2924: The Tech Tag Team: WWE and Cisco's Networking Power Play

[00:00:01] Can technology and professional wrestling form a perfect tag team? Well

[00:00:07] today on Tech Talks Daily I'm going to be exploring this unique intersection with

[00:00:12] Ralph Riley, Director of Broadcast IT Systems at WWE. Our encounter started

[00:00:20] with a shared laugh over my admission that John Cena is mysteriously following

[00:00:24] me on X and me cheekily asking him if he could find out why and if he actually

[00:00:29] listens to the podcast. But this quickly transitioned into an intriguing

[00:00:34] conversation about wrestling moves and cutting-edge technology. My kind of

[00:00:39] conversation. So Ralph started his journey as an IT intern at WWE way back

[00:00:45] in 2019 and since then though, inspiringly he's ascended through various roles to

[00:00:51] where he now oversees the integration of sophisticated network solutions like

[00:00:57] Cisco's Thousand Eyes into WWE's broadcast systems. But Ralph's story is not just

[00:01:04] about wrestling, it's about tackling the dynamic challenges of live broadcast

[00:01:09] technology all in the world of sports entertainment. So I want to learn more

[00:01:13] about that and also how from humble beginnings on the help desk to traveling

[00:01:17] globally with WWE's event technical operations, he's been at the forefront

[00:01:22] of wrestling that millions of fans enjoy. But what about that technology that

[00:01:27] makes it all possible? Well buckle up and hold on tight as I beam your ears all

[00:01:32] the way to Cisco Live here in Vegas where we're gonna learn more about how

[00:01:37] WWE is leveraging Cisco's technology to maintain high-quality broadcasts and

[00:01:42] also how these solutions mitigate potential disruptions during live events

[00:01:48] and yes there will be a few wrestling moves mentioned along the way too. So a

[00:01:54] massive warm welcome to the show. Can you tell everyone listening a little about

[00:01:58] who you are and what you do? Yeah sure so thank you for having me my name is Ralph

[00:02:02] Riley I am the director of broadcast IT systems for WWE and what I do for my day

[00:02:09] today is I help manage the TV engineering broadcast engineering network

[00:02:13] for our television studio located in Stanford Connecticut. I help manage our

[00:02:18] Cisco equipment, our firewalls, our routers, our load balancers and anything

[00:02:23] that kind of sits in our data center at our TV studio and I also help liaise

[00:02:28] with our cybersecurity team on our corporate side to make sure that our

[00:02:32] network and our infrastructure is secure as well. So that's a really high-level

[00:02:35] overview of my day-to-day responsibilities. Just hearing you talk

[00:02:38] there it really resonated with me because I love sharing origin stories on these

[00:02:43] podcasts and when I did a little research on you your career with WWE

[00:02:47] started as an IT intern I think was way back in 2009. You've since progressed to

[00:02:52] director of broadcast IT systems so how has this journey shaped your approach to

[00:02:57] managing WWE's broadcast IT infrastructure? I've got a feeling there's a bit of a

[00:03:01] story there. Yeah yes there definitely is a story and just to coincide

[00:03:05] with WWE we love telling stories and that's really what drives our business

[00:03:09] but mine is a real story but it is one in itself. My first week on the job as an

[00:03:13] IT intern while I was still at school for my undergraduate degree I was tasked

[00:03:18] with replacing CRT monitors from all of our departments as we're going under a

[00:03:22] refresh from again those large CRT monitors to blast screen monitors and

[00:03:26] then that evolves into refreshes for standard equipment keyboards, mice,

[00:03:30] BlackBerrys at the time you name it and I said to myself this is what it's like

[00:03:35] to be in corporate America but thank goodness I'm here because I'm working

[00:03:38] for WWE something that I've followed my whole life and that evolution started

[00:03:43] really with hardware to kind of knowing the ins and outs the IOs the processes

