Gig ‘Em-Bytes: Kyle Field Breaking All Records For Data Usage
There is no place as well equipped for sending celebratory selfies, videos of victories and photos of football fun than Kyle Field on the campus of Texas A&M University.
With an eye-popping 8.2 terabytes of usage on the enhanced Wi-Fi system and wireless phone network, the Texas A&M-Tennessee game on October 8, the most recent home game, shattered all collegiate and Super Bowl records, thanks to the stadium’s Corning ONEtm fiber network, which was installed by IBM last year.
- Of the 106,248 people in attendance, 49 percent of the fans accessed the stadium’s Wi-Fi system.
- At the peak, nearly 32,000 people used the system at the same time.
- By comparison, at the Super Bowl early this year, 27,000 people used Wi-Fi at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., and that data was collected during a 17-hour period, compared with just four hours at Kyle Field.
- The usage at Kyle Field represented a 30 percent increase, compared with the old record from a Texas A&M-Alabama game on Oct. 17, 2015, and was equal to more than 22 million social media photo posts or 38,400 hours of streamed music.
The renovation of Kyle Field – home of the Fightin’ Texas Aggies – included a new data network that allows for extraordinarily high usage of data of all kinds, including points of sale at the concession stands, text messages from fans’ phones and video streaming.
Before the overhaul of Kyle Field, Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp promised the most state-of-the-art data network in all of college sports. And by the time the two-year renovation was complete, the stadium had set a standard that many college and pro teams now are trying to replicate.
“At the A&M System, we heard when Aggies told us they needed better Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity at Kyle Field,” Chancellor Sharp said. “The System responded by building a world-class network to allow our fans to show their pride and spirit by sending as many Aggie-related photos, texts and videos as they want.”
Todd Christner, director of Wireless Business Development, Corning Optical, called the new Kyle Field “a testament of Chancellor Sharp’s vision.”
“It is reassuring for us to see such incredible statistics coming out of the A&M-Tennessee game, enabled by the powerful Corning ONE platform,” he added. “The platform – the first all-optical solution for cellular, Wi-Fi and Ethernet needs – represents our commitment to creating a bolder, brighter broadband future.”
Beyond Wi-Fi, there was heavy cellular data usage at the A&M-Tennessee by customers of AT&T and Verizon. They were able to tap into the enhanced mobile phone system on the Corning ONEtm fiber network. Combined, customers of the two major carriers used 3.8 terabytes of data.
(Chancellor Sharp, by the way, redefined the word “terabyte.” A terabyte, he said, is now a unit of capacity made up of 1,000 “Gig ‘em-bytes.”)
Chancellor Sharp encourages fans to continue using favored game day hashtags including #GigEm and #12thMan as they prepare for the next home game against New Mexico State University on Oct. 29.
Media contact: Laylan Copelin, Texas A&M Marketing and Communications.
