How Telstra's tech runs NRL's multimillion-dollar bunker

Telstra has been revealed as the network and connectivity provider for the National Rugby League's new video review facility.

The central command centre, or 'The Bunker' as commonly known to rugby league fans, opened in February to allow video referees to make real-time decisions for every game off-site, from the inner Sydney suburb of Eveleigh.

The concept was conceived to allow officials to make faster and more accurate decisions away from distractions at the stadium and with access to a constant video feed of all camera angles.

Telstra announced that The Bunker was connected to the NRL's 21 stadiums using the telco's fibre-optic Digital Video Network (DVN).

"The DVN platform carries the NRL’s mission-critical video content, from the game locations to The Bunker, providing match officials with real-time access to multiple camera angles and playback control for all reviewable decisions," Telstra stated.

There are 20 high-definition video feeds from each stadium pumping back to The Bunker, where 57 monitors have been deployed for officials to review the action.

"An over-the-shoulder camera and workstation view of The Bunker is also sent back to the game venue, as well as being fed into the television and online program feeds, so fans can view the live decision making."

A total of $3.2 million was spent on implementing The Bunker, according to Fairfax Media, with broadcast solutions specialist NEP and visual analytics company Hawk-Eye Innovations the other tech providers that contributed.

The command centre itself hosts 29km of cables, with 20 racks of servers handling the data across the network.

NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg said that, in addition to the benefits for in-game decision making, the technology resulted in real cost savings for the organisation.

“In previous seasons we had to send video referees to every game venue across Australia and New Zealand. The Bunker allows us to do everything from one location, saving on travel and associated costs," he said.

“In a sport where there can be many stoppages in a game, being able to halve the time taken to review a decision and provide more accurate results makes the game a much more interesting product."

The NRL has a five-year leasing arrangement for The Bunker. Telstra is a major sponsor of the league.

CRN also revealed in February that Sydney IT provider Solista had taken the NRL's backup and DR infrastructure into the cloud, using Veeam and Hosted Network.