[00:03:49] of what our users were using at WWE because to be quite frank I really

[00:03:54] didn't know what was the backbone of what made the company in itself work and

[00:03:58] to kind of integrate that with technology and being able to get my

[00:04:03] hands on to what they were using it from a tech perspective was was fascinating

[00:04:07] to me at that time and just me being a very interested person I said well what

[00:04:11] more can I do what more can I do to help the individuals at the company and

[00:04:17] thankfully we've always had a great team whether it was the IT department or even

[00:04:22] their other departments nestled within applications networking programs

[00:04:26] business applications etc and they allowed me to kind of see what

[00:04:31] everyone did and I'd gravitated a lot towards I would say troubleshooting the

[00:04:35] issues from a application and presentation level and then it kind of

[00:04:39] just grew from there it grew from supporting users from a higher-end

[00:04:43] perspective supporting the executive users as my trust and knowledge of the

[00:04:47] systems began to grow and for me personally I said to myself what what's

[00:04:52] the next step from here I'm always looking to open that next door

[00:04:56] especially from a from a career oriented level and at the time I really

[00:05:01] saw a fascination in networking unfortunately there wasn't any room for

[00:05:05] additions on that team but fortunately WDB allows you to kind of go into

[00:05:10] different avenues so we're separated I was saying three different aspects

[00:05:13] there's our corporate department and our corporate structure there's our TV

[00:05:18] department and then there's our road crew so our road crew they travel across

[00:05:22] the country and help support all of our shows that we broadcast on a weekly

[00:05:25] basis raw Smackdown but also our PLEs and I they came to Bridgeport Connecticut

[00:05:31] which is close to Stanford Connecticut and I says my boss hey do I do you mind

[00:05:36] if I can I get if I can go out there and help them from a help desk level and he

[00:05:40] said have at it and that's what helped open that door to the road team and long

[00:05:46] story short it allowed me to be on that team whenever they're in the area

[00:05:50] regionally and I helped them liaise between them needing equipment on the

[00:05:54] road and supporting the staff that was growing at the time there to also

[00:05:57] report him back and kind of given my help desk team the ins and outs of what

[00:06:01] they needed so it was a great bridge or great closing up the gap of something

[00:06:05] that was constantly moving and was maybe somewhat forgotten about from the

[00:06:08] corporate level but for me personally I said what can I do to expand my career

[00:06:13] you know outside of the help desk on the road and that's where the networking

[00:06:17] came in and being on the road was just an excellent time for my career

[00:06:22] personally because everywhere we went from arena to arena and that very each

[00:06:26] and every day was a different infrastructure and I had some great

[00:06:30] mentors on the road that allowed me to really get my hands on to the Cisco gear

[00:06:34] that was there and configure new every time each arena we went to in order to

[00:06:39] get our internet to liaise and integrate with the infrastructure that was at the

[00:06:44] arena and that infrastructure varied from a set of cable modems that were just

[00:06:48] lying on the ground in a boiler room yeah all the way to a great ios system

[00:06:52] that was high-end neat and configured in a loading dock but everything was

[00:06:57] different and I really again like I said I had the mentors there that showed me

[00:07:01] how to do it and I coupled that with learning mechanisms from Cisco and also

[00:07:06] other outside training to really enhance my skill set there so from the road I

[00:07:10] transitioned from being there to the TV studio in Stanford Connecticut which at

[00:07:16] the time was a mile down a road from the corporate office where I started so it

[00:07:19] was a little bit of coming home but a different atmosphere yeah and I allowed

[00:07:23] my skill set from networking on a road to help manage the network over at the

[00:07:27] TV studio and that's where I am now and it's grown and evolved ever since since

[00:07:33] I moved back to the TV studio we've moved into a new building right off of

[00:07:37] I-95 in Stanford Connecticut which is a state-of-the-art building which also

[00:07:41] encompasses our corporate office and our TV studio and recently we just procured

