Skye Cloud are changing the game for website traffic and security

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West Ham & Skye Cloud
Images credit: Skye Cloud

As London’s fastest-growing cloud services provider, Skye Cloud ensure businesses receive an agile IT platform that is easy to manage and budget for.

With head offices situated in London and Kent, Skye Cloud has seen an average growth rate of 40% year-on-year since its establishment in 2012.

In the cloud computing sector, the service offerings of Skye Cloud, the specific terminology and concept used can be somewhat tricky to understand unless you are involved in the industry. However, the general person is highly likely to use a variety of cloud-based applications during day-to-day activities unknowingly.

Cloud computing involves delivering a variety of IT services over the internet, ranging from networking, computer and storage resources to software and application. Therefore, when an individual streams their favourite tv shows on Netflix, opens an app on their phone, or shares files over the internet, they are directly interacting with cloud services.

Through its services, Skye Cloud provides companies with access to the core infrastructure, features, functionality and files of a cloud network, without having to purchase, store or maintain the system on their own devices or premises.

The benefits for organisations to jump on board with Skye Cloud include:

  • Centralised storage location – Cloud storage is instrumental for organisations whose staff require access to the same information and data to do their work. Enabling new means of collaboration and efficiency amongst colleagues. Users can rent cloud storage at a low price rather than using expensive external hard drives.
  • Cloud backup resiliency – The reliability inherent with cloud backup solutions comes from holding multiple copies of files and storing data in alternative locations. This layer of resiliency ensures that data will not be misplaced in the event of an unexpected outage or at a provider’s data centre.
  • Disaster recovery solutions – The cloud provides a fast, cost-effective disaster recovery solution, to protect a company’s data in the case of an unplanned catastrophic event.
  • Cost saving – Companies can save as much as 40% annually by migrating virtualised workload instances in the cloud, as costs are directly in line with usage.
  • Consistent updates – The software is continuously being improved and evolving to increase things like speed, capability, security, efficiency, and reliability.
  • Business continuity and business intelligence – an organisation can rely on the cloud to keep its data and applications active even if a disaster physically impacts the business.
  • Improved collaboration – Cloud collaboration tools offer benefits to employees, such as file versioning or real-time editing at any time. They can access data, applications, and services remotely from any device.
  • Increased capability – The cloud can increase or decrease, depending on what the business needs.
  • Performance and speed – Organisations can access high-performance hardware and software to improve their operations.
  • Data security – All clouds offer some degree of encryption, deterrent, and compliance, but private clouds remain the most secure from outsiders.

As a relatively recent collaboration, Skye Cloud has been West Ham United Football Club’s Official Virtual Private Server Network partner since 2020. This partnership has been extraordinarily valuable for the football club, with the organisation having a large following base demanding always-on access to live content, online merchandise and ticketing 24/7.

The Club’s fanbase banks on the website providing live updates and club news throughout the year. During a regular season, West Ham brings in an average of 58,000 home fans, with every match demanding a 10x spike in website visitor traffic, meaning the website needs to be able to perform as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Skye Cloud has enhanced the way the Club’s website operates, covering everything from organisational cyber security to software updates. Ensuring no lapses in website performance, Skye Cloud has partnered with Cloudflare, providing a secure and highly responsive match-day website experience.

As a result of the collaboration between Skye Cloud, Cloudflare and West Ham United, not only has the partnership eliminated lost merchandise and ticket revenue due to site outages and poor load times, but it has also significantly cut cloud hosting costs, with 93% of match-day requests offloaded to Cloudflare, coping with 10X traffic surges absorbed and crucially maintaining 100% uptime.

By bringing Cloudflare on board and managing the website traffic so efficiently, Skye Cloud has been able to pass savings on to West Ham United as reduced hosting fees. Thus being beneficial to all parties.

A recent addition to Skye Cloud is their new 321 service wraparound.

This new service has been specifically designed to allow the creation of a bespoke cloud solution to run on public, private or hybrid cloud, whichever suits consumer and business needs more conveniently.

Skye Cloud promises a bespoke cloud solutions strategy for the customer, followed by the company’s tried and tested migration process. The customer will be introduced to a commercial and technical account manager from day one and can expect face-to-face support, every time.

In addition to West Ham United, for the past 10 years, Skye Cloud has assisted over 30 charities and companies, saving them up to 25% on their annual IT budget.

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How Musco Lighting is Transforming the Game

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Image Credit: Musco Lighting

Lighting quality, uniformity, and control are three of the most important elements a football venue must master. Done well, they elevate the standard of play, enhance the fan experience, and ensure world-class broadcasts. 

Modern football demands more than just traditional floodlights. From community fields to elite stadiums, facilities need solutions that combine performance, efficiency, and reliability.

Musco Lighting believes their systems, which are engineered LED technologies, modular mini-pitch packages, and advanced control platforms are the key to achieving these goals.

Musco’s “Projects Made Simple” approach offers complete, tailored lighting solutions designed for every level of the game. Central to this is Total Light Control for LED, a system that provides precise light distribution while reducing glare and minimising environmental spill.

Complementing Total Light Control for LED is Musco’s Mini-Pitch System, developed in the U.S. Soccer Foundation. These compact, all-in-one facilities combine fencing, goals, benches, storage, and integrated lighting, transforming underused spaces into safe, vibrant football environments.

