'Our work for Milano-Cortina is helping create a new generation of network': HPE tells us what it takes to be the network backbone of the 2026 Winter Olympics

The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina was one of the most demanding in modern times, being spread across three regions in northern Italy, making it the most geographically-widespread games ever.

So with over 3,000 athletes needing reliable coverage and connection over 40 sites and venues at locations across 22,000 square kilometers, the challenge was set for HPE, the official network equipment hardware partner of the Winter Olympics.

TechRadar Pro went to the Milan to find out more on just what has gone into such a monumental effort.

"This is more than just connectivity"

"Our work for Milano-Cortina is helping create a new generation of network that is AI-driven, secure and automated," Claudio Bassoli, MD, HPE Italy, said at a media event in Milan attended by TechRadar Pro.

"This is more than just connectivity, this is about creating an ecosystem where every interaction, every piece of content and every operational decision is made easier in this way...networking is more than something bigger, an the enabler of emotion, immersion and safety - helping fans feel closer to the action, it helps media players to play faster, and helps the organizers deliver truly world-class events with confidence."

As Rami Rahim, EVP, President and GM, Networking, HPE, notes, "legacy networks do not cut it in the AI era, it's as simple as that - it's no longer about speeds and feeds, a network that is up is no longer necessarily a network that performs."

Nowhere is that more true than the Olympics, where HPE expects petabytes of data to be transferred across over a million connected devices, but the experience also needs to be seamless for visitors, coaches, media and the athletes themselves.

"Traditional networks were not designed for this kind of games," notes Stefano Andreucci, senior Sales director, South Europe, networking HPE, "they were not designed to do AI, native automation, end-to-end security and real-time adaptability, so we are delivering a network that is AI-native, that is secure, and that is easy to operate."

The sheer amount of hardware being used reads like a shopping list for any cloud or infrastructure technology enthusiast - in order to support the 2026 Winter Olympics, HPE deployed more than 4,900 access points, 1500 EX Ethernet switches, 70+ MX universal routers, 50+ SRX next gen firewalls, and 30+ smart session routers.

All of this is managed and monitored by HPE Mist, the company's cloud-based, AI-native system and platform for managing all the networks, allowing them to react and adapt in real-time to dynamic, high-pressure environments such as a crowd leaving an event venue.

The company also employed Marvis, its AI assistant designed to help with network issues, spotting problems before they get too elevated, saving time needed for analysis, whilst also training and upskilling staff much more quickly.

All of this comes together for what Rahim says is the ideal self-driving network, able to be self-configuring, self-optimizing and self-healing to hopefully deal with any workload or eventuality.

"I really feel like we are a part of history," Rahim concluded, "we've always at HPE been really good at delivering mission-critical networks, mission-critical infrastructure - and I don't think it gets any more mission-critical than this."

"I believe these games will set a benchmark for how future events and games will be operated...this is what HPE networking does better than anyone else - and why ultimately we were selected to be the networking technology partner of the Olympic Games."