Miami HEAT Modernizes IT Infrastructure to Enhance Fan Experience and Network Security

"When you go IP, it becomes digital. We can pump out content, graphics and signage all from one central location," says HEAT CTO Drew Dorben. "We can show unique images and monetize a lot of these digital assets because we have the flexibility to put any content on.”

Behind the scenes, the NBA franchise has also upgraded security with more powerful next-generation firewalls to protect its corporate and broadcast networks from cyberattacks. Sports teams and venues are high-value targets not only because they are high-profile, but because they house sensitive data on employees, players, fans and business operations.

“If you don’t have a secure facility or a secure environment, it could go ugly quickly, especially when you have a game and have a three-hour window where the network must be rock solid,” says Blake Engman, the HEAT’s senior engineer and director of broadcast services.

The Miami HEAT brought in CDW to assist with the network and firewall projects, from evaluating products to helping design both solutions.

“The nice thing is that CDW is a one-stop shop for almost everything,” Dorben says. “They got us all the reps that we needed to talk to. They got us all the right engineers that we needed to design the projects. It was pretty much end-to-end. They took care of almost everything.”

How the HEAT Built an Advanced Broadcast Network

In 2023, the HEAT installed the new broadcast network after outgrowing its shared corporate network. That original network served not only broadcasting and media production needs, but also business and arena operations, including HVAC and building automation systems, retail stores and ticket scanners at entrances.

The HEAT’s IT leaders chose Juniper Networks equipment for the project because they previously standardized on Juniper gear for the corporate network — and it has proven reliable.

CDW Networking Architect Miguel A. Cruz assisted with the network design, collaborating with the HEAT’s IT team and Juniper’s engineers on the architecture. With CDW’s help, the HEAT chose a spine-leaf network configuration instead of a star topography because it offered the best performance, scalability and redundancy. 

“We did a lot of preliminary designs on our own, but there was no actual Visio diagram. That’s what CDW brought to life,” he says. 

The HEAT purchased two Juniper QFX5220 spine switches for the core, seven Juniper QFX5120 leaf switches and 60 Juniper EX4300 edge switches for the wiring closets across the arena. The team also purchased Juniper’s MIST AI software, a tool for centrally managing and monitoring the network, says CDW Client Executive TJ Bettor.

“It’s a single pane of glass. It simplifies management and gives them a lot of flexibility and visibility into network performance,” Bettor says.

Installation was fairly seamless. To deploy the network, the HEAT turned to a long-time, third-party consulting firm that’s also a CDW partner.

“There’s always bumps when you roll out something this large. It’s never perfect, but it was a lot smoother than I expected,” Dorben says. “We nailed it.”

Faster Bandwidth Improves Miami HEAT Workflow

The HEAT’s new broadcast network was essential to a multi-million dollar arena upgrade, powering new LED and digital displays throughout the arena, along with a new lighting system and state-of-the-art audio system. The network enables a more immersive multimedia experience through 11,000 square feet of additional digital display space — nearly six times more than before.

The HEAT’s Engman said the new broadcast network consists of a broadcast production network and an SMPTE ST 2110 environment, which features two independent networks in an SMPTE ST 2022-7 active/active configuration to distribute content throughout the arena and to broadcast partners.

The broadcast production network supports creative services, enabling editors, animators and creators to produce videos and render graphics. It also supports IPTV, audio, the audio-visual control system and serves as the control fabric for the SMPTE ST 2110 environment, Engman says.

While the corporate network provides 10 Gigabit Ethernet speed at the network core and 1Gb Ethernet speeds to desktops, the broadcast network is much faster. For example, while the corporate network has 20 Gigabits per second uplinks, the broadcast network’s edge switches have 200Gbps uplinks. Some switches specifically used by the creative team have up to 600Gbps uplinks, Engman says.

With the faster bandwidth, the media production team can render, produce and distribute video and graphics faster. In fact, moving a 300-gigabyte file used to take 40 minutes. Now it takes two minutes. “We’re now transferring terabytes in the time we used to transfer gigabytes,” he says.

The team also went from 1080i to 1080p HDR, enabling the new scoreboard to display sharper, brighter images, smoother motion and more vibrant colors.

“It’s a massive improvement,” Engman says. “We’re talking about going from 1.5Gbps video to 3Gbps video — doubling the quality.”

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In addition, the broadcast delay — the time lag between live basketball action and transmission to arena TVs — has dropped from 1.5 seconds to half a second to one-third of a second, a vast improvement, he says.

Thanks to the new IP-based network, the arena’s 1,100 displays are now independently mapped, meaning the broadcast and media production crew can control and schedule content for each display. That allows the HEAT to distribute tailored advertisements to digital displays in premium seating areas and other locations, Engman says.

