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| Source: Extreme Networks. Blundstone Arena. |
Cricket Tasmania (CT), the administrative body for cricket in Tasmania, Australia, has implemented a high speed Wi-Fi network to provide connectivity to guests visiting its Blundstone Arena in Hobart.
The organisation’s primary purpose is the promotion and development of the game of cricket in Tasmania; it runs junior and educational programmes and competitions and administers the Tasmanian Grade Cricket competitions. CT selects and administers the state first class cricket team, the Tasmanian Tigers. CT has over 100 staff and is responsible for 159 cricket clubs and over 14,000 registered players. With the massive number of concurrent users in a facility capable of hosting 20,000 guests, Cricket Tasmania needed a powerful wireless network.
CT's General Manager of Corporate Services, David Paynter, explains that live sports matches today must compete for audience share with various forms of media, including broadcast, the Internet, television, and papers. “We’ve really got to attract people to come and enjoy live sporting events. Get them away from the computer and high-definition TV to come here and drink in some atmosphere.”
Achieving that depends on a well-rounded value proposition, he notes. “We need to complement the live experience with the creature comforts and technology that people expect and, today, that means connectivity.”
The explosion of social networking provides the ability for those visiting live events to amplify their experiences, enhancing the exposure of a match in progress and driving further interest among the general public in visiting a stadium. However, cellular networks typically struggle to cope with the concentrated demand of thousands of fans in a small geographical area, limiting their collective efforts to upload tweets, Vines, videos and Facebook updates.
Providing some impetus to the project, CT’s stadium was also among the grounds selected to host Cricket World Cup matches, with three fixtures taking place at Blundstone Arena in March 2015. “The World Cup was the mandate for redevelopment to increase our capacity to 20,000 and be able to attract world class events to our arena,” Paynter said.
CT's Infrastructure Engineer Chris Stingle said the Wi-Fi rollout would be a two-stage process. “Stage one has equipped our corporate guests to access Wi-Fi. Stage two will see free Wi-Fi rolled out to the general public in the stadium, giving everyone access to the Internet.”
Even stage one of CT’s deployment would experience significant demand, owing to the bandwidth-heavy demands of corporate guests, which includes a full media contingent, particularly for games of significance such as those of the World Cup. Stingle says CT selected a solution-based on equipment supplied by Extreme Networks and implemented by Intuit Technologies, Extreme Networks’ Partner of the Year 2013.
“We’ve really experienced a streamlined solution which has become more unified. As a result of the deployment, we’ve developed a good relationship with Extreme Networks and Intuit Technologies which is assisting us to exploit the solution to its best purposes,” says Stingle.
With media in particular, he says the selected solution has significant demand placed upon it. “Media people use the Wi-Fi network mainly for the upload of imagery, but also for stories and other content. Their demands are very precise and immediate. They need good service, a good connection, and no fuss. And they’re used to that now. That’s become the standard now around some of the larger stadiums around the world, and we need to be able to deliver that as well.”
Stingle says the selection of partners to provide a solution in a demanding environment was made on an assessment of quality and performance. “We knew Extreme Networks provides internationally renowned well-reputed products, and we knew we could expect ongoing service. Extreme Networks took the time to thoroughly consider our environment, and the specific nature of what we do, before designing the solution.”
The Extreme Networks Wi-Fi network delivers consistently excellent coverage across a substantial area despite considerable interference from the multitude of signals experienced in a packed public place. “We’re all about our fans and providing a great experience for them and all our stakeholders. Connectivity is becoming an indispensable part of that; by choosing Extreme Networks and Intuit Technologies, what we’ve got is reliability, a good product, and a good solution. As we progress to a general rollout to all fans in Stage Two, we’ll look to financial returns and the ability to leverage that with commercial partners,” said Stingle.
As for the robustness of the Extreme Networks Wi-Fi network, he says the contingent of over 300 media representatives accessing the service provided an unprecedented opportunity to assess its performance. “It was designed for needs like this and that’s certainly what we got.”
CT's Infrastructure Engineer Chris Stingle said the Wi-Fi rollout would be a two-stage process. “Stage one has equipped our corporate guests to access Wi-Fi. Stage two will see free Wi-Fi rolled out to the general public in the stadium, giving everyone access to the Internet.”
Even stage one of CT’s deployment would experience significant demand, owing to the bandwidth-heavy demands of corporate guests, which includes a full media contingent, particularly for games of significance such as those of the World Cup. Stingle says CT selected a solution-based on equipment supplied by Extreme Networks and implemented by Intuit Technologies, Extreme Networks’ Partner of the Year 2013.
“We’ve really experienced a streamlined solution which has become more unified. As a result of the deployment, we’ve developed a good relationship with Extreme Networks and Intuit Technologies which is assisting us to exploit the solution to its best purposes,” says Stingle.
With media in particular, he says the selected solution has significant demand placed upon it. “Media people use the Wi-Fi network mainly for the upload of imagery, but also for stories and other content. Their demands are very precise and immediate. They need good service, a good connection, and no fuss. And they’re used to that now. That’s become the standard now around some of the larger stadiums around the world, and we need to be able to deliver that as well.”
Stingle says the selection of partners to provide a solution in a demanding environment was made on an assessment of quality and performance. “We knew Extreme Networks provides internationally renowned well-reputed products, and we knew we could expect ongoing service. Extreme Networks took the time to thoroughly consider our environment, and the specific nature of what we do, before designing the solution.”
The Extreme Networks Wi-Fi network delivers consistently excellent coverage across a substantial area despite considerable interference from the multitude of signals experienced in a packed public place. “We’re all about our fans and providing a great experience for them and all our stakeholders. Connectivity is becoming an indispensable part of that; by choosing Extreme Networks and Intuit Technologies, what we’ve got is reliability, a good product, and a good solution. As we progress to a general rollout to all fans in Stage Two, we’ll look to financial returns and the ability to leverage that with commercial partners,” said Stingle.
As for the robustness of the Extreme Networks Wi-Fi network, he says the contingent of over 300 media representatives accessing the service provided an unprecedented opportunity to assess its performance. “It was designed for needs like this and that’s certainly what we got.”
“The presence of a powerful Wi-Fi network opens new possibilities for hosting live events - the sky is really the limit there. People are going to start expecting content tailored to them. By using specific apps, we can tailor their experience in the stadium by combining the real world event with digital services such as replays delivered to the handset or the ability to order food and beverages, or merchandise; we can look at opportunities with sponsors and partners and examine how we might leverage new opportunities to delight our guests," added Paynter.
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