Zen Internet helps Edinburgh celebrate Hogmanay

Zen Internet is providing Scotland's leading event organisers, Unique Events, with up to five high-speed broadband connections to help them run Edinburgh's Christmas and Hogmanay celebrations.  The connections will enable Unique Events to recreate a normal office working environment on-site before and during the events, allowing access to all event data, and communications with all suppliers and contractors as smoothly as if they were in the office.

Zen Internet is providing Office 2000 ADSL connections, the highest speed available, on each site being run by Unique Events.  Zen's 'virtual events team' has just installed the first of these top-of-the-range connections within a day, a turnaround that usually takes five working days.  As the events draw near, further connections will be created as each event starts up, until the last connection on 5 December.

A spokesperson from Unique Events, said: "These high speed broadband connections will enable our staff on the ground to co-ordinate and organise the events as if they were back in the office.  They will have full access to e-mails, contact with suppliers, and will crucially have up-to-date instant access to the latest weather reports.  Having successfully worked with Zen on the recent Live8 concert in Edinburgh, and several other events, we knew that they would be able to provide the connections we needed, quickly and effectively."

Unique Events create, produce and manage the Christmas and Hogmanay celebrations in Edinburgh, starting with the Christmas Light Night and Ice Show on 24th December, and including the world famous Royal Bank Street Party on 31 December.  100,000 people will attend the party, with four stages of free live music and giant screens.  The complexity of the celebrations means that seamless communications are essential for the smooth running of the event.

Iain Johnstone, Zen Internet, said: "Our virtual events team has built up valuable experience working across a wide range of events such as Glastonbury, Live8 and the V festival.   We have an excellent relationship with Unique Events and our experience means that we can recommend and implement the right connections quickly, and with maximum support, in order for the events to run successfully.  We understand the fine timelines involved in event organising and our turnaround is a vital element of the run up to an event."