Globe Life Field delivers premier fan and guest experiences with intelligent, fast, secure Aruba ESP-based edge network

Meeting professional baseball fan expectations for the latest in sports entertainment required the Texas Rangers Baseball Club to build a new ballpark that supplied more technology-enabled experiences than ever before, without adding IT overhead.

"From parking convenience and mobile ticketing to contactless in-seat ordering and mixed-reality social media experiences, we sought a networking infrastructure capable of helping us deliver world-class experiences," explains Michael Bullock, Vice President of Information Technology for the Arlington, Texas-based Rangers. "We also needed to design for the future as our industry is continuously evolving."

Aruba Supplies the Right Combination of Networking Solutions

As plans took shape for the Rangers' 1.8 million-square-foot Globe Life Field, the 41,000-seat stadium called for network-powered amenities such as a 5.5 acre retractable roof and two massive Daktronics videoboards for displaying live and replay images plus granular real-time game-play statistics. Additionally, the Field would encourage fan interaction with purpose-built Selfie Spots, integration with the Major League Baseball's augmented-reality app and while-you-wait customized merchandise creation.

"We were very focused on LAN and WLAN technology's impact on fan experiences," Bullock says. "We also needed to be future-flexible, which influenced almost every design and capacity decision. Plus we've an increasingly active special events business as we're part of the growing entertainment district called Texas Live!"

In collaboration with trusted partners Lumen and KLA Labs, the Rangers evaluated wired and wireless solutions by Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, and another prominent networking vendor.

"Although we were a 3Com/HPE partner at our previous facility, we considered both Aruba and the other well-known player," says Bullock. "Aruba had the right combination of advanced hardware and innovative software technologies without the complex management tools the other provider offered."

Empowering Success with Intelligence, Analytics and Automation

The Rangers selected multiple products for the Globe Life Field's Aruba ESP infrastructure. For wireless, this includes a total of 1300 Aruba's 530 Series Wi-Fi 6 access points (APs) and outdoor APs along with 7200 Series Mobility Controllers.

For its wired network, the Rangers chose CX 8400 Switch Series at the core, CX 8230 Switch Series for aggregation and 2930 Switch Series for edge access.

Effectively managing a 400 percent increase in switch ports

On the management side, the Rangers are streamlining wired and wireless network administration by implementing AirWave for network management along with ClearPass for network access control (NAC) and policy management. The baseball club also adopted NetEdit for coordinating switch configuration, monitoring and troubleshooting.

"Our IT staff not only operates Globe Life Field but also has ongoing responsibility for Globe Life Park," says Bullock.

"To put that in context, we're managing about 400 percent more switch ports at our new facility than the old one," he adds. "Having leading-edge, automated infrastructure with advanced analytics ensures our lean IT staff can do more without adding to our existing headcount."

Proactively improving user experiences with AIOps

In addition, the Rangers' deployment includes User Experience Insight (UXI) for Wi-Fi incident detection using AIOps to pinpoint issues that require immediate attention.

"In our dynamic environment it's imperative to proactively remediate experience issues before they affect fans," Bullock says. "The AIOps capabilities within UXI empower us to diagnose and resolve problems remotely and in real time, rather than waiting to troubleshoot after the fact."

Smoothing the Journey Despite COVID-19

Like many major construction projects, the Rangers only encountered minor hurdles until the COVID-19 pandemic hit. During the ensuing months, the baseball club relied upon the automation capabilities in its new infrastructure to help maintain the project timeline.

"For example, we have 1400 IPTVs positioned around the ballpark," says Bullock. "Rather than configuring switch ports manually for each TV, Aruba's tools automated the process via device profiling. This reduced configuration time for the TVs, from months to weeks."

The cost savings from automating switch configurations was also considerable. "We saved about a million dollars on integration costs versus the traditional manual methods," Bullock says.

Invaluable service and support helps opening day stay on track

The Rangers also appreciated Aruba's technical support for helping to keep opening day on schedule.

"We opened a few weeks prior to the World Series, which we hosted," says Bullock. "It was the first time in 108 years the World Series was played on neutral ground so it was important for our ballpark to be ready."

Bullock attributes the Rangers successful opening, in spite of challenges, to selecting the right technologies and partners. "It's impossible to put a price on the service and support we've received from Aruba," he says.

Reliably and Securely Powering Hundreds of Apps

Today, the Rangers network supports multiple systems that contribute to supplying premier fan and guest experiences, while enabling the Club to run its organization reliably and securely. This includes adopting IoT-enabled solutions like sensors for tracking paper towel dispenser levels, Assa Abloy physical access controls, and advanced building automation systems to keep the ballpark at a comfortable 72F year-around.

The network also supports over 200 business, facilities and IT applications. These range from common cloud-enabled tools including Box, Slack and Monday to highly specialized systems such as the retractable roof controls, Comrex media broadcasting tools, and a HPE Nimble Storage disaggregated HCI (dHCI) cluster that contributes to internal data center redundancy.

"Our network serves as the nervous system for a large public venue that is chock full of network-connected electronic sensors and controls," Bullock says. "Aruba's solutions have enabled us to engineer the equivalent of a living, breathing facility, while minimizing IT and back office overhead by giving us intelligent, automated networking infrastructure."

Profitably supporting revenue-generating special events

The baseball club also relies upon its modern infrastructure to profitably support a wide variety of revenue-generating special events.

"We can expect to host about a dozen major events annually, like the National Rodeo Finals or popular music concerts, as well as many smaller ones, like commencement ceremonies for area high schools," Bullock says.

Unlike ball games, where the networking requirements are established, every special event has unique specifications, making intelligent wired and wireless critical. "As our new infrastructure is based on software-defined networking principles, our technicians can plug in a device wherever it's needed and it configures itself, without any assistance from a networking engineer," says Bullock.

"Having a network that can dynamically reconfigure itself in a reliable and responsive way is a big win in any stadium environment," he adds.

Reducing manual tasks boosts IT job satisfaction

Beyond ensuring Bullock's IT department can do more with less effort, a self-sustaining network boosts staff job satisfaction as well.

"With highly skilled engineers performing fewer tedious tasks, we're not only using our resources more wisely but we're also demonstrating that we value their skills by putting them to work on more mission-critical projects," he says.

More AI-enabled Innovation on the Horizon

Looking ahead, the Rangers expect to evaluate other Aruba's networking solutions such as Central, for unified network management and advanced AIOps, Location Services, to support real-time crowd intelligence, and Air Pass, for seamless device handoffs between cellular networks and Wi-Fi.

"We'll definitely consider solutions that provide us with more automation and visibility," says Bullock. "Continuing to innovate gives us the ability to meet expectations for fan experiences and operational efficiencies that haven't even been thought of yet."

Meanwhile, the baseball club's wired and wireless infrastructure is playing a starring role in the organization's success.

"Aruba technologies are essential to the operation of our hyper-connected stadium, which is essential to delivering exceptional experiences to our fans and guests," Bullock says. "We can proudly say we'd select the same solutions and partner if we had to do it all over again."