World Heritage Site Upgrades to Digital with Sepura DMR

Sepura Channel Partner 2826 Ltd has recently installed a new Sepura Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) solution at World Heritage site, Blenheim Palace.

The heritage status of Blenheim Palace and Park sits alongside other unique and diverse World Heritage Sites such as the wilds of East Africa’s Serengeti, the Pyramids of Egypt, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the Baroque cathedrals of Latin America.

Operational staff welcome thousands of visitors on a daily basis to Blenheim Palace and giving each and every member of the public a truly memorable experience takes much planning and preparation, therefore reliable, robust communication tools are of paramount importance.

Heather Carter, Head of Operations and her team had concerns regarding their aging analogue two-way radio system that lacked features, functionality and offered only limited site coverage; therefore decided to look at upgrading their system to “digital” and went out to competitive tender.

Hampshire-based, Sepura Channel Partner, 2826 Ltd, was invited to Blenheim Palace to demonstrate the Sepura digital portfolio.  At the same time as the demonstration and initial consultation a detailed coverage survey was also conducted to enable 2826 Ltd to put together a plausible proposal.  At the end of the tender process, Blenheim awarded the contract to 2826 Ltd.

The new Sepura DMR Tier II solution went live on the 11th November 2015 and comprises one SBR8040 repeater providing site wide coverage, sixty SBP8340 non keypad radios with coloured fronts for easy talk group recognition, sevenSBP8040 full keypad/display management radios, one SBM8040 desktop display radio connected to one SICS eXpress PC dispatcher application which manages and records the system’s messaging, call logging, emergency alarms and GPS mapping.

“We are delighted with our new Sepura DMR system and very impressed with the consultative approach, smooth installation and new relationship we now have with 2826 Ltd”, said Heather Carter, Head of Operations.  “We were very impressed with the Sepura features offered which included amazing audio clarity, long battery life, extra functionality which includes an Emergency button feature which is linked to our building alarm system procedure and of course the site wide and in-building coverage that we’ve never experienced before”.

Stuart Young, Director for 2826 Ltd said: “It has been a delight to work with the Blenheim Palace team on this project and I know from the relationship already forged that we will be involved at this incredible place for many years to come, helping the team at Blenheim Palace get the most out of their investment in Sepura DMR”.

Cliff Davies, Business Development Manager for Sepura says: “This contract win for our Channel Partner 2826 Ltd further reinforces Sepura’s increasing market share of the professional systems sector, where radio users require tough, dependable, highly featured radios that can be easily configured to add new system functionality as system requirements grow in the future – providing lower cost of ownership over the life of their radio communications system.”

About Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace was built in the early 18th Century to celebrate victory over the French in the War of the Spanish Succession.  In particular, it was built as a gift to the 1st Duke of Marlborough, John Churchill, the military commander who led the Allied forces in the Battle of Blenheim on 13th August 1704.  It is the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill and today is principal residence of the Dukes of Marlborough and is the only non-royal non-episcopal country house in England to hold the title of palace.  With over 2000 acres of beautiful parkland feature gardens, including the world’s largest symbolic hedge maze, it is arguably Britain’s most magnificent stately home.  Blenheim Palace was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations in 1987 and attracts over 600,000 visitors per year.