Athletics make their network an All-Star with Ethernet from Comcast Business

Comcast Business today announced that the Oakland Athletics are using Comcast Business Ethernet services to deliver high-speed Internet at Oakland's O.co Coliseum, which also houses the team's executive and administrative offices. The fiber-based Ethernet connection from Comcast allows the team to support daily operations for front office staff as well as spikes in demand caused by local and national media covering each game.

The Athletics finished first in their division at the end of the 2012 season and needed additional bandwidth to support four times as many members of the media covering each game during the playoffs. Up to 175 employees already utilize the team's Internet connection on non-game days, and that number more than doubles to 400 when the team is in town, necessitating a fast, reliable connection that allows them to work efficiently without any drops in performance.

Previously, the organization consistently ran at 98% utilization of its old 9 Mbps Internet connection from early in the morning through the end of night games played at the stadium. Large uploads of files needed to be scheduled during off-hours to avoid impacting employees' ability to conduct business during normal work hours. They needed fast, reliable Internet service that could scale easily as new initiatives were started and as temporary spikes in bandwidth demand presented themselves during the playoffs and other special events. The team was also looking for a service that would enable them to easily add bandwidth as their IT staff transitions to tapeless disaster recovery technology and as other bandwidth-intensive needs arise.

"Like any other business, the Athletics are heavily dependent on technology to operate efficiently and that dependence only increases as time passes," said Nathan Hayes, director of information technology for the Oakland Athletics. "It goes without saying that we needed a fast, reliable connection that would allow us to focus on other aspects of the business. With our previous connection, we couldn't even let our staff stream away games at their desks due to its limited capacity. Our current service from Comcast Business not only provides a dramatically faster user experience for our staff and members of the media, but it is also able to scale easily, allowing us to pursue additional projects without fear that we'll outgrow its capacity anytime soon."

The Oakland Athletics now have a 100 Mbps Ethernet Dedicated Internet connection at O.Co Coliseum, providing bandwidth for employees and media. This is more than 10 times the bandwidth of their previous 9 Mbps connection at the same price. With the ability to scale up to 10 Gbps by making a single phone call to Comcast Business, The Athletics are now better equipped to meet any additional bandwidth needs that may arise in the future such as the team's planned move toward the use of cloud-based disaster recovery technology, which will allow for additional cost savings as well as greater security and efficiency.

"Comcast Business has established a proven track record in supporting professional sports franchises that are looking to leverage technology to improve how they do business," said Ted Girdner, regional vice president for Comcast Business. "With so many moving parts that are critical to the success of every event hosted at the stadium, we can provide the peace of mind that comes with fast, reliable Internet service, allowing the team's staff to focus on providing the best experience possible for attendees."