Optus stars in HOYTS’ connected cinema experience

The HOYTS Group has announced an improved and fully immersive, connected cinema experience, using Optus’ network solutions to better serve millions of movie-goers.

Streamlined customer experiences including tickets sales, in-cinema food and drink orders and flexible payment options increasingly rely on a secure and dependable network, in addition to supporting functions such as scheduling of movies, trailers and pre-show content.

HOYTS’ self-service channels now account for 3 out of every 4 transactions, with customers preferring to purchase tickets online and through digital kiosks meaning a robust and reliable network solution has never been more important.

Ben Vella, Vice President of Enterprise and Mid-Market at Optus, said, “HOYTS is a perfect example of a traditional business that has evolved and future-proofed their operations by taking a digitally led approach and backed it with the resilience of SD-WAN.”

The whole-of-business digital journey began in 2016 and continues to evolve, with all operations now supported by a brand-new quad-redundant SD-WAN solution in action across 59 cinemas in Australia and New Zealand, with 497 screens and more than 59,000 seats.

Adam Wrightson, Group IT Director, HOYTS Group, said, “Optus is at the core of every dollar we make at HOYTS. In today’s digital world, there is not a single interaction that HOYTS has – with staff or customers – that doesn’t rely on Optus infrastructure.” 

In addition to SD-WAN connectivity, Optus led the domiciling of datacentres and a complete re-architecture of the existing network to include dual fibre and 4G redundancy. 

Mr Vella said Optus was looking forward to continued collaboration with HOYTS to deliver the best solutions.

“HOYTS is the region’s most progressive and innovative cinema exhibition company and as their trusted telecommunications partner, we have an obligation to ensure that HOYTS continues to deliver the best cinema experiences to its customers,” Mr Vella said. 

In addition to the cinematic offering, the HOYTS Group’s advertising arm, Val Morgan, relies on 2,500 Optus SIMs to manage and schedule content across its 10,000 plus screen digital out-of-home network (VMO).

The Optus network provides the critical communications infrastructure upon which VMO’s digital out-of-home network operates.

All aspects of the network including content delivery, network management and connectivity for its audience measurement Devices (AMDs) - which provide real-time telemetry data about audience demographics and volumes to deliver programmatic real-time advertising content - depend on the reliable, performant, and secure network that Optus provides.

Utilising Optus’ IoTFlex, offering, VMO is assured the performance and reliability it demands while also benefitting from the security capabilities IoTFlex provides in protecting against outside parties from compromising its digital signs.

SOLUTION:

●          Optus has implemented a Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN solution across HOYTS’ network, with dual Optus and nbn fibre plus Optus 4G backup as well as redundant hardware for added resiliency and Cisco Umbrella cloud security for 24x7 vulnerability assessment and response.   

●          Following the Optus-led implementation, HOYTS has seen a significant advance in network uptime and internet performance, driven by connection improvements of 20x combined with redundant hardware.

View the full Hoyts story here: Enterprise Customer Story: The HOYTS Group (45 sec) (youtube.com)

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Media contact:
Sarah Wolf
Optus Corporate Affairs
02 9037 8179
media@optus.com.au