Cisco Helps Watford Football Club Transform Vicarage Road Stadium Communication System

Watford
Football Club, founded more than a century ago, is building one of the most
advanced voice, video and data communication systems ever deployed at a
European sports venue. Based on Cisco technologies, the network will help
deliver a massive 10 gigabits per second to every part of the club’s

Vicarage Road
stadium. The fixed and wireless network supports a Cisco Unified Communications
system, video streaming and a Cisco Connected Real Estate solution. The network
is expected to transform the experience for club fans and corporate visitors
using

Vicarage Road,
as well as helping deliver significant cost savings and efficiency improvements
in venue management.

The Cisco
network infrastructure has been installed and is already supporting a smartcard
system used by fans so they can get through turnstiles much faster and use the
cards for purchases at the ground. It will soon also support access to a range
of other potential services such as video-on-demand in corporate boxes and
access to team and match information. When integrated with the club’s customer
relationship management system via the Cisco network, the smartcard system will
provide club management with invaluable information about fans so staff can
provide services that are better aligned to fans’ preferences and offer more
sophisticated loyalty reward schemes. On match days, stewards will use mobile
devices, which communicate via the Cisco wireless network, to view real-time
video for better crowd monitoring and control and for providing on-the-spot
information to visitors.

The Cisco
network is also expected to help the club increase the revenue potential of

Vicarage Road
out-of-season by making the stadium a highly advanced corporate event venue
offering a wide range of business communications services such as flexible
video conferencing facilities and wireless networking. The club also plans to
integrate all of the venue’s building management systems across the Cisco
network so services such as lighting, heating, closed-circuit television
security and digital signage can be managed centrally and more economically.

Watford
FC’s head of new projects, Katie Wareham, said, “Watford FC doesn’t have
the financial clout of the top
UK
and international football clubs and yet we have deployed what we believe is
the most powerful and fastest communications network of any sports venue in
Europe. The Cisco solution means we can give fans a host
of innovative services that transform their experience when visiting

Vicarage Road and
increase revenue potential outside the football season. And we have an
infrastructure that is more than capable of supporting additional services and
applications for at least the next 10 years.”

The Cisco
solution is part of a 32.5millon redevelopment of the

Vicarage Road venue to improve access,
seating, corporate hospitality and a range of other facilities that the club
hopes will also improve the stadium as a centre for the local community.

The Cisco
infrastructure at the

Vicarage
Road stadium is based upon Cisco Catalyst 6500
Series Switches, Cisco Catalyst 3750-E and Cisco Catalyst 3560-E Series
Switches. The Cisco wireless network uses Cisco Aironet 1130 AG Access Points.
The Cisco network infrastructure is highly resilient as the architecture has no
single point of failure anywhere around the stadium. The Cisco Unified
Communications system comprises 140 Cisco Unified IP Phones around the stadium
which will provide sophisticated telephony services such as video conferencing
and the delivery of real-time information to handset displays. The Cisco
solution is being deployed at Watford FC by The Project Network, a Cisco SMB
Select Partner, and Fortress GB is delivering the smartcard system.

“Watford
FC and its Vicarage Road ground have a proud and colorful history and it is
now leading the way as one of the most innovative and connected sporting venues
in Europe,” said David Meads, director of UK Commercial Mid Market, Cisco.
“By using the network as a platform, Watford FC will be able to improve
customer service, offer new services to fans, control building management costs
and increase revenue opportunities.”