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Sports and data are closely intertwined – and that’s especially true for spectators. So how can data, analytics, IoT and connectivity create better experiences fans? In this episode, we’re taking a look at how major sports venues and events are using technology to create the perfect experience for their customers.
It's something that’s been a recurring goal for clients of HPE Aruba Networking over the last few years. Simon Wilson is their Chief Technology Officer for the UK, and helps clients bring exceptional connected experiences. He explains that, in part, the demand has been driven by our own improved connectivity: In particular, smartphones are now used for everything from payments to ticketing. And thousands of devices means there’s a demand for rock-solid Wi-Fi and private 5G networks.
And that’s particularly important over large, outdoors sporting arenas where connectivity can be naturally spotty. Michael Cole is the Chief Technology Officer for the European Tour Group and Ryder Cup Europe. Not content with being responsible for laying tens of kilometers of cabling and fiber optic lines for golf’s marquee events, he’s been developing the concept of an Intelligent Course – a vast network of connected sensors and IoT devices which allow central control over every aspect of the event, from assessing queue length to measuring wind speed to account for wayward golf balls and moving spectators out of the way.
Daniel Brusilovsky is on a similar mission. He’s the vice president of technology for the Golden State Warriors and Chase Center in San Fransisco. Their campus contains over 700 Wi-Fi access points, connecting upwards of 18,000 devices at key points. These devices not only provide seamless access, they allow the Chase Center to use intelligence and insight to perfect the flow of people through their site. Insight and analytics from the data they collect is being used for everything from stocking concession stands to streaming fans’ phones right onto the largest score screen in North America.
And that idea of fan experience is what really excites Leslie Shannon. She’s Nokia's head of trend and innovation scouting, and is impressed by some of the connected fan experiences that sports teams are trying out, from 3D cameras positioned on top of the goal posts, to apps using Augmented Reality to overlay a player’s stats and map their previous performance whilst they are playing.
It's something that’s been a recurring goal for clients of HPE Aruba Networking over the last few years. Simon Wilson is their Chief Technology Officer for the UK, and helps clients bring exceptional connected experiences. He explains that, in part, the demand has been driven by our own improved connectivity: In particular, smartphones are now used for everything from payments to ticketing. And thousands of devices means there’s a demand for rock-solid Wi-Fi and private 5G networks.
And that’s particularly important over large, outdoors sporting arenas where connectivity can be naturally spotty. Michael Cole is the Chief Technology Officer for the European Tour Group and Ryder Cup Europe. Not content with being responsible for laying tens of kilometers of cabling and fiber optic lines for golf’s marquee events, he’s been developing the concept of an Intelligent Course – a vast network of connected sensors and IoT devices which allow central control over every aspect of the event, from assessing queue length to measuring wind speed to account for wayward golf balls and moving spectators out of the way.
Daniel Brusilovsky is on a similar mission. He’s the vice president of technology for the Golden State Warriors and Chase Center in San Fransisco. Their campus contains over 700 Wi-Fi access points, connecting upwards of 18,000 devices at key points. These devices not only provide seamless access, they allow the Chase Center to use intelligence and insight to perfect the flow of people through their site. Insight and analytics from the data they collect is being used for everything from stocking concession stands to streaming fans’ phones right onto the largest score screen in North America.
And that idea of fan experience is what really excites Leslie Shannon. She’s Nokia's head of trend and innovation scouting, and is impressed by some of the connected fan experiences that sports teams are trying out, from 3D cameras positioned on top of the goal posts, to apps using Augmented Reality to overlay a player’s stats and map their previous performance whilst they are playing.
Creators & Guests
What is Technology Untangled?
Why isn't talking tech as simple, quick, and agile as its innovations promise to be?
Technology Untangled is just that - a show that deciphers tech's rapid evolutions with one simple question in mind: what's really going to shape our future (and what's going to end up in the bargain bin with the floppy disc)?
Join your host Michael Bird as he untangles innovation through a series of interviews, stories, and analyses with some of the industry's brightest brains. No marketing speak, no unnecessary jargon. This is real tech talk from the people who know it inside and out.
