Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) has deployed a Wi-Fi 6E solution from HPE Aruba Networking at Notre Dame Stadium, the 80,000-seat iconic home of the University of Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish football team, making it the first higher education stadium to deploy the Federal Communications Commission’s newly-approved 6 GHz spectrum outdoors.
The multi-phase wireless-first initiative, which is bringing Wi-Fi 6E to indoor and outdoor spaces institution-wide, also includes a private 5G (P5G) pilot in conjunction with the Notre Dame Wireless Institute to explore opportunities for improving cellular experiences across campus for users and devices.
Notre Dame projects that up to 90 percent of its 13,000 students will rely on at least one Wi-Fi 6E device by the start of the next academic year, thus the institution set out to deliver on escalating connectivity demands and create a wireless-first campus.
To provide a preview of the high-performance Wi-Fi 6E bandwidth that will blanket the 1,265-acre, 190-building campus by August 2025, the institution began with Notre Dame Stadium. During the institution’s final playoff game on December 20, 2024, Wi-Fi traffic peaked at more than 26 GPS, nearly three times the previous record despite zero-degree Fahrenheit weather.
HPE shares began the trading day Wednesday –dumped 26 cents, or 1.6%, to $16.05.