Nortel Buzzboard

Yesterday I highlighted Nortel’s new deal with the New York Mets new Citi Field baseball stadium with a post entitled “Nortel is a Mets fan.”  But Nortel also announced a deal to build the network for the Vancouver Canucks’ hockey stadium.

Can I risk claiming the Canucks as Nortel’s favorite hockey team?  While the lack of much passion for the Toronto Blue Jays (Canada’s only baseball team) made it relatively easy to post the Mets headline, there are quite a few Nortel employees passionate about their Ottawa Senators (including my boss).  And those who aren’t Sens fans are likely Toronto Maple Leafs fans.

That said, what Nortel is doing with General Motors Place — the Canucks’ home stadium — is worth noting.  Like with the Mets’ Citi Field, Nortel is deploying a unified communications solution that provides a foundation for new employee and fan services now and in the future.

[UPDATE: ComputerWorld Canada has this great article interviewing Harvey Jones, vice-president and general manager of arena operations for the Canucks — as well as Wes Durow of Nortel.  The article provides some extra insight into new and planned services for both the fans and arena operations.]

An immediate benefit will be seen by fans in the executive suits, allowing them to access instant replays along with team and player statistics. They can also use the network to order tickets, Canucks Team Store merchandise and concessions right from their suite.

Future plans will use the installed wireless infrastructure to extend instant replay and other services to mobile devices for fans throughout the arena.

The actual network deployment, which is scheduled to start in September, will include Nortel’s Unified Communications solution for General Motors Place will include the Nortel CS 1000 IP-PBX for VoIP, ERS 8600 for data, desktop unified messaging, and Nortel wireless LAN products. Nortel will also providea range of Unified Communications Services from Nortel’s Global Services portfolio.

By the way, General Motors Place will be the arean used for hockey during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.