Discover which tools and systems are revolutionising the way we do business, what's up next on the endless innovation agenda, and, most importantly, how you can future-proof and get ahead of the curve.
Leslie Shannon (00:03):
What's really brilliant about sports is that it is live action. It is one of the few things that remains that happens in real time that people genuinely care about, and sports technology will be pushing technology further because of that real-time component.
Aubrey Lovell (00:18):
The intersection between sports and technology is incredibly exciting. The idea of using tech to push the limits of what's possible is in itself a huge industry. And in fact, we have looked at that idea of tech optimizing sporting performance in series three of Technology Untangled, and there's a link to that episode in the description. But this time around we'll be looking at sports and tech from a different angle. We're diving into how technology is increasingly changing the way we enjoy sports as spectators. We'll be exploring how our ever-increasing demand and provision of bandwidth is meeting the demands of fans eager to stream, share, and find out more, and how venues and sporting events are able to use that data to generate intricate levels of insight, ensuring the perfect experience to their visitors.
Michael Bird (01:17):
You are listening to Technology Untangled, a show which looks at the rapid evolution of technology and unravels the way it's changing our world. We are your hosts, Michael Bird.
Aubrey Lovell (01:27):
And Aubrey Lovell.
Michael Bird (01:33):
Sports is, it won't surprise you to hear, a huge industry. According to market research firm, Statista. In 2022, the global sporting industry's revenue amounted to 487 billion US dollars. That is a phenomenal amount of money. And where there's a lot of money, there's a lot of innovation. A big part of that is around ensuring the best possible experience to ticket holders and spectators. After all, happy customers inevitably means more ticket sales, which means more revenue, which means more money to invest elsewhere.
Aubrey Lovell (02:13):
And in the 2020s, a positive fan experience means one thing; great connectivity, and it's not just for sharing photos.
Simon Wilson (02:25):
So my name's Simon Wilson. I'm the CTO for Aruba here in the UK and Ireland. HP Aruba Networking, so we are the networking division of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and our specialist technology is wifi, it's wired switching, and the security that surrounds that and the management platforms that we use to deploy and identify challenges that might echo inside the technology.
(02:46):
The demand for robust, secure, and performing connectivity for a wider range of applications and devices is absolutely critical. We now have a very powerful computer in our pockets wherever we go. It's how we consume content and communicate with the world. And people want to do that when they visit a sporting event. They want to take pictures and send those back to their friends and family. They want to find out where their friends and family are on a venue if it's a large venue to meet up. They're increasingly being asked to use it to even enter the venue, there's ticketing, and of course in the last few years we've seen a lot of venues that are completely cashless. So not only can you not get into the venue if you can't get your ticket scanned, but you can't buy anything either. And they are very keen that when you're in a venue, that you spend as much money as possible.
(03:33):
They want you to buy the food, they want you to buy the merchandise, the programs, everything else. And then you think about the increased demand from the spectators themselves. I mean literally just recently you saw a major cell phone manufacturer announce a new model that had a 48 megapixel camera. Of course, every picture we take and every video we take is streamed immediately back into the cloud. So, as consumers bring new, more performant devices into a facility, that increases the level of the infrastructure that's there to support them. There's a number of venues we work with in recent times where literally everything is connected to the network, our network. So it's absolutely critical.
Michael Bird (04:15):
I don't know about you, Aubrey, but I've definitely been to a sporting venue or a big music venue where I just cannot get onto the internet. I can't text anyone, I can't take any photos and send it to people. Simon was saying, if I'm trying to find somebody or make a phone call, the network is down because there are so many people in such a small space, or even in a big space. I've been to a race circuit for a motorsport event and you just couldn't do anything. So in this day and age, I get it, connectivity is super important, isn't it?
