(Hong Kong – 29 October 2015) Ocean Park today announced that the first phase of the ’Ocean Park Wi-Fi Network and Mobile Application Development Plan’, jointly developed by the Park and Hong Kong Broadband Network Limited (HKBN), has been completed. The Wi-Fi service will be available starting from 2 November, and will cover 12 facilities and attractions at the Park. An encrypted channel has also been created within the Wi-Fi network to ensure guests can enjoy secure, quality and reliable Wi-Fi service at their fingertips. The Wi-Fi network will also serve as an important foundation for the Park to further develop its existing facilities, as well as to enhance guest experience and conservation education.
Encryption Channel Enhance Network Security
In February this year, Ocean Park announced a partnership with HKBN on the “Ocean Park Wi-Fi Network and Mobile Application Development Plan”, which involves the creation of unlimited, free high-speed Wi-Fi service at the Park. The Wi-Fi development project is proceeding in two phases with a goal to install over 470 Wi-Fi hotspots around the Park. The first phase of the development covers 12 facilities and attractions, spanning the main entrance, Grand Aquarium, Ocean Express – Waterfront Station and Summit Station, Tuxedos Restaurant, as well as a number of attractions within the Park. When the second phase is completed in the first quarter of 2016, free Wi-Fi service will be extended to all guest areas, including all attractions, restaurants, retail stores, theatres, queuing areas, classrooms and both in-park transportation facilities – Ocean Express and Cable Cars, with a reception signal covering over 915,000 square metres. The network can support over 40,000 mobile devices making high-speed Internet connections, and it comes with an encrypted channel in order to enhance network security. The encrypted channel, rarely provided by public Wi-Fi, has been equipped with an accredited and advanced encryption technology, which protects Wi-Fi network data. To ensure guests can enjoy secure, high-speed and reliable free Wi-Fi service, Ocean Park and HKBN will monitor the security, service quality and network stability, while providing real-time technical support, through the 24-hour Network Operation Centre.
Starting from 2 November, guests can enjoy free Wi-Fi service at the Park by enabling Wi-Fi reception on their smartphones or electronic devices at designated areas indicated by a Wi-Fi hotspot signage, and choosing one of the Park’s official Wi-Fi networks, namely ’OP Free Wi-Fi‘, ’OP Free Wi-Fi (Encrypted)’ and ’Wi-Fi.HK via Ocean Park’*. Mr. Tom Mehrmann, Chief Executive of Ocean Park, said, “To ensure network security, efficiency and stability, regardless of the number of guests simultaneously using the Wi-Fi network, we have conducted a test run at certain Wi-Fi hotspots at the Park since 12 October. Up until 25 October, our system indicates that over 25,000 guests have been able to enjoy the service. The network also manages to support high transmission speed and signal stability during high-traffic demand.”
Support for High Transmission Speed and Signal Stability
Mr. William Yeung, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Owner of HKBN, said, “The entire Wi-Fi project has made satisfactory progress. Installation of the fibre backbone across the Park has been completed according to schedule. As part of the quality assurance process prior to the official launch of Wi-Fi service in Ocean Park, we held a town hall meeting in the Park last week, mobilizing over 1,000 HKBN Talents in Hong Kong to do a stress test on the Wi-Fi network. Simulated tasks such as the simultaneous use of mobile apps, streaming of HD videos and uploading photos to social networks by a large number of mobile devices were carried out, so as to ensure top performance of the Wi-Fi network in terms of capacity and connection speed.”
Foundation for Overall Guest Experience Enhancement
The Wi-Fi network will not only enable guests to stay connected with their friends and families, but also serve as the first step to take the overall theme park experience to a higher level. Mr. Tom Mehrmann said, “The Wi-Fi network, with its mobility, will serve as an important building block for us to launch even more comprehensive and diverse infrastructures. Ocean Park and HKBN are collaborating to develop a new mobile application with its functions to be launched starting from the first quarter of 2016. Complementing the full completion and launch of the Park’s Wi-Fi network, the all-new mobile application will provide guests with more convenient and richer park experiences, as well as enhance the Park’s conservation and education efforts.”
When the new mobile application is launched in 2016, guests simply have to enable geo-location on their mobile devices to enjoy a virtual guided tour, which offers multi-lingual docent service, as well as information on nearby animal ambassadors in the form of audio, texts, still images and videos for a more impactful conservation and education experience. The deployment of park navigation service and crowd analytics allows us to offer attraction scheduling. It also enhances crowd and human resource management, making it possible for us to satisfy guest needs and create a more convenient, interactive and richer theme park experience. Our hope is that when the free Wi-Fi network is launched, more guests can take full advantage of different app functions to enjoy all our value-added services, resulting in a higher level of interaction and exchange between the Park and our guests.
Remarks:
* Ocean Park has joined the common Wi-Fi brand, Wi-Fi.HK that is initiated by Office of the Government Chief Information Officer.
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