[00:07:46] brand-new Cisco Nexus gear to help be the backbone of our infrastructure and

[00:07:50] our data center there so it's exciting times we're really nestled in our day 2

[00:07:55] ops and it's been a fun journey. Just picking up those CRT monitors to

[00:08:00] where I am now. Yeah it's an incredible journey and for anybody this young

[00:08:04] listening wanting to go into the world of IT that's the only way to learn is it

[00:08:07] out there in the field configuring things and you've almost been on a

[00:08:10] journey with Cisco and watching the equipment and everything evolve with you

[00:08:15] while a lot of state fails. Absolutely yeah when when I started with the TV

[00:08:19] studio we started out with a mix of different systems based on our

[00:08:24] post-production needs there were certain pieces of gear that we had to use in

[00:08:28] order to be compliant with that with those systems and that's what I

[00:08:32] inherited and we had very legacy Catalyst systems legacy Nexus systems

[00:08:36] and it worked but to be able to migrate that now into a unified platform that's

[00:08:41] spine-in-a-leaf with Cisco's brand new Nexus 9000 architecture you can really

[00:08:46] see the contrast of performance and especially us in media entertainment

[00:08:50] where video and audio and everything is of such high importance to be at a such

[00:08:55] a high performance level. So all you have found as well is? Yeah so I've been a fan

[00:08:59] of WWE pretty much since I was a child my grandfather got me into the product

[00:09:04] and he watched it religiously on TV and I was just fascinated by it and I said to

[00:09:11] myself I would love to work for the company one day and when I was a senior

[00:09:15] in school I saw they had internship opportunities available and my first

[00:09:20] semester unfortunately they didn't have anything available in the IT realm which

[00:09:24] is what I went to school for from undergraduate degree but I was I was

[00:09:28] persistent I still am persistent and my second half of my senior year I said hey

[00:09:33] I reached out my first half is there something available now and I said oh

[00:09:37] yeah actually there is and it was just kind of being persistent and asking that

[00:09:40] question and not giving up that kind of said allowed me to enter the door of

[00:09:45] WWE. Wow. So it's been pretty cool. Well it's

[00:09:48] you make me feel very old now but when you're talking about with your

[00:09:51] grandfather there and being into WWE what era was this because for me it was

[00:09:56] obviously Hulk Hogan Ultimate Warrior but who would it be for you because you're a

[00:09:59] little bit younger than me? Yeah so that he started I grew up as a young child in

[00:10:03] the 90s so I was very much into the Hulk Hogan, the Push Wackers, Tatanga all of

[00:10:10] the classic characters from the 90s but he's he watched much earlier even when

[00:10:13] I wasn't born into so he was a fan of Bruno Sammartino and a lot of Chief J

[00:10:17] Strombo yeah and a lot of wrestlers from his time when he was younger. Fast

[00:10:21] forward to 2024 WWE's implementation of Cisco's Thousand Eyes has also

[00:10:27] significantly reduced mean time to resolution or MTTR for network related

[00:10:33] issues so can you share a few specific examples of how this technology has

[00:10:37] improved your operations during live events just for the the non techies

[00:10:41] listening to help them understand how it all works? Sure so when I was out and

[00:10:45] again I've been I've had the great pleasure of working in all three facets

[00:10:48] and silos of the tech organization of WWE and one of the things that we need

[00:10:53] to measure and constantly be on the lookout for is how reliable is our

[00:10:57] connection from the TV studio to our corporate network and especially to the

[00:11:03] road how can we measure those those those metrics and be alerted for any

[00:11:09] inconsistencies drops latency issues throughput issues bandwidth issues from

[00:11:15] our TV studio to road and Thousand Eyes has allowed us to do that in an

[00:11:20] automated and programmable way that other technology hasn't in the past so

[00:11:26] we've set up tests within Thousand Eyes that specifically monitor agents from

[00:11:31] our TV studio to agents on the road that will be the first to inform us of those