Aubrey Lovell (04:46):
Oh, 100%. I think just the experiences in the past of us going to live sporting events or concerts, you definitely have that data load where you can't do anything, can't use your phone, you can't text people, can't call. But actually, interestingly enough, a few weeks ago I was at a stadium and we were there for a film shoot for one of our sponsors for HPE and the stadium was incredible, right? I mean everything was connected, so completely cashless, right? You have connectivity, you can order food. I mean everything you do is through your phone. So it's a pretty cool experience and a huge change from what we're used to.
Michael Bird (05:23):
And yeah, going back to what Simon was saying, everything being connected to the network, these networks can be absolutely vast. A great case in point is the networking infrastructure for the Chase Center in San Francisco, home to the Golden State Warriors basketball team.
Daniel Brusilovsky (05:39):
My name is Daniel Brusilovsky and I'm the Vice President of Technology for the Golden State Warriors and Chase Center. So the minute you step foot on site of Chase Center, you may not see them, but there are wifi access points, a little over 700 across the entire campus that provide the seamless connected experience. We, as fans, don't even see it physically because it's in an enclosure under the seat, but there's hundreds of these little devices, these wifi access points that provide that experience at the edge. And so we've got almost 30 IDFs, or telecom rooms that have all of our edge switches, which is for every single device in our venue. So you think of the thousands of TVs, the security cameras, the point of sale systems, there's a lot of connected devices here at the edge. So without a single fan stepping foot inside of the venue on an event day, on a game day, whatever it may be, we already have 4,000 to 5,000 devices on our network.
(06:38):
So that's our baseline. So from there, then we add sometimes 10,000 devices when our fans actually step foot in the building. And so when we think of infrastructure, when we think of the data that's required and the bandwidth and all these different things, we need to do that with scale in mind because we can go from an event that has 5,000 fans, and that could mean only a few thousand devices, all the way to a Warrior's game during the NBA finals where you have hundreds of media and so much more additional bodies in the building that all need bandwidth and all need connectivity, and that demand happens in real time, right? Like most events, there's ebbs and flows, right? But whatever demands happen in the future, we're going to be there and have the technology support, whatever it may be.
Aubrey Lovell (07:30):
The numbers involved are honestly staggering. In fact, since Daniel joined the Golden State Warriors nine years ago, their bandwidth supply has increased 20 fold, with more room to expand if needed.
Michael Bird (07:41):
And that became particularly important when, in November of 2022, the Chase Center hosted the finals of a major e-sports tournament. It was an event that attracted global attention and along with it, an awe-inspiring amount of data transfer.
Daniel Brusilovsky (07:56):
We hosted this event and it brought, not only two global teams to Chase Center to compete, but it also brought a global audience to Chase Center. People traveled from all over the world and people also watched from all over the world. And so some of the mind-blowing stats that we love sharing because of just how impressive this event was, was we did over five terabytes' worth of data on our network. That figure of over five terabytes is purely fan devices. That even excludes our internal network in terms of all the devices and technology that it takes to run the venue itself, which, just to give you an idea is a little over 200% over our average. It really puts it in perspective of how far we've come just from a technology perspective.
(08:43):
Nine years ago when we had, and believe it or not, a one gig line servicing the arena in Oakland. To put that in perspective, here at Chase Center, we have dual 10 gig pipes that we can burst up and expand to whatever is needed. So an absolutely massive event for us from a network and a bandwidth and a data perspective, but equally from a fan experience perspective as well. So it was a culmination of a lot of work and a lot of effort to bring this to life. And I think those numbers speak for themselves in terms of how successful it was from just a pure data and bandwidth perspective.
Michael Bird (09:24):
So you've got tens of thousands of fans with tens of thousands more devices potentially streaming terabytes of data, but that's the people who have bought tickets, traveled to the venue, and taken a seat. Millions more are watching at home.
Aubrey Lovell (09:38):
And that in itself presents a challenge and an opportunity, right? Because that's a huge number of people who could potentially be at the arena spending their money while experiencing the thrill of live sports. And the challenge is that even for those who could travel, in some cases, you get a better viewing experience at home on TV with the analytics and the commentary to enrich the experience, but the opportunity is that with increasing bandwidth to play with, a lot of that at-home experience can be bought into the venue. Here's Simon Wilson.
