CBTS, Cisco Meraki, and the Cincinnati Reds Team up for a Win

The Cincinnati Reds and CBTS have begun preparations for the 60-game 2020 baseball season. On July 6, the Reds started their Spring Training Part II "Summer Camp" with players at both Great American Ball Park (GABP) in Downtown Cincinnati and Prasco Park in nearby Mason, Ohio. The Reds chose to use both locations in order to accommodate all roster members ? too many for training on one field during the COVID-19 era.

While the Reds have a lengthy to-do list to prepare for Opening Day on July 24, one item they can check off the list is extending their network to the new Mason facility. CBTS Network as a Service, built on Cisco Meraki technology, gives the Reds the ability to create pop-up networks at all team facilities, including the new location at Prasco Park.

The Reds front office personnel and coaches use NaaS to access the network and evaluate players at the Major League and Minor League levels, through a live video feed?a more efficient and cost-effective method than digital transmission. "MLB is an extremely competitive landscape, and leveraging NaaS technology from CBTS has given the Reds an important edge to develop top talent and scout across our organization," said Brian Keys, Vice President of Technology for the Cincinnati Reds.

When CBTS built its Network as a Service solution for the Reds in 2017, CBTS implemented all the necessary Internet connectivity at each Reds location, deployed the Cisco Meraki cloud-controlled Wi-Fi, routing, and security, and upon startup, continuously provides 24x7x365 monitoring and management of the network.

The benefits realized by the Reds:

• No-touch deployment and management: CBTS manages all implementation and related tasks, and certified experts manage and support the network 24x7x365.
• Centralized web dashboard: Single pane of glass, mobile-enabled cloud dashboard for entire network management leveraging real-time data and network analytics.
• Control applications, users, and devices: Search for users by device type (PC, mobile phone, tablet, etc.) and monitor client or organization application usage.
• Equivalent reliability and security with improved performance over MPLS at a lower cost.

The most significant benefit for the organization is flexibility. The Reds quickly added their new Prasco Park location to their network without incurring expensive MPLS expansion costs.

"The current pandemic has forced everyone to be reactive and sometimes uncomfortable," said Jon Lloyd, Director of Cloud Networking for CBTS. "That truth applies for networking, too, and the CBTS partnership with Cisco Meraki allows us to be agile and flexible. Nothing is more 'back to normal' than Reds baseball in Cincinnati in July. We are proud to help deliver an on-demand network within 24 hours and play a role in bringing baseball back to Cincinnati this summer."

To learn more about CBTS Network as a Service, click here.

About CBTS

CBTS serves enterprise and midmarket clients in all industries across the United States and Canada. From Unified Communications to Cloud Services and beyond, CBTS combines deep technical expertise with a full suite of flexible technology solutions that drive business outcomes, improve operational efficiency, mitigate risk, and reduce costs for its clients. For more information, please visit www.cbts.com.