At Cricket’s Most Anticipated Event, Wi-Fi Wins with Global Media Welsh Stadium Stays Competitive with Speed, Availability

September 22, 2011 was a momentous day for Wales. The

Glamorgan County Cricket Club (CCC), based in the Welsh

capital city of Cardiff, learned that, in 2015, it would host the

most anticipated event in its sport – one match, or “test,” of

the Ashes Test Series. This historic, multi-day event brings

together the greatest rivalry in the sport: teams from

England and Australia.

Cricket is the world’s second most

popular sport, with over 120 million

players globally. “The Ashes,” now one

of the sport’s biggest events, earned

its curious name in 1882 when

Australia won its first test match on

English soil, leading a newspaper at

the time to declare the death of

English cricket. And the name stuck.

After being awarded one match of the

2015 Ashes Test Series, Glamorgan

County Cricket Club organisers knew

they had work ahead of them to be

ready for the fans, and most critically,

a large contingent of global media.

At the time, the Club’s stadium –

SSE SWALEC – ranked low among

cricket grounds for its technology

infrastructure. To meet the

connectivity demands of hundreds of

media guests, the Club would need at

least 10 times its existing capacity.

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Challenges• Glamorgan County

Cricket Club needed

10 times its existing

Wi-Fi capacity to

handle expected fan/

media demand for the

2015 Ashes

• The stadium’s legacy

Wi-Fi service was

unreliable

• Glamorgan CCC’s

business plan called

for more future

events — requiring a

higher-capacity

network

Value Created• The stadium bumped

up capacity 10 times

(100Mbps) for regular

events, and

temporarily to

200Mbps for the

Ashes Test

• The new network went

in seamlessly, while an

event was in progress

• More than double the

typical number of

media attended the

Ashes Test Series

• On average, 1,200

devices connected per

day during the Ashes

Test

• Glamorgan CCC

received praise from

guests regarding the

speed of the

infrastructure

• Wi-Fi & apps for fans

will increase

engagement, the

club’s profile, and

revenue

© Huw Evans PA

The stadium’s Wi-Fi service was

unreliable and slow where

photographers needed it most, on

the edge of the cricket field. When

photographers were ready to send

their images or video, they often had

to walk inside the club house for a

stronger connection – taking them

away from the action. Beyond these

immediate needs, the Club’s

strategic plans called for rolling out

next-generation capabilities for

greater fan engagement, and to

make the venue more attractive for

revenue-generating conferences

and other events held on days

without cricket matches.

“Our existing infrastructure wasn’t

up to speed,” recalls Dan Cherry,

Head of Operations at Glamorgan

County Cricket Club. “With massive

media interest in the Ashes Test

Series, we had to upgrade to cope

with the demand and stage the

games successfully – as well as to

elevate the profile of our grounds to

attract more conferences and

events, and revenue.”

Olympic-Quality Capacity

The Club assembled a strategic plan

to prepare for the 2015 Ashes Test

Series, in close collaboration with its

longtime IT partner, Pro-Copy. After

evaluating the market, Glamorgan

CCC chose to team with Avaya to

upgrade its network for the Ashes,

and to support other applications for

a better guest and media

experience.

“From all the research we did, we

were very impressed with Avaya,”

Cherry says. “We were reassured by

the success that other sports venues

have had with Avaya, including the

Sochi Olympics, and found them to

be a progressive company that

shares our values.”

The Club and Pro-Copy worked with

Avaya partner C>Ways to determine

the optimal mix of Avaya solutions,

configuration and deployment. They

decided on Avaya Fabric Connect,

an enhanced implementation of

Shortest Path Bridging (SPB) that

can optimise network traffic and

gives organisations ultimate

flexibility in the design of their

networks. Glamorgan CCC is running

fabric over the Avaya Virtual

Services Platform and Avaya

Wireless LAN 9100 Series to ensure

high-quality coverage wherever

authorised users need it.

The Avaya fabric enables a single

infrastructure to simultaneously and

more securely support SWALEC

operational traffic, ticketing and

gate access control applications,

telephony, point of sale, press,

photography, media and hospitality

guest Internet access.

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“From all the research

we did, we were very

impressed with Avaya.

We were reassured by

the success that other

sports venues have

had with Avaya,

including the Sochi

Olympics, and found

them to be a

progressive company

that shares our values.”

— Dan Cherry, Head of Operations,

Glamorgan County Cricket Club

© Huw Evans PA

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Prior to upgrading, Pro-Copy and

C>Ways configured the solution for

the stadium’s specific needs.

Thereafter, installation and testing

took about five days – completed

while other events were taking place

at the stadium. For regular events,

the stadium bumped up its capacity

by 10 times, to 100Mbps, and

temporarily to 200Mbps for the

Ashes Test.

“That was one of the beauties of the

installation,” Cherry says. “C>Ways

and Pro-Copy worked around

everything else that was going on

here. It was really seamless switching

from the old to the new.”

“It was just like putting together a

jigsaw puzzle,” remembers Steve

Edwards, IT Director at Pro-Copy.

“With so much done prior to

delivery, it was just a matter of

plugging things in. C>Ways was

fantastic to work with and stayed

with us during the Ashes Test as

well.”

