THE FULL PITCH
events. They wanted the entire area around the arena – the plaza, restaurants and retail spaces – to be connected, too. The other area that they talked about was to use technology to give them more intelligence from business operations standpoint,” added Keerti. “Understanding how to manage clouds, looking at safety issues surrounding the plaza area – all those kinds of things. So, they were looking for a technology partner that would allow them to not only create an experience, but really give them a full IT platform for operating the stadium.” With a number of different objectives that the Warriors wanted to achieve at Chase Center, it was down to the HPE team to implement the technology to make that a reality. Keerti explained how they achieved that: “It starts with the fan experience in terms of using their mobile devices – we wanted to enable an experience on match day that starts with when they navigate from their home to the venue using public transportation, for example. Then, when they’re at the venue, assist in finding your seat, keeping you up-to-date with the activities around the plaza with notifications and using the mobile app. “So, with a whole host of mobile-led activities and experiences, the network – and the app itself – were key elements of that creation. For this, we delivered W-Fi 6 on the network, as well as the backbone – the core network that connected fans to the internet. That was the first piece of the puzzle, as it were. “The second is what I call the visitor experience – a mobile app-led experience. It’s not only using mobile app, but starting to use new technologies like augmented reality. This is for the future – the Warriors wanted a network that had the capacity to deliver on this high bandwidth, realtime experience for fans when they’re in the stadium. So, we needed to put in that high performance network with Wi-Fi 6. Another area that Keerti and the rest of the team had to focus on was the collection of data regarding activities and events. “The other piece of the puzzle was the data – collecting information about where people are located, retail transactions in the arena or plaza and so on. It was a question of how to store the data and use it for analytics and real-time arena operations. We delivered our
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storage solutions for this, so it’s really a full end-to-end
think the real value is in the friction-free experience, in
architecture with Aruba and HPE delivering the entire
that the technology is just in the background helping make
system,” said Keerti.
your day better in the venue.
At the core of the network lies Aruba’s 8400 core and
“The goal for us was to create a future-proof infrastructure
aggregation switches, which offer flexibility and innovation
that would be able to handle the needs of Chase Center
in dealing with modern application, security and scalability
for the next five or ten years. We envision that new
demands in today’s mobile, cloud and Internet of Things
applications around AR and VR will pop up and the system
(IoT) era. Aruba offers the industry’s most advanced,
we have worked on is uniquely suited to support this.”
fully-programmable operating system, carrier-grade
In keeping with the connected experience for the fans,
performance and an industry-first Network Analytics
Verizon implemented one of the first 5G deployments on
Engine that proactively monitors and troubleshoots
the West Coast at Chase Center, making the entire seating
network, system, application and security related issues.
bowl in the arena completely 5G ready.
By enabling intelligent automation and network insights,
Elizabeth Lundin, Executive Director of Network Technology
the operating system reduces the time spent on manual
at Verizon, explained more about the company’s part in
tasks, freeing up time for Warriors and Chase Center IT
the project: “Last year, we had the opportunity to take on
teams to develop new and engaging fan experiences and
this project and have had a great working relationship ever
uncover new ways to drive operational efficiencies for all
since. We made a commitment to Chase Center that Verizon
events in the arena and on the surrounding district.
would have our 5G deployed at the opening of the venue,
Since the opening of Chase Center, the feedback for
which we did – meaning that Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband
HPE and Aruba’s work has been extremely positive,
mobility service will be live in 10 arenas by the end of the
as Keerti revealed: “The feedback has been amazing
2019-2020 season.
– just for the pure experience of being able to visit
“We built the neutral host DAS to cover the entire arena,
the arena, take pictures and videos and communicate
including back offices spaces, the parking garage, outdoor
with friends and family with ease. To be honest, I
plaza, and the retail space. We built it to be as future-
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