NetApp Delivers and Protects Super Bowl XLVII Game-Day Data

The Super Bowl is consistently the
most-watched event of the year. The ability of the NFL
to collect, access, protect, and share all the data generated at the game will
play a pivotal role in event operations for Super Bowl XLVII.

While millions around the world follow the action on the field, the NFL will
work behind the scenes with NetApp, Inc., the
official data storage provider of the NFL and Super Bowl XLVII – to provide
continuous availability of critical game-day data.

"We
are excited to team with NetApp to enhance our technology platform at the Super
Bowl and beyond to help deliver the best experience for our fans, our broadcast
partners, and the media," said Michelle McKenna, NFL senior VP and CIO."
As we look to work with companies that
are leaders in technology, we are pleased to integrate NetApp products and
solutions across the League."

Super Bowl XLVII kicks off a multiyear
relationship between NetApp and the NFL, making NetApp the official data
storage provider of the NFL, the Super Bowl, and all 32 NFL teams. The NFL will
use the NetApp FAS2220 and FAS2240 storage systems to enable its support of the
league-wide activities.

"Our
relationship with the NFL demonstrates the importance of data storage to key
brands that can ill afford to take risks with their mission-critical
operations," said Amy Love, VP of brand and communications at NetApp.
"The NFL has to manage challenges
similar to those of many enterprise businesses – reliability, data protection,
agility, and efficiency. NetApp brings capabilities to the NFL that will help
accelerate its business operations and drive success, because we do it every
day for our customers."

Data Availability Speeds Up Operations on
Game Day
The NFL will extend a significant part of
its day-to-day IT operations to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome and the city of New
Orleans ahead of the game on February 3, 2013. Preparation of the host city
typically takes 30 days of execution as the NFL IT team creates multiple data
center sites. For the first time in Super Bowl history, NFL IT will build a
shared data storage infrastructure to improve the agility and reliability of
its game-day data.

The NetApp FAS2220 will be the foundation
of the NFL’s shared data storage infrastructure and all three of its data
center locations in New Orleans:

• NFL Headquarters Hotel: The
  SnapMirror solution will be part of the NFL’s Super Bowl XLVII main data
  center, located at the NFL headquarters hotel. The NFL IT team will use the SnapMirror solution to replicate data between its temporary data centers
  in New Orleans and its central data center in New York City. This will not only
  enable instant access to game-day data, but also help protect the data
  and give the NFL IT team the ability to recover it quickly as needed.
• Super Bowl XLVII Media Center: NetApp storage
  will be critical in enabling the global communications activities for the Super
  Bowl. The NFL will establish another data center at the Super Bowl XLVII Media
  Center, housed at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The NFL
  Communications department will provide game statistics, player information, and
  various multimedia assets to the global media outlets covering the event. One
  key service the NFL IT team will provide is secure access to photographs and
  images of the event, improving efficiency for NFL photographers at Super Bowl
  XLVII, who used to have to save files on individual PCs and then manually
  upload them onto the servers.
• Broadcast
  Compound: NetApp storage set up at the NFL Broadcast Compound will also help
  improve data distribution to broadcast partners on Super Bowl Sunday. The NFL
  Broadcast Compound houses camera crews, their technical equipment, and
  satellite uplinks, including for NFL.com and NFL Network. In the past, NFL IT
  would go through the extra step of compressing the raw data sent to the
  compound before it was delivered to its New York and LA offices during the
  game, a manual task with multiple pieces of equipment. Now, with the capacity
  and built-in compression capabilities of NetApp storage, the NFL IT team can
  make the raw data available to its media properties inside the stadium
  instantly, speeding up the workflow on game day.