British Telecommunications plc (BT)  has installed a giant electronic information band at the top of the iconic BT Tower in London. The 360 degree LED array – which is believed to be the highest of its kind in Europe and the Americas – will be switched on for the first time this evening with a pyrotechnic display and a message to celebrate 1000 days to go to the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The information band is wrapped around the Tower’s 36 and 37th floors, at a height of 167 meters above street level. At this height it has to endure harsh weather conditions, including hurricane force winds. It has been fully tested at the Jules Verne climatic wind tunnel in Nantes, France, for combined climatic effects including wind speeds of up to 190km per hour as well as rain, snow and high temperatures.

The information band is made up of 177 separate panels and consists of 177,000 pixels and 529,750 LEDs. It is over 280 square metres – the equivalent to half the length of a football pitch, and has a circumference of 59 metres, which is the same as seven London buses end-to-end.