What's Up with Tech?
Tech Transformation with Evan Kirstel: A podcast exploring the latest trends and innovations in the tech industry, and how businesses can leverage them for growth, diving into the world of B2B, discussing strategies, trends, and sharing insights from industry leaders!
With over three decades in telecom and IT, I've mastered the art of transforming social media into a dynamic platform for audience engagement, community building, and establishing thought leadership. My approach isn't about personal brand promotion but about delivering educational and informative content to cultivate a sustainable, long-term business presence. I am the leading content creator in areas like Enterprise AI, UCaaS, CPaaS, CCaaS, Cloud, Telecom, 5G and more!
What's Up with Tech?
5G-Powered Sports: T-Mobile's Vision for Future Broadcasting
Interested in being a guest? Email us at admin@evankirstel.com
Discover the game-changing technologies reshaping live sports broadcasting with Chris Melus, the VP of Product Development at T-Mobile for Business. You'll learn how T-Mobile's 5G network is not just enhancing but revolutionizing major sporting events like the PGA and KPMG Women's PGA Championships. Chris reveals the secrets behind innovations such as KPMG Champcast and new 5G camera angles that elevate both fan and player experiences. From boosting seamless operations and enabling mission-critical communications to introducing interactive fan engagement features, T-Mobile's 5G Advanced Network Solutions are setting a new standard in sports entertainment.
Get ready to take a front-row seat as we discuss the hurdles and victories in deploying 5G in broadcasting settings. Discover how T-Mobile tackled these obstacles to deliver an unparalleled fan experience, highlighted by the flawless integration of point-of-sale systems and smoother event entry procedures. As if that's not enough, Chris gives us an exclusive look at exciting future partnerships, like the Las Vegas Grand Prix and SailGP, showcasing how T-Mobile's relentless innovation is paving the way for an electrifying future in live sports broadcasting. Whether you're tech-curious or sports-obsessed, this episode promises a captivating journey into the future of sports.
More at https://linktr.ee/EvanKirstel
Hey everybody, Evan Kerstel here. I am super excited to be speaking with Chris Mellis today, VP of Product Development for T-Mobile for Business, a telecom veteran of 20-plus years, and he and his team are tirelessly working to develop new and innovative business solutions leveraging the power of the T-Mobile for Business 5G network. Chris, how are you? Long time no speak.
Speaker 2:Yeah, great, evan. Thanks so much for having me on again. It's a pleasure to see you. I know it's been a while, but we've been super busy here at T-Mobile for Business launching some really exciting new products, and I can't wait to talk to you about this today.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm super excited as well. Before that, maybe tell us a little bit about your background and what you and your team have been up to lately.
Speaker 2:Sure, as you said, I've been in the telecom industry for over 20 years, with various roles throughout operations, engineering, design development and now product development, where I lead the product team here at T-Mobile for Business. We have oversight of all the amazing products that our sellers and our customers get to experience here, everything from collaboration, security, connectivity, our private networking, our IoT and even a few other cool things that we have yet to announce, so I'm super excited to talk to you today about some of the new things we've been working on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, as am I, and so much to unpack here. Lately you've introduced significant 5G innovations to the PGA and KPMG championships. Maybe share some of the key tech advancements that you've introduced here and how they're enhancing the fan experience and player experience alike.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, For both the men's and the women's championships. This year we worked really closely to bring fans closer to the action through our tech innovations in 5G doing the first ever deployment of KPMG Champcast and new 5G camera angles on the course and, of course, through our T5G range shows that we live streamed during both of the events. It was pretty exciting.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow. That's incredible. And you're leveraging the T-Mobile for Business advanced network solutions capabilities. Maybe talk about what's behind that, behind the scenes, as it were, maybe talk about what's behind that, behind the scenes, as it were?
Speaker 2:Sure, yes, our 5G Advanced Network Solutions is our great way of bringing custom-built, specific coverage to things to go do some amazing, amazing use cases that have been very, very difficult to do before. So at the events we did for the PGA Championships, we streamlined mission-critical communications, all the back-of-house point-of-sale operations, ticket scanning, we did broadcast integrations, we were powering the push-to-talk that was being used, and we did all of this on a hybrid network that was across all of the entire courses, which you can imagine, there are pretty large areas to cover. So it was a pretty interesting deployment for us.
