IT & Network Infrastructure : HP Technologies Drive the Dallas Cowboys' Stadium

With the 2011 Super Bowl coming in just a few weeks to the Dallas Cowboys' stadium, the team's gleaming new arena of the future will be on display for all the world to see. Deep in the bowels of the stadium lies the heart of the Cowboys operation's IT environment—the Dallas Cowboys Stadium data center. The data center is 100 percent Hewlett-Packard equipment for its server and storage technology. However, the facility also uses Cisco Systems networking equipment. The data center drives nearly all the operations of the stadium, including the scoreboards, the timing clocks, the retractable roof, the point-of-sale terminals, the lighting, the ticket sales, and much, much more. The Dallas Cowboys' ??íteam of 13 IT staffers installed and operate ??íthe IT infrastructure in the new stadium, which includes a data center with 127 HP blade servers and a 100 terabyte SAN (storage area network) using HP's StorageWorks 8100 Enterprise Virtual Array systems. The team built a high-speed communications network with Cisco equipment that includes WiFi, IP phones and an IP television system that will broadcast content to 3,100 flat-screen Sony televisions throughout the stadium, showing live game footage, advertising and menus at the concession stands. The team also installed more than 300 IP security cameras to safeguard the facility. The data center supports not only the team's operations but team owner Jerry Jones' 35-plus other companies in more than 90 locations.