Simon Wilson (10:08):
We're now starting to see a lot more live video and instant replays available because the venues that you go to and the events that you go to see are very conscious that the TV product now is very advanced. In fact, I was talking to the CIO of a large upcoming sporting event, they've realized that they've made the TV product so good with what they've done, that actually it's almost a better experience than watching it at the venue. So what they need to do is to raise the game at the venue so that not only do you get the smell of the sweat and the atmosphere that you can soak up when you're in the venue, which can't be replaced, but that's then augmented with technology that lets you understand what the scores are in real time. Maybe it's a game you're not watching right now. If it's a sport where players are moving around a facility, where are your favorite players right now? And if you can see someone up ahead, who is that that's playing right now?
(11:00):
I'm probably giving away what type of sport it is by saying this, but the goal is absolutely to increase the experience for those at the venue so that, again, they're delivering more technology, more application-based technologies, and finding more ways to give an even better experience for those on the course.
Michael Bird (11:18):
Simon is talking about golf. In particular, the Ryder Cup Europe, one of the most prestigious golfing tournaments in the world, and it's an arena where connectivity is absolutely key, not just for access to the internet and not even just for fan engagement, but to ensure the smooth operation of an entire event. After all, golf courses are absolutely enormous. You can't just shout from one end to the other if you need something. In fact, if you did that when someone was going for a particularly challenging put, you'd probably get a nudge in the ribs.
Aubrey Lovell (11:52):
Michael Cole is the Chief Technology Officer for the European Tour Group, which includes both the DP World Tour and Ryder Cup Europe.
Michael Cole (11:59):
I would argue that one of the more challenging places to watch golf is actually at a tournament itself. We have 18 holes, that's 18 fields to play. It is virtually impossible to be on every hole at any one time. We're not two teams, apart from the Ryder Cup, but we're up to 156 players. We don't play for 80 or 90 minutes, we play for four days. And to add to that, typically we can change the format as well. We have what we call stroke play. The Ryder Cup is match play format, so that brings a vast amount of complexity with it. And by contrast, arguably the best place to watch golf historically has been the TV in the armchair. And the TV directors and producers are doing all the hard work in terms of creating a single pane of vision, if you like, to watch that product. And it is truly a spectacular experience today.
(13:06):
For the on course spectator, it's very different because of that complexity. One of the big challenges we have, and a key focus for us absolutely, is how we bridge that gap between the armchair fan and the on course spectator. And that is fundamentally, I believe, the role that technology can play and is probably seeing the greatest changes certainly of the last couple of years. We will also be using key insights to provide live commentary for the on course spectator. So if Tommy strikes a ball up the seventh tee, then informing the spectators around that hole, that fairway, that actually the distance struck was 293 yards, 47 yards to the pin, and now he's putting to save the hole, possibly even putting to save the match. That is the level of commentary that we haven't provided before. It is challenging, as I say, to give that perspective on what is happening across a golf course.
Aubrey Lovell (14:11):
So their solution is pretty incredible. We interviewed Michael Cole for an episode on our sister podcast, Technology Now, about this, but essentially they are using apps and giant screens connected to vast networks of atmospheric sensors. They add trackers and specialist cameras to track every golfer's position over the course, all while showing the shots they need to make the win, and even their probability of making it. It's truly amazing stuff.
(14:37):
And golf isn't the only sport trying to get fans off the TV and into the venue by improving the fan experience.
Leslie Shannon (14:43):
Hello, I am Leslie Shannon. I am Nokia's Head of Trend and Innovation Scouting. I'm based in Silicon Valley. We're a telecommunications equipment supplier to the phone companies of the world and large enterprises. And so that's us.
(14:58):
So we actually have, in Tampere, Finland, there's a sports arena, we sponsor it, and that actually makes a great place for us to experiment with technology. And so we really love having that arena and trialing all kinds of things there.