[00:11:36] metrics and it's made our team very happy it's made the road team very happy

[00:11:40] and more importantly it's made our managers and superiors happy to be able

[00:11:44] to have reports available that say here's the percentage of availability

[00:11:48] here's a percentage of uptime here's when the issues occurred and we're very

[00:11:53] grateful to be using a platform that's also continuously involved in so we're

[00:11:56] very excited for what we've done within Thousand Eyes and what we're looking

[00:11:59] ahead of with Thousand Eyes as well. And given the challenges of maintaining that

[00:12:04] robust IT infrastructure for live broadcast especially in diverse global

[00:12:09] locations and you set the scene perfectly when in your younger years

[00:12:12] they're going through all these different venues and different

[00:12:15] infrastructures how do you ensure that seamless network performance and

[00:12:19] ultimately reliability for those WWE television trucks that are outside away

[00:12:24] from the main event? Yeah so so when we think about reliability especially with

[00:12:29] our technology at both the road and also in our TV studio we look at what

[00:12:35] products do we have it are they built out efficiently so we had the pleasure

[00:12:39] of working with a great team at Cisco and Thousand Eyes and helping us

[00:12:43] implement those metrics that were specific to what we do on the road so

[00:12:47] so now when you think about it our road operations are never up for a sustained

[00:12:52] amount of time. These ends our biggest event of the year WrestleMania where

[00:12:55] we're up for seven days plus so we have to make sure that while we're testing

[00:12:59] what we're looking at these metrics within Thousand Eyes or whatever

[00:13:02] monitoring platform that we use which also we're utilizing Nexus dashboard we

[00:13:06] want to make sure that if we have communications of the road that the

[00:13:11] alerts and the metrics are available are set within the parameters of which the

[00:13:15] networks are up on the road and we've built that we've implemented that and

[00:13:20] we've verified that for our tests that are implemented with the road so there's

[00:13:26] no false reports there's no anomalous activity that would be outside of that

[00:13:31] range that would deter like an executive report from being true to the metrics and

[00:13:35] that's something that we're grateful that Thousand Eyes has that availability

[00:13:40] to do that for the availability of which our road network is up. So how is the

[00:13:45] integration of Cisco's network intelligence solutions into WWE's

[00:13:49] broadcast RIC systems how has that impacted your team's ability to also

[00:13:54] proactively detect and respond to network anonymous because I would imagine

[00:13:58] that stuff like that can happen when you least expect it. Yeah so Neil we were

[00:14:03] fortunate and maybe a little bit not so fortunate to have a small team and we

[00:14:08] we wear many hats within our engineering TV engineering environment so we do have

[00:14:13] to be involved a lot different processes whether it's application support whether

[00:14:17] it's system infrastructure support and of course what I manage the network

[00:14:21] support so when we look at Cisco reliability especially with the

[00:14:27] applications that they've given us we want to make sure that especially now

[00:14:32] that we're in this new building that our day two ops are solidified so my what my

[00:14:37] team and what I'm involved in is making sure Thousand Eyes is built the way that

[00:14:42] we need it to be built in terms of the metrics and alert and that that are

[00:14:46] required within the platform so we've had Thousand Eyes for a number of years

[00:14:49] now we're looking forward to the new enhancements within Thousand Eyes and

[00:14:53] again that provides us with a lot of encouragement to the product itself and

[00:14:58] for us we want to make sure that the integrations within Thousand Eyes are

[00:15:03] seamlessly spread throughout our small team so that involves API connections

[00:15:07] into Slack into our ticketing systems we want to make sure we're alerted as fast

[00:15:12] as we can be so that way we can decrease that MTTR within our small team because

[00:15:17] we have to do this and again for media entertainment could be at any hour

[00:15:22] so Thousand Eyes we've proven that integration to work and we're very happy

[00:15:27] with what's moving forward with the product like I said in our in our new

