Forever Festival: Scaling Reliable Connectivity for 15,000 Attendees with UniFi

Background

Forever Festival, held annually in the Netherlands, is the continuation of the long-running “90s Forever” event. What began 15 years ago with audiences in the low thousands has grown into a major production drawing around 15,000 attendees in a single day. The festival spans four stages and mixes diverse music genres, from Eurodance and pop rock to R&B and hip-hop, creating a theme-park-style experience of entertainment and nostalgia.

Running such a large, multi-stage event requires far more than stages and sound systems. Behind the scenes, networking powers essential functions—from live video streaming for lighting and visual engineers, to point-of-sale systems for tokens and food, to security and administration.

When Tech Connect, a Dutch IT consultancy led by Michiel Beenen, invested in the event production company Festival Experience Group, the opportunity emerged to transform the festival’s infrastructure. Prior to this, organizers had relied on Aruba, Ruckus, and Meraki equipment, but these solutions were fragmented, harder to scale, and less cost-effective. Beenen saw an opportunity: consolidate on UniFi’s ecosystem, unify management, and build a scalable template for events across Europe.

Organization Requirements

The organizers of Forever Festival needed a network capable of supporting both operational reliability and future expansion. Their core requirements included:

• Reliable multi-site connectivity: Spanning up to 800 meters between stages without traditional cabling options.
• Operational network coverage: Supporting ticketing, lockers, staff communications, payment systems, and streaming for stage crews.
• Scalability and flexibility: A portable setup deployable at multiple event sites across the Netherlands, with potential expansion into Spain, Denmark, and Sweden.
• Future readiness: The ability to integrate surveillance (UniFi Protect), access control, and digital guest Wi-Fi as events increasingly move toward cashless payments.

Why UniFi

UniFi stood out as the natural choice for Forever Festival for several reasons. First, licensing flexibility was a decisive factor.

Second, UniFi’s scalability and versatility made it uniquely suited for dynamic event deployments. Devices could be pre-configured, deployed rapidly, and then managed centrally through UniFi Network. This allowed Beenen and his team to set up networks across entirely new terrains with minimal disruption.

Finally, UniFi’s broad hardware portfolio—from gateways and high-performance APs to outdoor bridging and PoE switching—enabled Tech Connect to design a comprehensive solution covering both dense local Wi-Fi zones and long-distance backhaul links.

Deployment and Key Features

Long-Distance Coverage for Multi-Stage Connectivity

One of the biggest technical challenges was connecting stages up to 800 meters away from the main network hub. Traditional cabling was impractical across such distances and terrain. UniFi’s UBB Pro Sector and UBB dish solution enabled high-capacity wireless backhaul, delivering over 400 Mbps reliably across these spans. This allowed live streaming for lighting and video crews without interruption, even with heavy crowd presence and production gear on site.

Flexible, Portable Infrastructure

Forever Festival is held in different cities each year. To accommodate this, Tech Connect maintains a portable “festival kit” of UniFi equipment. The kit includes:

• Gateways: UXG Pro (currently), with plans to move to Fortress Gateway or Dream Machine Pro Max.
• Switching: UniFi Switch Pro 24 Gen2 PoE, Flex Switch, 16-port switches; plans to adopt Pro Max switches.
• Wireless: U6 Mesh APs, U7 APs (indoor and outdoor), UBB Pro Sector, and UBB dish.

This modular design allows rapid deployment. Beenen and a three-person team build out the infrastructure in the week prior to each event, combining fiber, CAT6 cabling, and wireless links as required.

Centralized Remote Management

Events often require last-minute adjustments. With UniFi, Beenen could remotely onboard and fine-tune devices, even delegating setup to subcontractors onsite.

This adaptability has proven essential in the unpredictable world of live production.

Operational Network Coverage

Beyond stage production, UniFi supported core operational needs:

• Locker systems requiring internet access.
• Point-of-sale and token distribution systems.
• Administrative and staff communications.
• Plans for digital payments and cashless bars.

At Forever Festival, around 400–500 client devices were connected, including staff laptops, POS terminals, and backend systems. Traffic consistently saturated the 1 Gbps fiber uplink, underlining the importance of robust, optimized distribution.

Additional Solutions and Expansion

UniFi Protect (Planned)

Festival organizers experienced theft incidents in previous years. As a result, the team plans to deploy UniFi Protect cameras for surveillance across festival grounds. This will provide event staff with real-time monitoring and post-event review capabilities.

Guest Wi-Fi and Cashless Payments

Currently, only operational staff leverage the UniFi network. However, organizers are planning to expand coverage to public Wi-Fi for attendees, a key requirement for introducing direct digital payments at bars and vendors. Discussions with mobile providers are underway for fiber redundancy and LTE failover, ensuring uninterrupted service.

Expansion into Europe

Following success in the Netherlands, Festival Experience Group is in talks to bring their productions to Spain, Denmark, and Sweden. Each site will require scalable, flexible infrastructure—an area where UniFi’s portable ecosystem and Site Manager capabilities are expected to play a central role.

Conclusion

Forever Festival’s partnership with Tech Connect and UniFi demonstrates how modern networking can transform live event production. By consolidating on UniFi’s ecosystem, the festival achieved:

• Reliable long-distance connectivity across multi-kilometer outdoor terrains.
• Rapid deployment flexibility, enabling setup in diverse locations with small teams.
• Future readiness, with plans for Protect, Access, and guest Wi-Fi to support cashless operations.

For Michiel Beenen, UniFi’s blend of enterprise-grade capabilities and licensing freedom makes it the platform of choice:

As Forever Festival expands into more European markets, UniFi’s ability to scale wide and adapt quickly will ensure reliable, secure connectivity for both staff and guests.