The Victoria Racing Club (VRC) and Cisco Systems have agreed to create a digital system connection in the Melbourne. However, this feature will not be available for the 2012 edition of the famous horserace on Tuesday, Nov 6, but after 12 months for the 2013 Melbourne Cup.

Cup attendees at the Flemington Racecourse will be supplied next year with Internet access and the system will deliver a range of in-house services. These in-house services include finding seats, placing bets, purchasing food and beverages, and HD video coverage of the races. Video walls around the track will be used for race video as well.

Wi-Fi is a popular technology that allows an electronic device to exchange data wirelessly using radio waves over computer network including high-speed Internet connections.

According to Wi-Fi Alliance, Wi-Fi is any wireless local area network products that are based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards.

What are the devices running or capable of using Wi-Fi?

  • Personal Computer with internal or external USB adapter
  • Video game console such as PlayStation Portable
  • Smart phone out in stores
  • Tablet computers
  • Digital Audio/Video Players
  • Selected mobile phones that are not running iOS, Android, Windows Phone 8, or Symbian mobile operating systems

Uses of Wi-Fi connection

  • Synching of music library, photo library, or other files with a smart phone USB free
  • Wireless transfer of photos to a digital camera
  • Audio streaming to any speakers in the house
  • File sharing with nearby computers
  • Stream movies to any TV in the house
  • Hotspot support and tethering of Internet to a computer
  • Forward notifications from smartphone to a PC
  • Document sending to a printer from any computer, tablet, or smart phone
  • Remote control capability to a smart phone
  • Direct internet connection access via WLAN
  • City-wide WLAN connection
  • School based wireless connection

Advantages of using Wi-Fi

1. Wi-Fi allows cheaper deployment than Local Area Networks

2. It cuts the space need of cables in LAN

3. Can be used almost in any area of the house, building, or office without cable loitering around

4. WiFi chipsets are cheaper and still dropping

5. Mobile phone compatible with any other Wi-Fi device. A contrast with some exclusive Bluetooth support

6. Different brand interoperate to one another

7. Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA2) is considered secure with strong passphrase allowed to be used

Limitations

  • Wi-Fi has limited range of its network in a specific area
  • Internet speed via radio wave may cause slower connections depending on the receivers location in the range
  • Devices closer to the range are more likely to be prioritized
  • Security have a weakness to be easily penetrated
  • Electromagnetic interference may disrupt the network and can cause congestion

Wi-Fi is the popular term for wireless internet access but its real meaning is Wireless Fidelity and is not limited to Internet use only.

While the more than 150-year-old Melbourne Cup, described as a race that stops Australia, is an example of a European tradition carried out by a Commonwealth nation, the availability of Wi-Fi in 2013 indicates that information technology could be tapped to help not only keep an age-old tradition but be of use in keeping the world abreast in real-time of which horse won the coveted Melbourne Cup.

"Being connected is now a crucial part of daily life and with the rapid growth of social media the VRC wants to be at the forefront of providing racegoers with access to their mobile devices on-course," ITWire quoted VRC Executive General Manager for Corporate, Finance and Strategic Initiatives Simon Love.

"Reliable, real-time Wi-Fi access on our busiest race days will not only help visitors interact and share their race experiences with friends and family via social media, text and video during the event; it also allows us to expand the ways in which our guests can engage with the venue on a more personalised level - an attractive proposition for our sponsors," he added.

RELATED STORIES