Colonius shines as a highlight for Gamescom visitors
- At 266 meters, Cologne’s highest illuminated structure dazzles at “Light It Up”
- TV tower as site for leading-edge 5G applications
- Edge Computing enables autonomous driving and modern online games
Cologne, August 23, 2018: Numerous buildings in Cologne are lit up in blue for the ten-year anniversary of Gamescom, celebrated with the illuminated campaign “Light It Up!”. The Colonius is literally a highlight: At a height of 266 meters, it is by far the tallest illuminated building. The TV tower promises to be a true highlight for gamers on a technological level as well.
“I use light to tell stories. And that’s what I’m doing here too, I’m telling the story of Cologne,” is how the light artist Michael Batz explains the “Light It Up!” campaign. “Sightlines play a key role especially for the Colonius. As a technical building the tower is also significant as a landmark”. With its illuminated turret and a light installation on the top antenna platform at a height of 194 meters, the TV tower can be seen for miles.
“We’re pleased that our work with the Colonius isn’t just contributing to the right atmosphere – we also support a technical development that is highly relevant to many Gamescom visitors,” says Bruno Jacobfeuerborn, Managing Director of DFMG Deutsche Funkturm GmbH. One of the most important factors for the success of online games is how fast the end device reacts with the internet. This latency period will be lowered significantly with the new communication standard 5G, which will be introduced in 2020. “This is what we want to accomplish with edge computing, by moving the network intelligence closer to the antennas. Short distances result in faster reactions by the network. TV towers fulfill the conditions that are essential for this,” explains Bruno Jacobfeuerborn.
Directly beneath the largest antenna platform on the Colonius lies the operating floor, so that only a few meters of cable are required between the antenna and the technical equipment. Thanks to its height, the tower’s radio services reach every point in the city; it has a high-performance fiberglass connection and meets important security requirements. About 40 years after its first activation, the Colonius thus has great potential to support Cologne’s future 5G supply. Bruno Jacobfeuerborn: “Low latency is crucial for future applications like autonomous driving but also for innovative games, such as the ones presented here at Gamescom.”
With its head office in Münster, DFMG Deutsche Funkturm GmbH is part of Deutsche Telekom and operates over 28,000 radio sites throughout Germany.