[00:15:31] building we've also we also have a Cisco Nexus environment and we are the new

[00:15:36] owners of Cisco Nexus dashboard fabric controller and insights and we see a lot

[00:15:41] of opportunity there as well as we expand into our day to ops to have

[00:15:44] similar functionality but more specifically tightened up between our

[00:15:47] Nexus platforms and now that we're fully Nexus we want to make sure we have end

[00:15:51] to end visibility from a north-south east-west perspective of our gear in the

[00:15:56] TV studio because you know what we do in our TV studio is we take all the content

[00:16:00] from the road we edit it we repackage it we make cuts or whatever it is that's

[00:16:05] needed for our clients around the world and then we send it out using our

[00:16:09] infrastructure and that has very tight metrics tied around to it in terms of

[00:16:14] hey we just recorded Monday Night Raw we have to get this packaged out to our

[00:16:18] client you know within a certain time frame which is an SLA that we have signed

[00:16:22] to them so more than ever our network intelligence within Nexus dashboard is

[00:16:28] heavily relied upon so we're still working out a lot of our tests and a

[00:16:33] lot of our efficiencies within the program but especially being here at

[00:16:36] Cisco live and hearing some of the enhancements and announcements that

[00:16:39] have been made or that within the platform I think we're very excited to

[00:16:43] see what's going to be happening with the product so I can see the tag team of

[00:16:47] Thousand Eyes and Nexus dashboard really working hand in hand to help us more

[00:16:52] efficiently than ever before. Love that and before you came on the podcast today

[00:16:57] I was doing a little research on you and you've got a dual master's degree in

[00:17:00] management information systems and cyber security so I've got to ask how do you

[00:17:05] balance the need for network security with the demands of delivering high

[00:17:10] quality live broadcast and those moments where it's just do it? Yeah so network

[00:17:14] security for us at WWE in the years past has been a little bit of an obscurity so

[00:17:20] security itself was managed by our corporate team and in the past in the

[00:17:26] recent years we've been getting asked a lot about what are what are you doing

[00:17:30] Ralph what are you doing TV engineering team to help secure your network because

[00:17:34] you hear it all across the news cyber security tax whatever might be

[00:17:37] ransomware or malware it's news and that news gets to our CTO it gets to

[00:17:43] our CIO and it comes down the chain so more than ever before we have to be

[00:17:46] aware of what we're doing on our network and we have to be informed of how we're

[00:17:50] doing it so for me security kind of came inherently into it and for me being the

[00:17:57] type of person that welcomes things of open arms if it makes sense security was

[00:18:01] one of those things so going to school and honing in on areas where I've

[00:18:07] learned about or I've spoken about but I want to be more efficient on who was the

[00:18:11] right choice to me and to couple that with an it with an information systems

[00:18:15] undergraduate and master's degree just made the right sense and now I have the

[00:18:21] ability to speak and talk with members from our security team and also implement

[00:18:26] things from the network inside that are specific for TV because at the end of

[00:18:31] the day Neil we have to be secure but we can't let that limit our performance of

[00:18:35] getting the show out or getting our content out and just essentially being on

[00:18:38] the air. 100% with you and again looking at your career as someone that has

[00:18:43] evolved from that helpless technician to a senior IT leadership role is there any

[00:18:47] advice that you'd offer to any aspiring IT professionals maybe they're inspired

[00:18:51] by your own personal story here maybe they want to follow in your footsteps

[00:18:55] looking to advance their career in maybe media and entertainment any advice? I was

[00:19:00] thinking about that today as I was going through some of the sessions especially

[00:19:03] for the IT leadership program here at Cisco live and the one thing that I can

[00:19:08] think about that I would say to any of my peers or anyone even in general or

[00:19:12] in IT if they want to expand their career is don't be afraid to ask that

[00:19:17] question and don't be afraid to get that answer no because the worst thing you

[00:19:21] do is just get that answer no but then you just keep on moving so don't be

[00:19:25] afraid to ask those questions and don't be afraid to be the best investor in

[00:19:30] yourself because at the other day that's what matters and your career is what

[00:19:33] matters and what defines you as you move through any portion of your life.

