is situated adjacent to one of the main Edinburgh Fringe sites. This internet facility was then distributed across the city to support other key festival sites.
Using some innovative technology, including wireless point-to-multipoint links, ensured Texaport was able to reduce complexity and allow for more flexible site designs. Not only did this approach simplify the network layouts to minimise any potential downtime, it also saved Underbelly money.
Texaport were brought on board by Underbelly in 2016 to implement an IT solution to efficiently and seamlessly manage the multiple operations required to deliver these impressive events.
The initial work was focused on Underbelly’s Edinburgh event networks, covering all its key sites across the city. Texaport implemented a design and build programme which involved creating a network and installing cabling across all sites. This was essential to allow its client to manage sales for all ticketed events and enable payments to be taken from the many bars and other retail outlets which service the festival-goers.
Working in partnership with Edinburgh University, Texaport set up a high-speed fibre optic internet connection within Appleton Tower, the centrepiece of the university’s George Square complex, which is situated adjacent to one of the main Edinburgh Fringe sites. This internet facility was then distributed across the city to support other key festival sites.
Using some innovative technology, including wireless point-to-multipoint links, ensured Texaport was able to reduce complexity and allow for more flexible site designs. Not only did this approach simplify the network layouts to minimise any potential downtime, it also saved Underbelly money.
“Our business is all about running fantastic events and festivals that inspire and attract people from all over the world. A core part of our success comes from providing a great customer experience, whether this involves people accessing event information, purchasing tickets, or enjoying our bars and catering facilities.
“Our partnership with Texaport has therefore been extremely valuable as they have implemented support systems to ensure all our IT operations are fit for purpose and function smoothly throughout our events. As well as delivering the right solutions, they are also extremely hands-on when we do require emergency support at any time of the day, which has minimised any disruption to our business.”
Sarah Fleming
— Operations Director
All equipment is monitored from a central dashboard to identify and fix network issues in a timely manner, minimising lost revenue from ticket or bar sales. In the event of an issue, alerts are sent to Texaport whose engineers are able to quickly address any problems. During key events, Texaport operates a dedicated out of hours support service to cover Underbelly’s late night operating schedule.
The partnership with Underbelly now extends to its own offices in London and Edinburgh where Texaport provides IT support, including the installation of high speed fibre internet services and high-grade network equipment. Ensuring these offices are fully integrated with Underbelly’s wider operations around the UK and throughout the globe are helping in its quest to bring excitement and entertainment to millions of people.
