Reinventing the 08

15 from Glasgow to Edinburgh; Cisco and Partners Enable High-Speed Connectivity on Trains

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwired - Sep 15, 2017) - Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO), ScotRail, CGI, Network Rail Telecoms and Wittos today announced their collaboration on an Innovate UK and RSSB funded proof of concept to enable super-fast Wi-Fi on trains (Project SWIFT).

The project will see ScotRail trialling the fastest in-train Wi-Fi service in the world, allowing users to experience Internet speeds on the go of up to 300 Mbps. Currently, those travelling by train between Scotland's two biggest cities can access less than 10% of that capability; the difference between streaming a music service with interrupted coverage, and downloading the entire Beatles back catalogue, seamlessly in under two minutes.

With the existing in-train mobile service in the UK, 33% of internet requests on trains fail and with 1.4bn journeys a year, that equates to millions of lost hours of productivity, missed opportunity for online retailers, and potentially dissatisfied passengers. Consistent, high speed connectivity on trains provides a significant opportunity for not only the rail industry, but the UK as a whole.

As the recent National Infrastructure Commission report outlined, the use of existing 3G/4G networks for train connectivity has been unsuccessful, largely due to number of tunnels, cuttings and regional 3G/4G black-spots in the UK. Project SWIFT provides a viable alternative.

Led by Cisco CREATE, the company's Collaborative Research and Emerging Technologies division, working with government, industry, research institutions and start-ups to accelerate innovation, Project SWIFT will highlight how high-speed in-carriage connectivity will improve the experience for passengers and help train operators provide better, more reliable and profitable services.

Project SWIFT has been initially implemented on a full scale train and test track near Stratford-upon-Avon, and will now see a limited duration roll-out on one of the current fleet of ScotRail trains that operate services between Glasgow and Edinburgh. The project will utilise existing trackside fibre to backhaul data from trackside masts. The masts will use unlicensed Wi-Fi spectrum to connect trains to this fibre, with a lossless session handover between masts as low as 2 milliseconds. Both existing and newly installed masts will be used along the Edinburgh-Glasgow route to ensure that consistent coverage can be trialled along the line, regardless of tunnels and cuttings.