Extreme Smart OmniEdge Powers Event Operations and Delivers Secure, Reliable Wi-Fi Access for 220,000 Fans Attending the World’s Largest Motor and Music Festival
SAN JOSE, Calif. and UTRECHT, Netherlands, July 12, 2019: For the second consecutive year, Extreme Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXTR), together with partner Indicium B.V., will design and deploy a purpose-built network for Zwarte Cross, the biggest paid music and sports festival in the Netherlands, and the largest outdoor motor event in the world. Extreme is the Official Technology Partner of the event, scheduled to take place July 18-21. Its Smart OmniEdge™ solution will form the network backbone, offering reliable Wi-Fi connectivity to 220,000 attendees and supporting mission-critical operations and back-of-house systems.
Located in Achterhoek, the eastern region of the Netherlands, Zwarte Cross features a unique mix of motocross, music, stunts, theatre and humour. It has grown immensely from the 1,000 attendees recorded at its 1997 launch. It now boasts 31 stages and spans a distance of 160 hectares (395 acres) across three villages, driving the need for more supporting staff and functions. Indicium B.V., an integrator of wireless LAN and mobile computing technologies, and Extreme Networks will provide this year’s extended technology infrastructure.
Extreme Elements™ from the Smart OmniEdge solution, including ExtremeMobility™ access points, ExtremeAnalytics™, ExtremeLocation™ and ExtremeGuest™ applications, will allow Zwarte Cross to ensure safe and reliable network access, while gathering valuable insights about its visitors and their behaviour to realise better visitor experience, staff communication and network service delivery.
Key Benefits
- Extended Wi-Fi access.Last year, over 10,000 festivalgoers connected to the Extreme-powered festival network, with up to 3,200 users concurrently connected. Nearly six terabytes of data were transferred across the public network from the main stage on the second day of the concert alone. This year will see the next evolution in large-scale event networking with more than 280 ExtremeMobility access points deployed across both festival and camping areas.
- Optimum network performance for greater customer experience. With ExtremeGuest, Zwarte Cross can provision network services based on visitor behaviour and preferences. It also guarantees optimum network operation, whilst providing the layer 3 to 7 networking services that are needed between the network at Zwarte Cross and the internet. A Personal Area Network (PAN) provisioned for all guest users will segment/isolate all user traffic from others on the Wi-Fi network to reduce the chance of any cybersecurity threats and improve network efficiency.
- Better insight into application usage and user behaviour. Following a successful trial in 2018, Zwarte Cross will deploy ExtremeAnalytics across its operational and guest network to better understand user behaviour on the network, determine mobile engagement patterns, and guarantee an optimal user experience. Providing valuable insight that can be shared with other parties for marketing activations during and after the festival, the solution can open new potential revenue streams for Zwarte Cross.
- Optimised people flow. Offering powerful location-based insight and trends data such as where visitors and staff are located, how they move across the festival site, and the busiest areas of the environment, the ExtremeLocation application will give festival management the ability to respond to customer needs in real-time based on both real-time and historical location analytics.
Executive Perspectives
Norman Rice, Chief Marketing, Development and Product Operations Officer at Extreme Networks
“An intelligent, adaptive and secure network is the cornerstone for any large-scale event. Audiences want to share content at an unprecedented pace and festival organisers seeking to stay attractive for the next generation of festivalgoers need to invest in the right network infrastructure to enable optimum connectivity and experience. Through our technology partnership, we are equipping Zwarte Cross with a robust infrastructure optimised for a challenging outdoor environment, as well as back-end analytics and smart decision making to increase the efficiency of the network and ultimately drive a better event.”
Ronnie Degen, Organiser of Zwarte Cross
“Today’s hyper-connected consumers expect a quality, reliable mobile experience wherever they are and it’s our mission to meet those demands at Zwarte Cross. Our partnership with Extreme Networks in 2018 gave us a robust Wi-Fi solution that allowed us to increase coverage and capacity, accelerate the volume of concurrent users and surpass all connectivity milestones from previous years – all adding to the overall user experience. In 2019, we’re taking that one step further and are excited to see how our expanded and strengthened network will not only give us a better understanding of the mobile experience across our festival site, but help us look creatively at using technology to expand our services. For us, our utmost aim is to help people have a good time and the right technology can help enable that.”
Hans Nolen, Director at Indicium B.V.
“We look forward to continuing our cooperation with Extreme Networks and optimally supporting the various network solutions underpinning the 2019 festival. Even in the most challenging and unique environments, organisations like Zwarte Cross require network solutions to support their specific operational needs and meet the expectations of their connected customers. Our extensive experience of large-scale technology deployments in the events sector means that together with Extreme Networks we are primed to support the delivery of an even bigger and better spectacle this year.”
About Extreme Networks
Extreme Networks, Inc. (EXTR) delivers software-driven solutions from the enterprise edge to the cloud that are agile, adaptive, and secure to enable digital transformation. Our 100% in-sourced services and support are number one in the industry. Even with 30,000 customers globally, including half of the Fortune 50 and some of the world’s leading names in business, hospitality, retail, transportation and logistics, education, government, healthcare and manufacturing, we remain nimble and responsive to ensure customer and partner success. We call this Customer-Driven Networking™. Founded in 1996, Extreme is headquartered in San Jose, California. For more information, visit Extreme’s website or call 1-888-257-3000.
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