[00:19:37] And your story is inspiring but the inspiration behind you there's so much

[00:19:42] more to that as well because outside of your professional responsibilities I was

[00:19:46] reading you volunteer at Operation Hope food pantry and have a passion for food

[00:19:51] insecurity so again how do you balance these commitments with your demanding

[00:19:55] role at WWE and do these experiences influence your work in some way as well

[00:20:00] any synergies there? Yeah so as I've been moving up in terms of leadership within

[00:20:04] the organization within the engineering department TV engineering one of the

[00:20:08] things that is important to me is to give back yeah and I asked myself the

[00:20:13] question in what ways would it mean a lot to me to get back and growing up

[00:20:18] with an Italian family especially with my mother always cooking a very hearty

[00:20:24] meal for the entire family and then some yeah we were a small family we wanted to

[00:20:29] make sure that no one really left any food on their plate and when I thought

[00:20:34] about that question of how can I give back it made a lot of sense to me to

[00:20:38] give back to an organization located in my hometown of Fairfield Connecticut

[00:20:41] called Operation Hope so they serve the greater Bridgeport Connecticut area in

[00:20:46] terms of having a food kitchen which I have worked at and help serve food to

[00:20:50] those need in that area and that's something that means a lot to me and to

[00:20:55] be able to balance that with work especially now in my enhanced

[00:21:00] leadership role within the team is it comes down to how can you get back so I

[00:21:06] like being able to give back from a tech and mentorship perspective but I also

[00:21:10] like to be able to give back for something that means a lot to me which

[00:21:13] is making sure people are fed and if we look at Cisco live here it's a

[00:21:17] incredibly cool event there's so much going on so much so many big

[00:21:21] conversations on the show floor and so many big announcements AI is predictably

[00:21:26] a big topic what excites you about Cisco love yeah I think the thing that most

[00:21:31] excites me about Cisco live are the AI announcements I mean that's the hottest

[00:21:36] you were right now too that's something that works for even on the WB side

[00:21:41] whichever facet that means I think when you look at AI and you look at what you

[00:21:46] have right now you want to make sure you can integrate it in the most secure way

[00:21:50] possible and the most efficient way possible so that's something that is

[00:21:53] intriguing because you never want to be lost behind something that's emerging so

[00:21:58] I want to make sure that doors open for me and for the company to explore that

[00:22:02] from a networking and security perspective and Cisco live is the

[00:22:06] perfect place to get that information about where it might be trending for the

[00:22:10] technology that we're using today especially within WWE the second thing

[00:22:14] about Cisco live that I love to be a part of is things like this Neil where

[00:22:19] I can kind of give back share my story and kind of show how WWE from a from a

[00:22:24] scale of I'm viewing it as a as a watcher or a viewer of the products or

[00:22:29] I'm excited about sports entertainment but you ask yourself the question

[00:22:34] especially here as as I was able to do a customer session last year how does

[00:22:38] everything work behind the scenes and what I like to do is I like to give back

[00:22:42] that knowledge to the tech individuals that are here who may be asking those

[00:22:46] questions so it's kind of again important for me to kind of give back in

[00:22:50] that way as well to represent the company to kind of give my story and

[00:22:54] then to inform others and maybe have them have their answer their questions

[00:22:57] answered. That's a powerful moment to finish on today but before I do WWE

[00:23:02] huge social presence huge website where would you like to point everyone

[00:23:07] listening if they want to find out more information about this kind of

[00:23:09] thing that we're talking about today? Yeah I would say from a fan

[00:23:12] perspective of course you can go to WWE.com you can get all the information

[00:23:16] need from for all of our superstars and where our events are or whatnot we also