Speaker 2:We also used our 5G network, slicing that is where we put all of the back house operators, so POS systems, the staff communications and, like I said, we were able to do our push to talk on a technology 5G slice, which was something we were really proud of. It really worked well for everybody and everyone was super excited about the experiences that we were able to deliver for both events.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. It's all about being a fan these days and talk about some of the ways T-Mobile's 5G network is enhancing fan engagement and experience at both the PGA and KPMG Women's PGA Championships Any sort of unique features or apps that fans leverage to interact with the event.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. One of the best things I think we got to be able to do was a new feature we introduced at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, which was KPMG Champcast, presented by Tornable. That allowed our fans of the sport to be out there and follow each player in the field online through the PGA Championship apps, which was really great because they could then go and find real-time scoring, shot tracking, data distribution and this was a first for the women's major event. So it was really exciting to watch us be able to not just work with the back of house operations but also enhance the experiences of the players and all of the folks that were either there on site or even at home watching the event.
Speaker 1:Amazing. You're also reinventing the business and technology behind broadcasting live with 5G. I'd love to hear more about what's happening there specifically as well.
Speaker 2:Absolutely One of the great things that we did, which was super exciting.
Speaker 2:A little bit difficult but really fun to pull off was our 5G powered remote production that we did. This was on the T5G range and we used the PGA studios all the way in Frisco, texas, so we were able to connect live practice range with PGA coaches, commentators, showing all sorts of insights, analysis of players as they warmed up. All of those things being done remotely. So, with the low latency of the 5G network that we had deployed and some of the incredible other advancements we were latency of the 5G network that we had deployed and some of the incredible other advancements, we were able to use 5G point of view cameras showing stats, ball speed, apex, curve, distance all of the latest ball tracking technologies doing 5G powered top chaser range, and we were also allowing, with some cool stuff, some drone footage also off the range, all live back to Texas produced and then sent back out for everyone to consume. It was pretty exciting and people were able to watch this on the PGA Championship app and then also PGA's digital and social channels as well.
Speaker 1:Wow, incredible. I mean. Who would have thought 5G could revolutionize the broadcasting of golf championships, something we wouldn't have imagined even a short few years ago? You know any examples of how 5G has improved the quality and accessibility of the broadcast for the audience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. I've learned a lot so has our team about how broadcasting works at golf events and especially championships. It is critical that we deliver those capabilities. So across a golf course, all 18 holes, they are generally used about 40 wireless cameras and to turn on digital cameras. They usually had to turn those off and the other limitations were on wired cameras because they need to stay close to cables. It's an outdoor event and it really limits their placement, mobility and the kind of shots that they can deliver.
Speaker 2:When we deployed our hybrid 5G network solutions for this event, we also included private 5G so we were able to look at players when practicing, like I said, using drones, and we're able to get that latency down to a very, very low level to really look and mimic what we would see on a wired camera, but now with all the mobility that you could have when you're wireless.
Speaker 2:So we were the first leverage private network for our 5G and we also use Sony's new PDT-FP1 data transmitter for remote production. So it's ultra low glass to glass latency that's needed for live production, something that's not really been able to be done at 4K Usually. We've had to take that resolution down to be able to do that. So this was an industry first doing wireless cameras at this near fiber speeds, which was amazing from the production perspective. And then 5G POV cameras appeared during the broadcast showing views, quad boxes during the broadcast and then on site, also on the video boards to give fans a view of the parts of the course that they weren't attending. So we had a lot of great innovation, working with our partners both within the PGA Sony and as well with our 5G advanced network solutions deployment.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's incredible. You mentioned a private 5G network. You know talk about how that was deployed, sort of on demand, to support this event and how that can be used in future events to create, you know, on-demand, ad hoc private networks across pretty large areas like golf courses.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. We were really working in a lot of innovation at that point and showing off our new technologies. What we didn't tell everybody was.
Speaker 2:really. We were in the width, we were productizing that capability and this was one of the last final tests we did. So recently we announced our 5G on-demand product, which is going to enable us to do all sorts of cool broadcast capabilities or any remote events it off, with hours of deployment time versus the normal days and weeks. We're now able to bring that amazing 5G technology pretty much anywhere that we want to go do broadcasting, just like we did at the PGA events. Obviously, when you have a large event like that at the PGA 18 holes, acres and acres of land to cover there's a little bit more planning than in other places, but with 5G on demand you will now be able to take a broadcast production glass to glass low latency capability pretty much anywhere that you want to go do broadcasting.
Speaker 1:That's extraordinary. What kind of feedback did you get from players, from fans, regarding T-Mobile's involvement in these golf championships?