(15:15):
And one of the things that we did that specifically relates to sports, because of course if you're talking about an arena in Finland, you're talking ice hockey. So one of the things that we've done is put cameras, 360 degree cameras on the goal net and right at ringside in several locations and then turned that into a virtual reality experience, so that somebody in a virtual reality headset can choose which camera they would like to see and change all the way around, and then actually have it as though their head is right there during an ice hockey game. And of course, ice hockey is fast and brilliant and flashing and full of action and body slams up against things. And so it's really quite full on to be able to basically have your head sitting on top of the hockey goal.
Aubrey Lovell (16:05):
If you really think about that, I'm thinking futuristic. How crazy is it that that could be the next experience, where you're having those specific cameras? Think about it from a financial perspective, those are actually virtual seats. Stadiums could technically, you could pay as a consumer to have that view. And then if you're doing it virtually with, you have the whole setup, you're getting right there on the pitch to see everything first person. I mean that's kind of cool to think about, right?
Michael Bird (16:34):
Yeah.
Aubrey Lovell (16:35):
Okay, we need to trademark this for sure. I think we just came up with a billion dollar idea. Nobody steal it. This will probably be cut out of the podcast, but just so you know, Bird and Lovell came up with this first, okay.
Michael Bird (16:45):
Yeah. What if you ever have augmented venues where half the seats are just cameras and half the seats have got real people in it?
Aubrey Lovell (16:53):
Right. And you pay for the premium experience of having that, right? Nobody else can just get it online. You got to pay-per-view.
Michael Bird (17:07):
And it's not just ice hockey. One of Leslie's favorite examples of fan experience technology in action is in the US where one baseball team is pioneering augmented reality to showcase the statistics of players on the field. And it's insanely cool if, like Aubrey and myself, you are a bit of a stats nerd.
Leslie Shannon (17:27):
They have developed an app, I mean most baseball teams, sport teams have some kind of app, but what they're doing is to encourage people to actually come to the stadium. And so one of the things that they've generated is this ability in the app, when you're sitting in the stadium, when a batter comes to bat, to be able to look through the camera in your smartphone and to then see a visual representation overlaid on the stadium of the last 10 at bats of that batter. Where did he hit the ball? What was the trajectory of that ball?
(18:02):
I love that so, so much because it is something that makes you... Well, one of the problems I find when I go attend a live sporting event is I find myself missing the commentary and the instant replays and the ability to do a deeper analysis of what's on the field. And so using augmented reality to give me that analysis in my own time, that makes it actually better than watching on TV. So rather than waiting for an announcer to tell me this historical thing, I can pull it up myself.
Michael Bird (18:37):
The idea of using the bandwidth available in modern sporting venues to provide extra services to engage spectators is becoming increasingly popular. In fact, the Chase Center has its own fun ways for spectators to get involved, but all of that leads us onto something a bit more serious and potentially a lot more profitable. Here's Daniel.
Daniel Brusilovsky (19:00):
I'll give a great example, something that I love, it's one of my favorite in-game activations that we do, which is the HPE fan cam, which is when our fans, during a timeout or a quarter break, can scan a QR code, it opens on their device a live video feed from their device, and then we moderate that feed and put it on the video board. And we have the largest indoor scoreboard for a venue in North America, so you can imagine the level of excitement when someone sees themselves live on the scoreboard. All of that takes one, a lot of infrastructure and it also creates a lot of data. And so we're able to use those insights in real time to really enhance the experience because people love seeing themselves on the scoreboard. And so the more we can do to make our fans feel like they're a part of the action, you're not just there watching, but you're actually influencing, that all makes up as part of the experience.
(19:54):
And so, we think about this from every single aspect of the fan experience. And so how can we get a little bit better just over time? It doesn't have to be 10%, 15%, 20% better, but maybe just 2% or 3% or 5%. How can we be a little bit better in terms of delivering an exceptional fan experience or delivering a better experience for our partners or for our F&B or for retail or for parking or whatever it may be? That data is what helps us think through this really strategically and turn those data into actionable insights. It could be as simple as how we set up line queuing because we saw from one event that lines got a little bit longer than we expected in one area, and so we needed to just move some things around, to things like optimizing our food and beverage pickup process.