[00:23:21] have nestled in there a corporate site where you can kind of get a little more

[00:23:24] feedback and information on how we structure as an organization and I

[00:23:30] would say if there's any questions feel free to reach out to any of the emails

[00:23:34] or links and descriptions that are on our website and usually they get funneled

[00:23:38] back to us. Can I ask a question to you? Yeah yeah of course. It's gonna be fun

[00:23:41] I asked this last year at my my customer speaking session this you're gonna be

[00:23:46] caught off guard in this but so Neil who is your favorite wrestler and if you had

[00:23:50] to finish a move what would it be? Jake the Snake DDT but I was I was also a big

[00:23:58] Hulk Hogan Randy Savage guy Rowdy Roddy Piper they were that was my kind of time

[00:24:02] and a funny story there as well I I was inspired by Gary Vaynerchuk back in the

[00:24:07] day and when I was doing the IT job I used to listen to his thing build the

[00:24:11] site also doing all that kind of thing found out it was a big WWE fan as well

[00:24:16] he's got a lot of figures in his office and I met him I interviewed him once in

[00:24:20] Armenia and once in backstage Las Vegas and I bought him a British Bulldog WWE

[00:24:25] figure so yeah there's a bit of history there but what about yourself? I grew up

[00:24:29] being a Sting fan. Sting was my favorite wrestler he worked for WCW at the time

[00:24:33] which we acquired and I believe 2001 and actually now that you asked me that

[00:24:37] question when I was on the road I had the distinct pleasure of meeting him and

[00:24:42] shaking his hand which was not something that I we typically do with our talent but

[00:24:47] I was given that opportunity and it was a childhood dream come true so. And

[00:24:51] favorite move? Scorpion Death Drop. Cool well I think this is something we could

[00:24:55] talk about for many more hours we'll hit the show floor again but I think we

[00:24:59] covered so much in our episode today from your entire career the inspiring

[00:25:04] stories that you shared and the work that you're doing outside of this and also

[00:25:08] the advice that you've offered and also love what you do with Cisco here

[00:25:12] Thousand Eyes how it's not confined to your fixed venues but giving us a look

[00:25:16] behind the scenes almost at those company television trucks that we may

[00:25:20] or may not have seen but more than anything just thanks for sharing your

[00:25:23] story today Ralf. You're very welcome. Wow for me what an incredible fascinating

[00:25:28] dive into the world of wrestling and technology with Ralph Riley and Ralph's

[00:25:33] journey from IT intern to directing WWE's broadcast IT operations I think it

[00:25:40] illustrates the critical role technology plays in delivering high-octane

[00:25:43] excitement of live wrestling to a global audience and by integrating Cisco's

[00:25:50] Thousand Eyes WWE is not only enhancing their broadcast capabilities but also

[00:25:56] ensuring that fans experiences are uninterrupted regardless of where

[00:26:01] they're watching in the world but the real star of the show here is Ralph's

[00:26:05] passion for innovation and I think it's only matched by his commitment to

[00:26:09] community service and personal growth so as we wrap up today's episode I'm left

[00:26:14] wondering about the future intersections of technology and entertainment how will

[00:26:20] emerging technologies continue to transform the way that we experience

[00:26:24] everything from our favorite shows to favorite events and this is where I ask

[00:26:29] you to share your thoughts and join the conversation about where tech meets

[00:26:33] entertainment sports and music concerts and everything in between so please

[00:26:39] share your thoughts email me tech blog writer at Outlook.com X LinkedIn

[00:26:44] Instagram just at Neil C Hughes let me know your thoughts and Mr. John Cena if

[00:26:50] you did listen to an episode I cordially invite you to slide into my DMS now we

[00:26:57] follow each other on X2 but enough for me it's time for me to get back out on

[00:27:02] the show floor so thank you for listening today and until next time

[00:27:06] don't be a stranger