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NFL's IT Chief Gears Up For His 25th Super Bowl
BobB-nw writes with this excerpt from NetworkWorld:
"NFL IT guru David Port claims he doesn't have a favorite football team, but on Sunday he'll be working his 25th Super Bowl. As the league's vice president of information technology, Port and his IT staff are responsible for building a temporary network to support NFL staff and thousands of journalists during Super Bowl week. Port starts preparing for each Super Bowl two years in advance, working with the city and venues where IT operations and media professionals will be based. More intensive planning starts about 11 months before the big game. Port explained that the NFL essentially built a small data center with IBM blade servers at the temporary headquarters in a local Marriott near the Super Bowl site. 'We built out an infrastructure with approximately 300 computers, PCs and laptops, and wired and wireless networks that are used for NFL core operations, for game production and business operations. Much of it is also for media,' Port said."
CNet is running a related story about the technology behind the Super Bowl, focusing on some of the visual effects viewers will see, as well as the hardware that makes everything happen.
Nerds aren't allowed to participate in sports!
Having personally worked with him on SBXL, I can tell you that Dave is a great guy who knows what he's doing. The level of planning is amazing, not to mention the equipment they travel. They bring their own phone network (refusing to use even brand new state-of-the-art switches the house may own), a ridiculous amount of fiber, have fatter data pipes than some small countries, and are completely flexible to individual needs. It's completely night-and-day from any other sports event (including the World Series, Stanley Cup, and the Final Four).
He also has a bunch of really cool toys. Between him and the FCC, they can pinpoint an unlicensed RF transmitter within 5 feet in under 3 minutes and have it shut down. And yes, this happens multiple times in each super bowl, usually with foreign media.
It takes him two years? Wow. Not.
MLB does this with just a few days of notice for the Division and League playoffs and a week or so for the Series.
Yes, yes you are.
Port starts preparing for each Super Bowl two years in advance...
I just knew football was rigged!
Can I please get back the 5 minutes that I spent reading the article?. he article had no details about the uplink to the internet/ISP. No details as to the number of hits the web server can handle. No information (not even looking for details) about the firewall.. just a pointless article.
You are not the only uncaring one. Really.
"He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing." --Paul Atreides, Dune
Offhand I can say that the NFL's needs are FAR greater in respect to media needs during the Superbowl as opposed to the World Series, but just in case, I found a link in about 5 seconds on Google.
"The best way to accelerate a Macintosh is at 9.8m/sec^2" -Marcus Dolengo
I live in pgh and could give two shits about the super bowl or the "stillers"
but who's the IT Chef?
What the hell is a Super Bowl? Also what the fuck is an NFL?
You can't take the sky from me.
Word has it that Ninnle Labs has bought 30 seconds worth of adspace for Ninnle Linux and Ninnle Office, to air during the halftime of today's Superbowl. Rumour has it that it's a reworking of the classic '1984' Mac ad, directed by Ridley Scott. I can't wait to see this!
Interested in Superbore? Nope.
Roll on the Six Nations next weekend. No special teams there....
I'd rather be riding my '63 Triumph T120.
This years Superbowl is being shown on BBC 1. Other (non-us) stations coverage of American Football is funny enough with the pundits having to cover up all the extra US ad time. It should be hilarious watching a new BBC team try and fill every second. I wonder if they will resort to showing, and commentating on, the ads that actually attract such a massive percentage of the viewing figures.
Never underestimate the dark side of the Source
You're not; I used to be there with you, but I've gotten into it in the last few years. Ever watch an American football game? If you look closely, there's a wider game being played than it first seems - a huge amount of tactics and trying to out-think the opposing team goes into nearly every play.
Although the reference is nerdy, he has a great name for a guy in charge of networking.
I've long been curious as to whether major stadiums truly have reliable backup power? I know from first-hand experience many minor league stadiums certainly don't.
It would be interesting to read what they do (or don't do) to handle unexpected power interruptions at the Super Bowl.
While I figure the IT folks have their end covered, what about the TV folks (I assume they run their own power?), and more to the point, the field lighting and other equipment in the stadium itself, which draw massive amounts of power ... is all of that on backup? ... or do they just hope the local utility doesn't experience any problems during the event.
I've been in some major venues, such as malls and even a casino, that, despite having some backup power, were not fully prepared resulting in closure / patrons being forced to leave.
And most instances, it's often something simple that causes the power failure, such as a vehicle knocking down a utility pole or a blown transformer.
Ron
Anyway, go Ben Graham - 1st Australian to play in a superbowl final.
Next year, how about you outsource all the tech to Putin's Russia. You know, just as an international gesture of goodwill ... MalwareBowl
Mongrel News all the news that fits and froths
hope it will be a nice game
You can skip that crap, better watch Tri Nations mid year. To prepare for it, tune into Super 14 second weekend from today.
Ive noticed the same thing as well. However, Im still more interested in Soccer, specifically the English Premier League.
By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth. -- George Carlin
NBC should've maybe let him plan the flashy extended scoreboard thingy they had on their site for the first two quarters. That thing didn't last too long, and it was laggy as hell while it worked. They've obviously never heard of the Slashdot effect.
You obviously do not realize that here in the US most universities would not exist without the income generated by their football(US) teams.
Yeah, that would make a lot of sense... if the yearly operating budget for a large public university wasn't measured in billions of dollars. Major universities are huge institutions, athletic revenues are a drop in the bucket.
"We have to go forth and crush every world view that doesn't believe in tolerance and free speech." - David Brin
the football programs lose money
True at some, but certainly not all, schools. My alma mater made money on football, basketball, and hockey, while losing money on the rest. Of course it helps to have a team that is at least slightly well-regarded, and to be in a big conference.
Whereas if you pay millions to your football staff, and post regular losing records, your odds of turning a profit are almost nil.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
"Holds it...holds it....HOLDS IT!"