(20:43):
We've really emphasized mobile ordering. We think it's a great enhancement to the fan experience when you don't have to wait in lines to pick up your food. You can order through our app, pick it up for express pickup. We're looking at what's selling? What's not selling? Do we have the right levels of inventory, the right products available for purchase? How do we make sure that your ticket buying journey is as seamless as possible? Because we use data to actually enhance the fan experience, we use it to make ourselves smarter and better and to reinvest those resources back into our fans, into the venue, into the events, and make sure that people have an incredible time, because we want them to come back time and time again.
Aubrey Lovell (21:24):
And it turns out that the same connectivity and bandwidth that's giving fans a great interactive experience is also giving them a great passive experience too, because all of those connected devices, phones, tablets, point of sale machines can be used to paint a picture of where tens of thousands of people are at any one point in real time. And that gives the opportunity for a seamless experience all around. Here's Simon Wilson to explain some of the tech behind it.
Simon Wilson (21:51):
There's currency in data, understanding the behavior of the people that come into the venue in terms of where they go, how long they spend there, understanding how busy certain locations are. So there's data using real time that we capture, as well as the, and this is probably where the real gold is, is the historical analysis. So understanding what happened at previous events so that we can, one, help plan a better future event, but two, help the venues understand how their space is being used.
(22:21):
Now, the way we collect that data is changing quite significantly. Yes, there are a myriad of new IoT and presence and other types of sensors, but often they require separate technologies to implement, and of course there's additional costs. What we're trying to do is gather as much intelligence as we can through networking technologies and devices that will simply already be there anyway.
(22:41):
One example is in wifi analytics. So it's not a new technology, it's quite an old technology actually, it's been used in retail for quite some time, to understand your path through a shopping center or whether or not you stood in front of the trouser section and then walked out or whether or you went to the checkout, right? The challenge with those type of use cases is the privacy tools, because we're all concerned about our privacy, and rightly so, the privacy tools that are embedded within the devices we now use that are becoming more sophisticated. So consequently, they're defeating some of those use cases and you can argue whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, but there is data we can still capture that it's very valuable. It's completely anonymous. It's protecting people's privacy, but it still has huge value to venues.
(23:21):
So knowing that a smartphone or a cellphone with wifi turned on was in a particular location is great for some use case. You don't have to know who it was, just that it's a person that stood there. And that's useful for a lot of other cases. So as well as using the data in real time for many more use cases, both for the spectators and for the facility that's running the event, capturing the data for the long-term analytics is gold as well, but also looking for innovative ways that we can capture that data and reduce the cost of capturing that data as well is the key development area for us.
Michael Bird (23:56):
That's all well and good when you are talking about a stadium, everyone is compressed into a few square miles or kilometers, and the shops, ticket gates, and concession stands don't move. But that is not always the case though. Some events, like say golf, are an order of magnitude more complicated. Here's Michael Cole again.
Michael Cole (24:18):
Golf courses are greenfield sites, they have no infrastructure. So we are creating everything from scratch. So we have to create an environment through connectivity for a short period of time over a vast amount of land. To put that into context, a golf course is equivalent to 160, 170 football pitches. Having that always on connectivity is critical. It is probably one of our biggest challenges. We are deploying tens of kilometers of fiber, possibly hundreds of kilometers of copper cabling to provide that base level of connectivity. We will be connecting internet infrastructure around 500 TV screens. We will have 23 giant megatron screens right across the course. That's about 2,000 square meterage of LED, tens, if not hundreds of concessions and retail outlets, probably over 700 personnel on site for the TV production alone. And putting that level of connectivity into that degree of expanse is a challenge.
