MWC 2026: How Extreme Masters AI-Driven Venue Networks

Speaking with Technology Magazine at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2026 in Barcelona, Extreme Networks’ CTO EMEA Markus Nispel outlined how Platform One revolutionises networking with agentic AI, scaling from stadiums to enterprises.

“Platform One was designed and created from scratch to support AI and agentic workflows specifically,” Markus explains. “This really starts from bottom up with a clean data architecture. 

“We re-architected our entire data pipeline end to end to feed into AI effectively, then scaled AI on top of it like a software engineering exercise.

This allows for the management of “a couple of million network devices and tens of millions of endpoints,” leveraging years of cloud experience for seamless AI scaling.

Stadiums and the demand for AI precision

Stadium Wi-Fi and 5G networks often struggle to provide connectivity due to extreme user density, which causes interference and bandwidth bottlenecks.

To combat this issue, Extreme Networks began working with stadiums in the US – mainly for the NFL – in 2013 and has since branched out to other sporting leagues in the US and now Europe.

Now deploying its solutions at Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United, Extreme Networks is displaying its mastery in the high-density connectivity domain.

“It’s a combination of art, science and experience to serve 50,000 or 100,000 fans in a stadium – it’s not easy,” Markus shares. “The design and architecture is critically important. We’re using AI to optimise the RF environment and to deliver a unique experience to fans in the stadium itself.”

Extreme Networks’ Wi-Fi technology is being used by the stadiums hosting England and Scotland’s group games at this year’s World Cup, meaning fans heading to these games will experience a different matchday experience.

Fans can expect stadium-wide high-performance Wi-Fi from car parks to turnstiles for seamless digital ticketing and swift entry, as well as mobile food and drink ordering, letting them stay seated and skip half-time queues.

The reliable connections will allow fans to share photos and videos, and watch replays, even in a packed 65,000-seat stadium in locations including the Gillette Stadium in Boston and Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium.

Acknowledging that a lack of connectivity in stadiums is frustrating for fans and competitors alike, Markus emphasises that connectivity does not take people away from the stadium environment – with the right solution, it can connect people more deeply than ever before.

He explains: “Teams want to connect to the fans. They always say that when you’re in the heart of what that team is all about and you can’t communicate with your fans, that’s a problem.

“Fans obviously also want to share their experience outwards, so that’s a multiplier as well. 

“This means that all these venues and teams are rethinking their digital strategy – including the stadium experience.”

Markus is keen to reiterate the importance of AI edge analytics and the role it plays in enhancing fan engagement and operations.

Data, he adds, is at the heart of this strategy.

“It’s all about the data that the network is producing,” he says. “Optimising network performance is one thing, but creating and generating insights and analytics around fan behaviour and optimising offers towards those fans is another. Data allows us to optimise the flow of the crowd within the venue, for example, and also you can create new services and offerings on top of that.”

Security and trust are more important than ever

When you consider the sheer size and scale of stadiums and the quantity of fans, team members and operational staff inside, it brings into perspective just how many endpoints there are.

Because of this, cybersecurity cannot be an afterthought and is mission-critical to the success of connectivity.

Countering cyber threats and protecting those inside busy arenas is also something Extreme is working on.

“Stadiums are tricky because they are dense environments,” Markus says.

“The technology we’ve deployed in the last few years allows us to segment the network infrastructure effectively – because you not only have fans at the stadium that you’re connecting, but you also have the operational technology of the stadium itself from press to other various teams.

“Segmentation has to be able to integrate with security monitoring tools for threat response. That is our solution to that problem.”

Of the back of this, Markus reemphasises the importance of transparency and explainability when it comes to network tools. 

A top priority for Extreme is to ensure this remains a priority while also balancing the other demands and necessities required for projects of this calibre.

“Explainability is critically important as we look at using AI for network operations,” he says. “Trust drives adoption, and you can only gain the trust of your users using those tools with transparency. 

“Within Platform One, we expose all of the reasoning and planning that our agents do to our users so they can really understand how certain decisions are being made. 

“This allows the user to action their own approval in a human-in-the-loop type of setting. This means humans are always in control, but with the knowledge and the transparency on how an agentic system came to that result.”

What tech execs can learn from Extreme

When it comes to agentic AI deployment, Markus urges the first step senior tech leaders should action is finding a case in which AI can help create a solution to.

He says: “You should think about how to use AI to create new experiences. It’s not just about automation and efficiency, but how can you leverage the technology to do something unique.

“Expose your employees to it, let them play around with it. Once then you have identified what you want to go after, ensure that you assemble a cross-functional team and try to deliver a capability end to end.”

He encourages conversations around AI to move past the talking stage.

“Don’t just talk about AI, experience it,” he concludes. 

“Use it in your private life and your business life alike because we’re at a huge inflexion point that is changing not only the networking industry, but society and humanity.”