1200 Devices a Day

Though the Club had tested the

network as best it could, no testing

could truly prepare Glamorgan CCC

for the level of peak usage during

the Ashes Test Series. The stadium

saw a huge jump in the number of

media representatives, with most

toting multiple devices. That

included more than 100 print

journalists and 60 photographers –

more than double the typical

number at a Glamorgan match.

SSE SWALEC stadium additionally

hosted a record number of

hospitality guests, fans who pay

some £400 per ticket for additional

services, including Internet access in

bars and restaurants. On average,

1,200 devices connected per day.

The event went off without a hitch.

After some Mac users reported

difficulty getting onto the network,

Pro-Copy and C>Ways immediately

optimised the Wi-Fi configuration to

suit the different user profiles, by

leveraging Avaya’s software

programmable radios. Unlike other

solutions where the radios in the

access points are preset, each radio

in the Avaya WLAN 9100 Access

Points can be programmed flexibly

for the environment.

“The commitment from Avaya and

C>Ways was very impressive and

ensured that everything was

resolved and running smoothly,”

Cherry says.

The day, considered a win for

SWALEC stadium and technology,

was appropriately capped by a win

by England – beating Australia by

169 runs.

“The Best They Have Experienced”

And the media noticed. “We

received a lot of positive messages

regarding the speed of our

infrastructure, from photographers

especially,” Cherry says. “It was the

best they had experienced from a

cricket stadium in this country.

Within seconds of taking a photo,

they could upload it and send it

directly to their offices rather than

having to relocate for access.”

The network also protected Club

revenue by ensuring that hospitality

guests received the full benefits they

expected, including connectivity.

Now beyond the Ashes Test, the

Glamorgan County Cricket Club

looks forward to numerous additions

to its technology infrastructure. It

will eventually extend Wi-Fi to all

fans throughout the 15,000-seat

stadium so they can freely share

their experiences on social media – a

goal that will help attract a larger

number of younger fans to this

traditional and historic sport. The

Club plans to create mobile

applications that meet a couple of

objectives at once. For one,

Glamorgan CCC will engage fans

with an app that lets them buy

tickets to future games, order food

“Avaya works with

some of the most

sophisticated and

highest profile sporting

venues in the world.

We are excited to be

able to bring our skills

to the cricketing world

and be part of

Glamorgan’s ambition

to reinvent the

spectator experience in

cricket. With the sheer

amount of time fans

spend in the stadium,

there’s huge potential

to make more of the

fan experience and to

boost the value

proposition.”

— Peter Thompson, Managing Director –

Sports & Entertainment, Avaya

© 2015 Avaya Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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of Avaya Inc.

09/15 • DN7773UK-BP

ABOUT GLAMORGAN COUNTY CRICKET CLUB

Glamorgan County Cricket Club (CCC) is one of the 18 major county clubs which

make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the

historic county of Glamorgan. Glamorgan CCC is the only Welsh first-class

cricket club and has won the English County Championship competition three

times, in 1948, 1969 and 1997. Based in Cardiff, Glamorgan CCC plays most of its

home games at the SSE SWALEC Stadium in Sophia Gardens.

ABOUT C>WAYS

For more than 17 years, Avaya partner C>Ways has been providing leading-

edge, innovative IT solutions to customers spanning the length and breadth of

the UK. A trusted and well-respected company, C>Ways has a proven track

record for delivering fast and reliable solutions across both public and private

sector organisations.

About AvayaAvaya is a leading, global provider of customer and team engagement solutions and services available in a variety of flexible on-premise and cloud deployment options. Avaya’s fabric-based networking solutions help simplify and accelerate the deployment of business critical applications and services. For more information, please visit www.avaya.com.

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from their seats, learn more about players, or see an interactive map of the

stadium. Secondly, apps will allow Glamorgan CCC to collect important

information about fans and conference attendees to meet the goal of expanding

its marketing database.

The strength of the Avaya network also boosts the venue’s attractiveness for all

manner of events. Last year, the stadium hosted 38,000 conference clients and

Cherry expects that to increase by 10-15 percent over the next year.

Videoconferencing with Avaya Scopia brings an enticing addition to the venue’s

conference services.

SSE SWALEC stadium is also targeting lucrative concert opportunities in 2016.

Again, the network will help the stadium compete with other venues, and

support the sharing that fans expect as the stadium brings in additional revenue.

“A massive part of our strategy is to make Wales proud,” Cherry says. “A large

part of doing that is engaging schools, colleges, cricket clubs, and the business

community. Free access to Wi-Fi will allow us to stage more events and grow our

business further. We feel Avaya can take us to the next level in delivering the fan

experience.”

What’s What in Cricket

• The Ashes Test

Series – An historic

series of matches

between England and

Australia, first played

in 1882

• Pitch – The central

strip in a cricket field,

22 yards in length

• The bowler – The

player who bowls the

ball to the batter

• Test – The longest

form of the sport of

cricket, which often

lasts five days

• Wicket – Wooden

stumps on the cricket

pitch

Solutions

• Avaya Fabric Connect

• Avaya Virtual Services Platform 4000 Series

• Avaya Ethernet Routing Switches 4000 Series

• Avaya Wireless LAN 9100 Series