(25:32):
And then every course has additional challenges depending on the context of where we're staging the event. So, if we take some specific challenges for Rome that we face in readiness and preparedness this September, Rome's a lovely city, it has incredible history. Unfortunately, some of that history is buried beneath the ground. So when we are digging our duct in, we have come across prospective archeological sites, and we physically have had to halt some of our preparation for that very, very reason. So we have to infill with other capabilities and technologies, and this Ryder Cup will be no different. We will be using LTE, we will be using satellites, but one of the things I'm really, really excited about is being able to use a new capability within the HPE Aruba family, and that is 5G and creating a private 5G infrastructure.
Aubrey Lovell (26:39):
5G is a big part of the solution when you're talking about outside spaces. So much so it's a field, pun intended, that HPE Aruba networking are investing heavily into. Here's Simon.
Simon Wilson (26:51):
You might think for a company that's, as Aruba Networks was best known for wifi that we think 5G was the enemy. On the contrary, they're absolutely our friend because it's having the right technology for the right use case. The temporary sporting events, they have to deploy a lot of stuff. So if we can reduce the amount of fiber and connectivity we need by uses other technology like 5G as a part of the offering, I think that not only reduces the cost for deployment, less time, less manpower, less fiber you have to buy, but it's also more eco-friendly, right? It's more sustainable to not have stuff you've thrown away at the end of an event. So that's a huge benefit for us.
(27:29):
And I think probably what attracted us, and what you're talking about is our acquisition of a company called Athonet, the private 5G there. So what really attracted us to Athonet was the compactness and the portability of some of their solutions. So we're about to deploy what they call a tactical cube. So essentially, it's a box on wheels and that's got everything you need to deploy a private 5G implementation, apart from the antenna which you stick up on the roof. So we're going to deploy that to extend the reach of the network allocation we're working on, and also as a proof of concept for some other use cases we believe are going to be very valuable in the future.
Michael Bird (28:05):
Leslie Shannon agrees that when it comes to secure reliable data transmission over long ranges, mobile networking is the way forward and the tech is already stepping up to the next generation to take in our ever-increasing demand for bandwidth.
Leslie Shannon (28:19):
If you're in a situation where you cannot run a cable to a camera, but you want to have broadcast quality, then high definition, connected to 5G, that's how you got to wire up that camera. So the specs for 5G were actually set in the late '00s. The big surprise then was suddenly there was all this traffic streaming over mobile phones that we had not expected at all, and we're like, "Ah, we have to be able to deal with video streaming." And so 5G is crafted to deal with that. So 5G has a massive downlink, which is the pipe coming down to you, and a very small uplink, which is the pipe coming from you. But of course what's happened since 5G was introduced is that user-generated content, and really elaborate sensor data, we need a bigger uplink. So one of the things that 5G advanced, which comes out in 2027, that's going to actually address that uplink problem.
Aubrey Lovell (29:20):
When great connectivity works though, it really works. What Michael Cole and the team at Ryder Cup Europe have managed to achieve with good data, solid insight, and an awful lot of technical expertise around networking is something very, very special.
Michael Cole (29:34):
Data has to be turned into insight and insight has to become intelligence, and that's really the underlying principle to which we now work. It's about the intelligent course, not necessarily just the connected course. I guess the best analogy that I can give is we've built large towns for many years. Every time we host a tournament, every time we host a Ryder Cup, we are building an athlete's village, we are creating grandstands, we're generating hospitality structures.
(30:08):
But technology now underpinning a major sporting event, like the Ryder Cup, has become so pivotal that technology is now a key consideration. So we no longer build large towns, we build smart cities. It's about monitoring crowds, tracking crowds, understanding their behaviors. We have typically 500 buggies at the Ryder Cup in September. Now, ironically, buggies do disappear and we'd like to know where they are. So tracking those buggies, understanding the speed, who's driving them, battery utilizations is critical in terms of efficiency of managing these major, major events.