Features of Musco’s lighting include; uniform illumination across the pitch, therefore eliminating dark zones; advanced glare reduction, which ensures comfort for players, spectators and surrounding areas of the pitch; and smart monitoring, which allows operators to remotely control and schedule the lighting. The lighting company also uses sustainable practices with the ability to have energy savings of up to 60%. 

Musco’s systems have already been used by some of the biggest names in football.

At Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal FC, the installation of Musco’s SportsCluster Green LED system has been transformative according to Arsenal’s Stadium and Facilities Director, John Beattie.

“It is important for both players and fans alike that we have top-quality lighting for the club’s evening fixtures and Musco’s new floodlights provide just that.” he said. 

AFC Bournemouth faced the challenge of upgrading their facilities following promotion to the Premier League in 2015 but Club General Manager Liz Finney said the company’s product was crucial.

“We needed to install a new pitch lighting system to meet the requirements of both the club and the Premier League in a fairly short space of time. Musco delivered on all counts.” Finney said. 

Elsewhere, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Audi Field in Washington D.C. have reported improved player visibility, enhanced broadcast quality, and major energy savings following their adoption of Musco’s technology.

Australia’s football landscape presents unique challenges. Facilities often serve multiple sports, grassroots participation is rapidly expanding, and professional leagues increasingly demand higher broadcast standards.

Musco’s systems offer important benefits to help with this development, these include mini-pitch installations, which could expand access to safe well lit spaces in urban areas, which would help to support grassroots growth.

Another benefit could be that elite stadiums could meet higher broadcast standards to match international scale games. Finally, using Musco would create energy savings and have a reduced environmental aspect.

Musco’s football lighting solutions are much more than a technical upgrade, they also represent a shift in how football is played, viewed, and experienced. By pairing innovation with reliability, they support the game from grassroots fields to international arenas.

As Australia looks to strengthen its football infrastructure, Musco’s proven effective technology could help bridge the gap between community play and world-class competition.

Overall, the use of Musco Lighting systems could greatly improve football in Australia, whether you are playing or watching the game.

GIS Industry Masterclass Highlights Pathways for Women’s Sport

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Image Credit: Soccerscene

This month, the Global Institute of Sport (GIS) held an industry masterclass with guest speakers discussing the future of development in women’s sport.

The masterclass panel had two key speakers:

  • Chantella Perera, General Manager of Sport at KOJO.
  • Yael Reed, a sports marketing consultant who has worked with Newcastle Jets, Football Australia and Netball NSW.

These two industry experts, representing different areas of the women’s sporting world, delved into answering the event’s important goal of growth and sponsorship in women’s sport.

The role that media and commercial partners have in elevating women’s sport was a key point. Discussion was centred around the importance of encouraging broadcasters to invest in women’s sport directly and not just through male sport avenues.

Yael Reed spoke about the importance of media revenue being invested into women’s sports.

“Media partners with broadcast and commercial revenue is ultimately what is invested in the sport, and you need to invest to grow,” she said.

“Broadcast and commercial revenue also contributes to paying the players

“Media and coverage revenue is what is invested into the sport and their support is needed to help sports to grow, but also to benefit from, Women’s sport is no longer the steak knives.”

Chantella Perera, a former professional sportsperson and with KOJO a big leader in women’s sports events, outlined the position of women’s sports:

“From grassroots we see more equity with facilities and infrastructure for girls now. From my field in the event world lens, the investment from clubs and leagues is improving year on year. The disparity is still huge,” Perera said.

“There must be money invested to grow it. Yes, it is changing—a lot more females can do it as a job.

“But I feel we are still talking a lot but not doing a lot. People can make action, and it doesn’t have to be huge actions. Making those small steps towards that change is where we move forward.

“The Matildas’ success at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup has sparked a rise in interest towards women’s football in the country.”

Perera, however, commented on the slow impact it has produced:

“It did have an impact with the eyes and traction, but we are still waiting for the influx of cash,”

“I’d challenge the effect and ask: two years on, have we seen enough from it? I just want to see if we can get more from it.”

A key point regarding investing in women’s sport and central to the discussion was how to invest in the differences between men’s and women’s sport.

Reed expressed her key ways in which this step can be tackled:

“It’s important for brands to consider Who they are trying to connect with? The benefit of women’s sport is it’s fresh and new (compared to men’s sport). There’s a lot to be unexpected. There are amazing people playing the sport and their story needs to be told,”

“I think when you can connect with athletes, with clubs, and harness that promotion and opportunity that’s there with women’s sport.

“The opportunity in women’s sport is to expect the unexpected.” Reed highlighted.

The important question of brand alignment became central to the discussion, with the equation for branding being relevance multiplied by emotion equals impact.

To harness the sponsor’s relevance to the team and the sport, harnessing that emotion and being relevant to the fans and showing up for them and having an impact promotes any brand.

An example presented by Reed was the Suzuki partnership with the Swifts:

“By putting players in their content and in the car the swift has been really positive,”

“The business case is there. We now have a greater asset in women’s sport to take your brands to the next level

“To have a women’s demographic is such a good asset for business branding.”

Women’s sport has faced challenges in gaining support and funding to expand and delve into the ever-growing popularity of the women’s game.

Sponsorships and businesses trying to grow their portfolio and market shouldn’t underestimate the power that women’s sport and football have.

It is unique and it is unexpected, as was discussed centrally in this masterclass.

The ways to grow women’s sport are there, and the benefits are evident. Sponsors need to take the necessary step and will undoubtedly reap the rewards if they do so.

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