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Purple WiFi to deliver WiFi offering for City of York as part of Pinacl Solutions partnership
[April 23, 2014]

Purple WiFi to deliver WiFi offering for City of York as part of Pinacl Solutions partnership


(M2 PressWIRE Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Purple WiFi, the cloud-based Social WiFi software company will be working with Pinacl Solutions UK Limited, one of the UK's leading Managed Services Providers, and Ruckus Wireless, the global WiFi technology pioneer, to deliver a secure and legal Social WiFi solution for City of York Council.



The fully supported service will be free for users 24 hours a day, seven days a week and will be of such high quality that it will be able to support streaming services such as BBC iPlayer.

City of York Council will for the first time be able to gain access to helpful data from the network, such as footfall and how public spaces in the centre are being used.


Businesses will also be able to subscribe to the service to enable them to gain further insight into their customer base. They will be able to target real time discounts and special offers to customers.

The city attracts 7 million visitors per year, 2 million of whom are of Chinese origin. Therefore, multi-lingual WiFi was an essential part of the installation, which comes as part of Purple WiFi's offering.

Due to the historic nature of City of York, the wireless solution needs to conform to English Heritage guidelines and be as unobtrusive as possible. This means each site will require a significant amount of careful planning to ensure that Access Points are best placed in a way that is aesthetically pleasing whilst capable of delivering a strong and resilient WiFi service.

The City of York WiFi contract was awarded in view of Pinacl Solutions' experience, reliability and performance, working with a Ruckus Wireless Solution. The network will include over 150 Ruckus ZoneFlexTM access points (APs) to provide a high-quality WiFi experience throughout the city.

Purple WiFi was selected for its expertise in Social WiFi, advanced analytics packages and accessible approach, which will encourage the people of York and its visitors to get online easily and safely. Purple WiFi's cloud-based Social WiFi offering also allows the city to engage directly via social media platforms and use Purple WiFi's Purple Portal to gather data and improve commercial opportunities for local businesses, including advertising and sponsorship.

Gavin Wheeldon, CEO, Purple WiFi comments: "Purple WiFi is delighted to be part of City of York's WiFi offering, along with our trusted partners Pinacl Solutions and Ruckus Wireless. We are currently experiencing an explosion in interest for city-wide WiFi implementations. WiFi is clearly an essential part of any city's journey to becoming a 'Smart City'. As we see the Internet of Things really begin to take off, the demand for ubiquitous city-wide WiFi is only going to increase, with cities planning everything from how to engage the high street, to directing people in WiFi enabled cars to the nearest available parking spot. Purple WiFi will help the City of York to drive engagement and offer flexible and timely updates to residents and tourists alike." Roy Grant, the City of York Council's Head of ICT said: "This unique combination of city centre and strategic transport free WiFi is a huge step forward in our ambitious digital plan to be one of the best connected cities in Europe by 2015.

"Having access to free WiFi is essential for a thriving business community in today's marketplace and the high quality network will be incredibly useful for both residents and visitors to York.

"The network will also prove an invaluable resource in supporting the council's work to further understand and monitor how the city centre is used in order for us to maximise this and support the city to prosper and grow." Mark Lowe, Strategic Relationship Director, Pinacl explained "We are delighted to be working on this exciting opportunity, we have a proven ability in wireless solutions and the way in which we work closely with our partners, Ruckus and Purple WiFi we will be offering a quality and easy to use WiFi service. Local businesses will also be able to benefit from commercial opportunities advertising and sponsoring the WiFi service - a chance to target the 7 million visitors to York each year." The scheme is funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), as part of York's status as one of 22 SuperConnected Cities.

Notes to editors The free service will not support full VPN connection; however, this is available as a charged Premium service.

Programme of delivery: - The current pilot for free WiFi in York is in Coney Street, St Helens Sq and Museum Gardens.

- Phase one of the extension of WiFi coverage will be able to be accessed from York Station to and over Lendal Bridge, Parliament Street, Museum Street, Duncombe Place, Minster Yard, High and Low Petergate, Lower Goodramgate, Church Street, Davygate And the streets in between Low Petergate and Coney Street, Bridge Street, and all six current Park & Ride Terminus points across the city.

- Phase Two will extend the coverage to include Gillygate, Castle Gate, Tower Street, Clifton Street, Castle and St George's Car parks, Rougier & George Hudson Street, Micklegate, Leeman Road up to Railway Museum.

- Phase Three will Lord Mayors Walk, Top end of Goodramgate, Piccadilly, Fossgate, Walmgate and the Barbican Centre.

About Purple WiFi purplewifi.net Purple WiFi provides a fast, secure, Social WiFi solution to businesses wishing to offer free WiFi to visitors. The business is provided with valuable analytical data to enable more effective marketing.

Purple WiFi is cloud-based and works with any hardware, offering native integrations with Cisco Meraki, AirTight Networks and Ruckus.

The company is now available in 47 countries worldwide and growing quickly. Purple WiFi is also a member of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), highlighting its commitment to content filtering and minimising access to abusive online content.

Press contacts: Lloyd Gofton [email protected] Mobile: +44 (0)7919 353484+44 (0)7919 353484 Jeremy Lloyd [email protected] Mobile: +44 (0)7808 608416+44 (0)7808 608416CallSend SMSAdd to SkypeYou'll need Skype CreditFree via Skype .

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