BARCELONA, Spain & HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--FC Barcelona and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) have signed a partnership agreement for HPE to become the new Espai Barça Official Edge-to-Cloud Partner for the next four seasons, until 30 June 2028. In a strategic alliance aimed at revolutionizing the spectator experience in sport, Barça’s new facilities will be equipped with a world-class technology environment featuring HPE Aruba Networking and HPE GreenLake cloud, enabling real-time data analytics and integrated security solutions.
The partnership between the Club and HPE is based on a market-leading approach to edge connectivity and cloud technology, which will enable the entire Espai Barça to offer personalized services and experiences tailored to its fans, setting a new standard for the future of sports and entertainment events. This agreement is part of the sponsorship program associated with the future Spotify Camp Nou and has been made possible thanks to the shared objectives of equipping the future stadium with state-of-the-art technologies.
Technological innovation enhancing the stadium experience
FC Barcelona is committed to making Espai Barça an international hub for innovation, and this deal with HPE is an example that underscores its commitment to adopting innovative technologies that will improve the experience of members and fans who visit the future ground. With the support of HPE, Espai Barça will be positioned at the forefront of technological innovation in the sports world, enhancing every aspect of the stadium experience, from arrival at the ground to the end of each match or event. New services to be made available to fans include gamification and virtual reality. In addition, teams from all sections of the club can benefit from advanced analytics to optimize game performance and strategy.
As part of this agreement, HPE will implement HPE GreenLake Private Cloud Enterprise with HPE data center servers and storage and HPE Aruba Networking, including advanced campus and secure AI-ready data center solutions. The network provides a common zero trust foundation for FC Barcelona’s networking and security teams, enabling end-to-end visibility and global security policies that can be enforced at the network edge. The data center is equipped with the most advanced distributed services switches to provide a next level security framework for server interconnection, enhancing security protection and visibility.
HPE is also deploying an advanced high speed, secure wireless network in the Spotify Camp Nou to provide the best customer experience to the more than 100,000 fans while in the stadium, with further plans to incorporate private 5G in the future for core applications. Furthermore, HPE GreenLake Private Cloud Enterprise modernizes the stadium IT infrastructure to provide simplified management of workloads, enhanced automation, increased data security, agility, and availability.
Espai Barça, more than a stadium
Espai Barça is a revolutionary project in the world of sport and entertainment that is redeveloping and expanding all the FC Barcelona facilities, including the emblematic Spotify Camp Nou, and turning it into the best sports complex in the center of a major city. Being able to count on HPE’s experience with the implementation of the latest technologies will be essential part of the customized experience that visitors to the ground will be able to enjoy.
The agreement between FC Barcelona and HPE means the two parties will be able to join forces on the journey towards the club’s digital evolution, ensuring secure digital interaction and connectivity inside the stadium and making Espai Barça not just an icon of sporting excellence, but also a beacon for technological innovation.
Statement by Juli Guiu, Vice-President of Marketing at FC Barcelona
“The partnership with HPE is a step towards creating a digitally connected and secure environment for Espai Barça. Their extensive experience in connectivity and cloud technologies means we will be able to offer our members, fans and supporters personalized experiences, thus significantly improving their interaction with the club on match days at Spotify Camp Nou, as well as in the different activities that will be organized at the future ground.”
Statement by Alfredo Yepez, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Latin America and Southern Europe, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
“Technology is integral to the growth and global expansion of sports, as well as to accelerating innovation. HPE is delighted to serve as the Official Edge-to-Cloud Partner of one of the world’s leading football clubs to enhance its visitor and fan experience, providing state-of-art technology for Espai Barça and the iconic Spotify Camp Nou.”
About Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) is the global edge-to-cloud company that helps organizations accelerate outcomes by unlocking value from all of their data, everywhere. Built on decades of reimagining the future and innovating to advance the way people live and work, HPE delivers unique, open and intelligent technology solutions as a service. With offerings spanning Cloud Services, Compute, High Performance Computing & AI, Intelligent Edge, Software, and Storage, HPE provides a consistent experience across all clouds and edges, helping customers develop new business models, engage in new ways, and increase operational performance. For more information, visit: www.hpe.com.
About FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona was founded in 1899 and is unique in many ways. The Club is owned by its more than 140,000 members. Due to its very special personality, Barça is recognized as being ‘More than a club’. The team’s distinctive style of play is projected around the world by the best players and coaches of their time in combination with Club’s famous reliance on homegrown talent.
All of this goes hand in hand with its ongoing ambition to become the most admired, beloved and global sports institution on the planet. This mission is supported by such core principles as humility, effort, ambition, respect and teamwork, while the club is also famed for its commitment to society, which is channelled through the FC Barcelona Foundation and its work to educate children through the positive values of sport. Such unstoppable growth in recent years has led to a global reach of more than 400 million fans on social media, being the sports club with the most followers on social networks.