Speaker 2:It must have been quite gratifying to hear how it changed the experience for many of the participants lot of companies, obviously, as T-Mobile, for business, and we're always really impressed with our partners and what we can help achieve for them and what they're trying to accomplish. But what was great about the PGA events was we were also increasing the fan experience and making that better, and we got tons of feedback on how great it was for people to be sitting there, say on the 17th or 18th hole, but be able to pick up their phones and go watch their favorite player as they move throughout the course and getting ready to see them live. That was something that they'd never been able to do before and to be able to curate an event that way from themselves. So everybody there was really getting a unique experience following their favorite players, going to a specific hole, looking at a specific shot. All of that being done in near real time was absolutely incredible.
Speaker 2:Also, we really didn't talk about it as much as we did the production of the broadcast, but we were powering all of the POS systems and all of the ticketing systems, which is really important if you want to come to events. So the ease of use that people could get into the event was really extraordinary and people really appreciated instead of the old way of fumbling around with tickets. You know, being there on a mobile event, all 5G driven for their point of sale systems that could be moved around in mobile, coming to you to finish your purchases instead of you having to go up to a register or making it very easy for you to come in for tickets. The fans were just super ecstatic about everything we were able to deliver.
Speaker 1:Wow, reinventing customer experience as well. Well done. There must have been an extraordinary amount of planning and coordination that goes into this kind of large-scale event. What were some of the?
Speaker 2:challenges and roadblocks that you had to overcome to pull this off. Well, probably the biggest one was, you know, we run by far one of the best, if not the best, 5g network in all of America and we really know how to go do our deployments quickly. But we're now working in an environment that we're not used to working in production broadcast, so working with those partners who don't have our expertise in wireless we had to spend a good amount of time in the coordination phase. But because of the ease of use of our 5G ANS, how quickly we can deploy it and now what we've now termed 5G on demand, we were able to very, very quickly come together for both events and replicate an amazing experience that we had taken from the lab and moved it out to production seamlessly and it was so good, in fact, that we actually covered more holes with video broadcasting than we actually had anticipated going in because of the ease of deployment.
Speaker 2:As you can imagine, it's really easy to go do those things when you're not carrying around tons of wires and fiber and having to connect things and you could just put a camera person and send them out on the course and they can go get all the shots that the director and the production crew wanted to go get. So it was a really amazing event, and we continued to innovate as we were there, because we found so many things of well, why don't we put the POS systems on? Why don't we go do some of this more back of house? Oh, we could do this with our Push to Talk product and make that more available. So there was a ton of planning that was involved, but so much effort went into it that we were able to do way more than either the PGA or T-Mobile for business were expecting to be able to do at both events.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I imagine this could be a model for every live broadcasting event in the future. What does the future look like for T-Mobile's involvement in sporting events?
Speaker 2:for T-Mobile's involvement in sporting events.
Speaker 2:Well, obviously we're going to be doing again our Las Vegas Grand Prix, this year with F1. And then we continue to support SailGP in their efforts of doing broadcast, with every year doing more and more on-boat cameras, live feeds from the sailors. We're doing so many other things in that space, working with Red Bull as well and some of the cool things that they like to do with network slicing, as well as, just outside of the broadcast space, we've been powering more and more point of sale systems in back of the house operations for events in all sorts of different sporting categories. It's really been amazing what this technology and the products that we've created have been able to open up for us in that venue as well as not even just in sporting events. There are some other things coming that hopefully next time we talk will be more public and we can talk about them, but this technology is opening up a lot of new avenues for our customers and their fans and customers to have great new experiences that just they've never been able to do before.
Speaker 1:That's so exciting. It must be very gratifying for you and the team your team to pull this off. How do you think about staying ahead of the tech trends and advancements in the industry you know must be a constant learning curve for you and the team.
Speaker 2:Oh it is, and we love it. I mean, one of the mantras we have here at T-Mobile is we won't stop, and that's something we really truly believe in, and so we don't rest and stop. We work very closely with our tech innovation teams, our ecosystem of technology partners outside of T-Mobile, and do a lot of incubation out in our 5G hub out in Bellevue, washington, where we're always thinking about how can we take this technology and not just do things for technology's sake, but how do we solve customer problems and how do we make things just better for everybody? We always want to be the best at connecting people to the things they need to be connected to, and that's something we never lose sight of at T-Mobile for business.
Speaker 1:Wow, wonderfully exciting. Can't wait to see what's next and, yes, please don't stop. As a fan, I'm super excited to see what uh the future of uh 5g and broadcasting. Thanks, chris, and I look forward to uh keeping in touch thanks, evan, great to talk to you again.
Speaker 2:Looking forward to be here one more time in the near future to talk about some of the cool new things we're working on absolutely take care.
Speaker 1:Thanks everyone. Thanks for listening and watching. Bye.