The O2Venue ManagementThe optimal IT & Networking solutions for a world-class entertainment facility.

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Lesley Saville
Executive Director,
Corporate Partnerships,
AEG Europe

One of the great things we've found working with NEC is that they don't just take the brief and then go off and execute. They add real value along the way as part of the process.

Background

Transform London's Millennium Dome through NEC technology, and change the face of entertainment in the UK.

London's newest and most prestigious entertainment and sports complex is The O2. Since its June 2007 opening, The O2 has rarely been out of the news. The iconic, new entertainment landmark for London and Europe has already been acclaimed a major success.

AEG, the company that created The O2, is headquartered in the U.S.. It is well-known for developing the Staples Center, which hosts the world's top concert entertainers, and is home to the Grammy's, the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers basketball teams, and the LA Kings hockey team On the site of the rejuvenated Millennium Dome, The O2 represents a new era of entertainment and venues. There's an entertainment district, an 11-screen cinema multiplex – three of which are digital (including Europe's largest digital screen – 22-meters), more than 30 restaurants and bars, even an ice rink.

Most spectacular is The O2 arena. It creates a new benchmark in what both fan and performer can and should expect from a rock or pop concert in the U.K. Already the highest-grossing arena in the world, The O2 arena plays host to the most sought-after names in rock, pop and classical music, as well as staging must-see sporting events, including NBA basketball and NHL hockey.

Upon opening, the arena earned a reputation for perfect sight-lines from every angle, crystal clear acoustics, extremely comfortable seating, and a wide concourse between aisles.

For those who appreciate their live music in a more intimate environment, indigO2 – with its 2,350-seat capacity – is the place to be. It puts diverse acts in close quarters with their audience. And, as with the arena next door, cutting-edge technology is used to ensure superb experiences.

From the outset, AEG Europe set out to make The O2 the number one international venue. They recognized that to operate and manage such a large complex venue, they would have to utilize the best of cutting-edge technology and networking. NEC supplied the cutting-edge technology required to operate and manage the venue.

As the preferred technology partner, NEC leveraged their solutions and competencies. It delivered digital projectors to the cinema complex, RFID solutions, and the backbone technology in the form of a fully-converged IP infrastructure to support both fixed and wireless voice and data communications.

Installation Process

To create a world of entertainment under one roof.

For AEG and NEC, the first challenge was to create a flexible, reliable and resilient infrastructure for voice, video, data and communications throughout the facility.

According to Lesley Saville, "Our objective from the start was to create Europe's most technically-advanced venue. With NEC, we have made this happen."
Only NEC could offer the variety of technologies needed for such an ambitious project. With its many areas of innovation, NEC could demonstrate its power as a multi-solution provider.

The configuration had to support communications for some 2,500 employees and a varying number of visitors, enabling them to access communications, regardless of their location in the venue.
Access control was a key requirement to maintaining security while optimizing the customer experience and simplifying staff management. The infrastructure had to support other sophisticated applications and accommodate growth in-line with anticipated future needs.

Another challenge was the structure itself. "It's basically the world's biggest tent," says Lesley Saville, Chief Marketing Officer, AEG Europe. "Providing a wireless network is difficult because of the large amounts of concrete and metal."

System Overview

Create Europe's most technically-advanced venue.

A world of entertainment under one roof requires an infrastructure vision that comes from under one roof.
As the preferred technology partner, NEC leveraged solutions and competencies from across the organization.
NEC implemented a fully-converged IP infrastructure, which includes a single-network infrastructure for all voice, data and IT communications. Users, whether fixed or temporary, stay connected regardless of their location.

The voice solution supports employees, plus visitors, which is facilitated by a series of the UNIVERGE SV7000 NATIVE IP servers. Redundancy is in the form of duplicate servers to handle voice traffic and replace the primary server in case of failure.

Along with supporting the communications requirements of The O2's 1,500 or so permanent employees, the NEC solution also caters to high numbers of temporary visitors – including artists and their entourages.
The built-in hospitality feature allows up to 300 temporary end-points to be allocated to individuals or groups.