(30:52):
We're going to have weather sensors around all of the holes. Now, these weather sensors are monitoring up to 15 elements of data, weather data every three seconds and pumping it out, moisture in the air, wind direction, wind speed, threat of lightning. This is all critical information and insight that can feed both the commentary teams, the broadcast teams, but also the betting and gaming communities as well. One of the biggest risks in golf is a head strike, and if the wind changes direction quite suddenly, you may have a situation whereby balls are now becoming quite wayward. So if we can now plot each of those ball strikes off the tee boxes in real time and we're now tracking the spectators, then we can now administer our health and safety policy and actually instruct our [inaudible 00:31:49] managers to then move the rope lines back to mitigate any risk of a ball strike.
Michael Bird (31:58):
How about the data generated by, well, the sports people themselves? Or at least in the case of motor racing, their cars? Okay, so this is a little bit of a segue, but a few months ago I had the opportunity to interview Harry Richards, Commercial Director of the Formula-E team, Maserati MSG Racing. He had some great insights on how the team make use of reliable and high bandwidth connectivity to transfer and analyze enormous amounts of data on race weekends between the track, wherever that may be, and their data center and engineering HQ in Monaco. Over to Harry.
Harry Richards (32:34):
Data is critical. When we look at these cars up and down the grid, there aren't huge differences in terms of the hardware itself. So, what we have to do is look for those marginal gains away from the hardware and in the software that we produce when it comes to energy management, when it comes to strategy. So, data is integral in all of this and through our relationship with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, it allows us to analyze huge amounts of data in real time. And this is critical because on a race day, we don't have huge amounts of time between sessions to make changes. So we have to have analyzed that data, understood it, and understood how we improve performance by the time the drivers get out the car because we've got 45 minutes to make those setup changes and understand how we're going to improve on the next session.
(33:20):
So, yeah, from a performance standpoint, I think it's the single biggest factor in setting ourselves apart from the competition. From a commercial standpoint, for me, it's definitely playing a bigger and bigger part in every conversation I have.
Aubrey Lovell (33:34):
What's become clear is that data is increasingly becoming an integral part of live sporting events. Whether it's being used for broadcasting to the world to track and steer crowds, or just make sure they are having the best possible time. The way we use data and the insight we can gain from it is key and that's something that all organizations can learn from.
Michael Bird (33:54):
So, where next in the coming years? Well, we've got a trend spotter on the podcast, so let's have Leslie Shannon see us out.
Leslie Shannon (34:03):
So I see greater participation in terms of knowledge and an ability to interact with the peripheral things, but I also see greater participation with the fans among themselves, creating the community. Anything that we see happening socially enabled by technology in other places, I think it's all being enabled to come into the sports arena. Participation, interaction. One of the things that we really see with particularly younger users of all technologies is they've come from a life of gaming. They want to be participants in this.
(34:41):
And so using the technology to make it more participatory, whether it's in terms of winning prizes or things like that, just integrating the fans with the game, that's actually where, again, I'm using very vague terms here, but that seems to be the trend and I think we're going to see more and more of that. And if you've got good ideas, rush out and patent them and then tell other people about them, because this is absolutely a time for patenting.
Michael Bird (35:10):
We'll get writing.
(35:16):
You've been listening to Technology Untangled. We've been your hosts, Michael Bird and Aubrey Lovell, and a huge thanks to Simon Wilson, Leslie Shannon, Daniel Brusilovsky, Michael Cole, and Harry Richards. You can find more information on today's episode in the show notes. This is the eighth episode in the fourth series of Technology Untangled. And next time, we're exploring the past, present, and future of data storage. Do make sure you subscribe on your podcast app of choice, so you don't miss out, and to check out on the last three series.
Aubrey Lovell (35:47):
This episode was produced by Sam Datta-Paulin and Zoe Anderson, with production support from Harry Morton, Alicia Kempson, Alison Paisley, Alyssa Mitry, Camilla Patel, Alex Podmore, Ann Chloe Sewell. A special thanks to our social editorial team; Rebecca Wessinger, Judy-Anne Goldman, Katie Guarino, and our social media designers are Alejandra Garcia, Carlos Alberto Suarez, and Ambar Maldonado. Technology Untangled is a Lower Street Production for Hewlett Packard Enterprise.