The IPTV deployment also allows the organization to sell advertising on the digital displays throughout the concourses. The HEAT purchased 43-inch, 55-inch and 75-inch Samsung displays from CDW.

IPTV allows the team to dynamically update concession menus and branding between events, replacing HEAT logos with concert-specific graphics before a concert, Dorben says.

“In food and beverage, we can change pricing from a basketball game to a concert. The ability to flip a menu and push out new graphics is a lot easier because they’re IP-based TVs,” he says.

Miami HEAT Bolsters Security with Next-Generation Firewalls

With the new broadcast network complete, the HEAT in 2024 strengthened network security. When two firewalls protecting the public Wi-Fi network reached end of life, the team saw an opportunity for a strategic upgrade.

Dorben and his team purchased two high-end, next-generation firewalls to safeguard its corporate and broadcast networks, then repurposed the still-current corporate/broadcast firewalls to secure the public Wi-Fi network.

“We bought beefy ones for the corporate and broadcast networks because we needed them,” Dorben says. “They inspect the packets faster. We’re able to monitor traffic a lot quicker. The public Wi-Fi doesn’t need as much horsepower.”

While the corporate and broadcast networks are separate, they meet at the firewall layer, where both networks are protected by the new pair of firewalls. They operate in an active-active configuration to ensure best performance and redundancy, he says.

The new firewalls protect two in-house data centers, one for corporate needs and the other for broadcast production. Meanwhile, the separate public wireless network, made up of 300 wireless access points, needs its own set of firewalls to ensure up to 19,500 fans have secure internet access, he says.

The HEAT purchased the two new firewalls from CDW, but like the Juniper project, it was a collaborative effort. The HEAT had ideas on what it needed, but it reached out to its existing firewall vendor and CDW for their recommendations, CDW’s Bettor recalls.

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CDW acts as a vendor-neutral consultant, always putting its customers’ interests first, Bettor says. If a vendor’s proposal doesn’t fit what a customer needs, CDW steps in with different recommendations. However, the firewall vendor’s proposal perfectly aligned with the HEAT's requirements. After vetting everything, “we were aligned with what the vendor proposed. That made it a very cohesive pitch to the HEAT,” Bettor says.

CDW leveraged its strong relationship with the firewall vendor to negotiate the best possible pricing for the HEAT on both the equipment and licensing, Bettor says.

The same CDW partner that installed the broadcast network also installed the firewalls. Implementation went smoothly, Dorben says. CDW even delivered the firewalls one week early. “We got a chance to get a jumpstart on the project,” he says. 

Overall, the firewalls serve as an integral component in the HEAT’s multi-layered defense strategy, blocking hackers, ransomware, malware and other cyber threats, Dorben says. The organization is moving toward a zero trust security posture — and firewalls enable this capability.

“When you are basically the front door of an organization, you need to be able to detect threats, monitor traffic, enforce access controls, and in today’s world, move towards a zero-trust architecture,” Dorben says. “The more feature-rich and powerful your firewalls are, the more capable you’ll be able to stay safe and operate smoothly in a very unpredictable world.”

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The Miami HEAT and CDW: A Strategic Partnership

With the upgraded firewall and new broadcast network, the Miami HEAT is now prepared as video and broadcasting demands evolve in the future.

For example, the new network’s higher bandwidth will enable the organization to support 4K and 8K video in the future. Furthermore, the upgraded infrastructure will enable the team to offer live streaming as an alternative way for fans to watch basketball games if the market demands it in the future, Dorben says.

CDW was a key to the success of both the broadcast network and firewall projects, Dorben says. Each time, the HEAT came to CDW with a vision and product ideas, but wanted CDW’s expertise to ensure the solutions would meet their needs. “We don’t know the latest and greatest products, so we come to CDW with an idea, and CDW matches it up with the solutions it sells,” he says.

CDW Client Executive Meredith Wilwant says it’s very much a collaborative approach. “They usually do research beforehand and say, ‘This is what we’re looking for. What do you recommend?’ Then we give them our recommendations,” she says.

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For both projects, Wilwant coordinated between each vendor’s engineers, CDW’s engineers, the HEAT’s IT leaders and the CDW partner that deployed the technology — essentially serving as the point guard to keep the projects on track, from design and equipment delivery through implementation.

“I was in the middle, bringing together all the stakeholders and making sure the projects kept flowing, and we got over the finish line,” Wilwant says.

Overall, Dorben said CDW serves as an important IT solutions provider for the Miami HEAT. He’s worked with CDW for 15 years, from purchasing desktops and laptops to larger data center and network infrastructure gear.  

“CDW has great engineers,” Dorben says. “One of the most important things when we’re picking a partner is: Do the people actually know what they’re talking about? There are a lot of people who say they can do it, but when it comes to actually executing and delivering, it’s a different story. That’s why we work with CDW. They deliver.”