It's not just technology that is thoughtfully deployed at The O2.
A sophisticated time and attendance system, based on RFID cards, gives the management team up-to-date staff information on the number of employees. It also provides employee skills profiles on-site for different events. This provides the right people in place for every event.

RFID tracks attendance, and is the ideal solution to control access to the arena, while accommodating up to 50,000 customers on a busy day.
Smartcard technology is deployed throughout – wireless readers scan the tickets which are reconciled against a back-office system.

Entertainment goes to the next level at The O2 's digital cinemas.
The O2 hosts Europe's largest and most sophisticated cinema complex. It is the first custom-built digital cinema complex in Europe and features the latest NEC projectors, with a 22-meter NEC screen – the largest in Europe.

The NC2500 is the world's brightest DLP (Digital Light Projecting) cinema projector and also the world's first DLP projector for screens up to 30-meters wide. High contrast and bright imagery provide precise 2048 x 1080 resolution.

The NC800C digital cinema projector is the world's smallest and lightest cinema projector, for screens 10 to 25 feet wide, featured in the indigO2 theater. The theater's digital cinema projector delivers the same native resolution as the NC2500, and exceeds Texas Instruments' guidelines for contrast ratio, colorimetry and uniformity.

But the best-part, from a moviegoers point of view, is that the films are stored and played from an NEC server, ensuring that, unlike celluloid, the quality remains consistent throughout a movie's run.

And it's not just employees who are constantly connected while at The O2. Four-hundred wireless access points ring the facility so that visitors can access the internet from any part of the venue.

Installation Results and Future Benefits

An evolving stage for entertainment and technology.

Despite the scale and complexity, NEC completed the project on-budget and well ahead of schedule.

Additionally, the NEC Experience, a demonstration facility, has been added to help raise brand awareness of the solutions NEC has provided at The O2. The NEC Experience takes a plethora of different NEC platforms and devices and integrates them in ways which bring an extensive range of customer and business applications to life; thereby convincingly demonstrating our strong prowess, not only as a technology company, but also as an integrator, a large-scale project implementer, and an overall value-added solutions provider.

At AEG's hottest property, the IP infrastructure platform provides a platform for growth. The O2 is already planning new applications that include a loyalty membership program using RFID cards and a merchandising kiosk.

The technology that NEC has been able to provide to The O2 demonstrates the breadth and depth of NEC's technologies. The O2 has become the world's most popular venue and entertainment complex, a true testament to the partnership between AEG and NEC.

The project has established a potentially long-term relationship between the two companies.

"We knew this was going to be a major undertaking. Fortunately, NEC adds such value along the way that 1 + 1 makes 3 – AEG and NEC together," says Lesley Saville.

Opinions of NEC Staff

Richard Farnworth
General Manager
Enterprise Solutions
NEC UK

NEC was selected by AEG for our ability to provide and manage the technology for the entire O2 arena, including any database initiatives for marketing and affiliate services.

Early in their design process, AEG realized that NEC could provide and manage all IT requirements at The O2.

Initially, NEC was invited to "pitch" services in the RFID field for access control at The O2. Our response highlighted how NEC could provide additional value and services by becoming the technology supplier to AEG for all telecommunications, access control, computers, servers, displays, projectors and other technological requirements.

The timeline to deliver a full solution was very short, considering the amount of technology required. NEC Enterprise Solutions was best placed to manage the project in order to meet AEG's live date of June 24, 2007.

NEC hardware is extensive – from rack-based servers through SVR7000 IP telephony functions. CISCO infrastructure was easily integrated into the NEC components. Inside the cinema complex, NEC's NC2500 DLPs are installed for the large digital screens.

Our NEC Professional Services performed the architecture, systems integration and program management for all of the venue solutions.

A unique challenge was the large amount of concrete and steel that make up the structure – which can be an obstacle to wireless transmissions. A wireless mesh was installed which covers the arena, entertainment district and outside perimeter of The O2 structure.

NEC provided an innovative solution for The O2, demonstrating our ability to integrate cutting-edge technology either in-house, partnering with a subcontractor, or by a combination of both. For the entire project we delivered the best-in-class, while deploying NEC talent to manage end-to-end delivery.

At The O2, seeing (and hearing) is believing.