Built for performance

Conferences i/o is built for performance. To move data in real-time, we use a rock solid transactional messaging system which talks to our cloud and then pushes changes out to every attendee's device with minimal latency. Though these messages occur frequently, they do so in very small packets.

Connectivity and bandwidth

There are two useful ways to consider Internet capability at a venue: connectivity and bandwidth.

Connectivity relates to the capability of a venue's wireless access points to service an audience. These access points (APs) are how people connect to the venue's Internet. Though enterprise-grade routers often advertise 100+ connections per AP, recommended deployment tends to be about half (or less) of the theoretical maximum.

Bandwidth is how some venues price their wireless Internet connection. For example, you might be offered a 10 Megabyte per second connection for attendees to use. This connection is then shared by attendees.

As mentioned at the outset, Conferences i/o moves data in very small packets. For this reason, reliable connectivity is more important to performance than sheer available bandwidth; if an access point is saturated by connected users, you could be looking at a data traffic jam. The number one priority at any venue is to make sure the APs, at recommended deployment capability, can handle the size of your audience.

When it comes to bandwidth, lower shared connection speeds can be a concern since most devices automatically download application updates in the background. Bandwidth problems tend to be lumpy; that is, they will occur in spurts, and the Internet being problematic one minute is fine the next.

As a general rule, we think that a reliable average connection of at least 50 KB per second, per attendee, is enough to guarantee steady performance with Conferences i/o.  

Mitigating factors

For most of our customers, connectivity and bandwidth concerns are alleviated by the fact that not all attendees will connect to a venue's wireless network; many attendees prefer to use their device's existing data connection.

Battle tested

Conferences i/o has been battle tested at all kinds of venues with every type of access point and shared data connection speed you can imagine. We very rarely hear reports about connectivity or bandwidth problems related specifically to a venue's Internet capability.