Qwest, the corporation that I work for had the honor of being selected as the official communications provider for both the DNC and RNC. My director was a handful of few Qwest employees who got a VIP tour of the DNC at the Pepsi Center in Denver last Friday.
While you can see the DNC at the Pepsi Center on TV it looks more impressive with only a few people in it. It is a huge venue. Here a few photos that my director took last Friday. I will probably get some preview photos of the RNC center later this week.
Here is an interesting article that Qwest released regarding the first DNC in Denver and the current event.
Release Date: August 21, 2008
1908-2008: Wiring Denver’s Democratic National Conventions Then and Now Qwest and the Telecommunications History Group Look Back at the 1908 DNC as Denver Gears Up for the Most Digitally-Connected Political Convention in History One Hundred Years Later
DENVER, Aug. 21, 2008 — With the centennial of the first convention in Denver as the backdrop, Qwest Communications, the Official Telecommunications Provider of the event, teamed up with the Telecommunications History Group to compare the 1908 and 2008 Democratic National Conventions (DNC).
“The Qwest network will facilitate an unprecedented digital experience for the delegates and the media at this year’s convention. Such technology was unheard of in 1908, which only highlights the need to stay connected with the people and the events that matter most in our lives,” said Qwest’s president in Colorado, Chuck Ward.
From a technology perspective, the upcoming convention in the Mile High City bears little resemblance to the 1908 convention – when only 12 special telephone lines were installed to accommodate the event and enable national news bulletins.
By contrast, this year’s convention sites – the Pepsi Center and INVESCO Field at Mile High – are expected to have unparalleled digital connectivity, with 6,000 voice and data lines carrying real-time news, videos, blogs, phone calls, e-mail and other digital data to a global audience.
“As you would expect, times have changed in the communications world since the last convention in Denver,” said Herb Hackenburg, a founding member of the Telecommunications History Group. “The level of data and voice connectivity provided by Qwest will enable the world to watch, listen and read about the DNC as it happens and that’s exciting!”
In 1908, when Denver was tapped to host the DNC, the Colorado Telephone Company relied on its new state-of-the-art technology to keep the public informed about the convention proceedings within minutes of when they happened.
Using a PBX (private branch exchange) telephone system, six special service telephones, six telephone booths, six specially trained telephone operators, two long distance lines, telegraphs and Morse code, the phone company was able to transmit news bulletins to pre-selected customers like local newspaper editors and political leaders from the 1908 convention.
Pages at the convention were trained to recognize delegates and distinguished guests by sight. When delegates and guests received calls, the attendants would immediately find them on the floor and escort them to the phones.
Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan didn’t even attend the convention in 1908. Using a megaphone rigged with a telephone transmitter so that the megaphone would work “in reverse”, Bryan listened to the crowd signal its approval of his nomination from his home library in Lincoln, Nebraska, via a special long-distance telephone connection to the convention floor. *
Today, it is Qwest that will facilitate much of the information flow that will keep the eyes of the world on Denver from August 25th-28th. Qwest’s fiber-optic network for the 2008 DNC has an aggregate data capacity of 50 billion bits per second, which could transmit an HD movie in two seconds or the entire collection of print holdings at the Library of Congress in less than one hour.
Qwest has implemented infrastructure upgrades that required about 3,344 miles of single strands of fiber and 140 miles of single strands of copper and coaxial cable, installed video equipment with capacity to handle 130 simultaneous video feeds at both the Pepsi Center and INVESCO Field at Mile High, and added approximately 2,600 additional data lines and 3,400 voice grade circuits to serve both venues.
During next week’s convention, Qwest’s network will be used to transmit the Democratic presidential nomination and convention proceedings for the world to watch in real-time at home or on the go, from the opening gavel to Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at INVESCO Field on Thursday, August 28th.
THEN & NOW AT THE DENVER DNC
Better viewed here
No matter how I save it, jpg, bitmap, Excel it doesn’t keep good formatting
Filed under: Communications | Tagged: DNC, Pepsi Center, Qwest |
Jackieinpdx's Blog 
The only thing I’ve seen regarding the DNC is on Jay Leno. Very cool that the company you work for is part of the whole thing though.
I think t Qwest being the official communications provider for both the DNC and RNC is that it helped the union and company quickly negotiate a new union contract. The union contract expired August 16th. The negotiations were extended an agreement was reached late the following day. Having the union on strike right before or during the convention would have been very poor press for both the company and the union.