Nutanix Teams Up with Caesars Entertainment and UNLV to Power Black Fire Innovation Hub
The Innovative Technology Hub is a Space to Test and Showcase New Gaming and Hospitality Concepts
SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Nutanix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTNX), a leader in enterprise cloud computing, announced today that it has teamed up with Caesars Entertainment and UNLV to power “Black Fire Innovation,” a hub where new gaming and hospitality concepts will be created and tested, to accelerate technology advancement in the gaming and entertainment industry.
“Black Fire will serve as a hub for technology innovation in our industry, and for that, we need a platform for accelerating time to value and delivering the performance, availability, and simplified management that’s critical to our success,” said Salil Kulkarni, EVP & Interim Chief Information Officer of Caesars Entertainment. “As a Nutanix customer, we knew the benefits their software could bring to this environment and decided to team up with them to power Black Fire.”
Black Fire Innovation is a 43,000 square-foot space that includes elements of mock hotel rooms, a casino floor and sportsbook, an esports studio with arena-style seating and virtual reality facilities. This multipurpose space will allow UNLV, Caesars and partners to develop and test new concepts using a mock integrated resort environment. Black Fire Innovation brings industry leaders and disruptors together in one space to advance current trends in hospitality and gaming technology to propel the industry forward.
The Nutanix solution at Black Fire delivers the power and flexibility needed to test disparate technology innovations. The space is powered by Nutanix HCI software with AHV virtualization and Xi IoT for real-time analysis of IoT use cases. Additionally, the simplicity of the interface and ease of deployment make Nutanix HCI especially suitable for an environment where many professionals will be testing their technology in a real-world environment.
“Black Fire Innovation brings together UNLV’s innovation with Caesars’ market leadership to create space where the technology community – from startups to students – can work together to move the industry forward,” said Dave Gwyn, SVP, U.S. West, East, Public Sector and Latin America at Nutanix. “Nutanix removes the complexity of the underlying technology infrastructure so the team and partners at Black Fire can focus on innovation.”
Research within the Black Fire Innovation space will focus on emerging technologies, which may include blockchain, artificial intelligence and virtual reality with interdisciplinary collaborations across areas such as architecture, psychology and fine arts.
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About Nutanix
Nutanix is a global leader in cloud software and hyperconverged infrastructure solutions, making infrastructure invisible so that IT can focus on the applications and services that power their business. Companies around the world use Nutanix Enterprise Cloud OS software to bring one-click application management and mobility across public, private and distributed edge clouds so they can run any application at any scale with a dramatically lower total cost of ownership. The result is organizations that can rapidly deliver a high-performance IT environment on demand, giving application owners a true cloud-like experience. Learn more at www.nutanix.com or follow us on Twitter @nutanix.
About Caesars Entertainment Corporation
Caesars Entertainment is one of the world’s most diversified casino-entertainment providers and the most geographically diverse U.S. casino-entertainment company. Since its beginning in Reno, Nevada, in 1937, Caesars Entertainment has grown through development of new resorts, expansions and acquisitions. Caesars Entertainment’s resorts operate primarily under the Caesars®, Harrah’s® and Horseshoe® brand names. Caesars Entertainment’s portfolio also includes the Caesars Entertainment UK family of casinos. Caesars Entertainment is focused on building loyalty and value with its guests through a unique combination of great service, excellent products, unsurpassed distribution, operational excellence and technology leadership. Caesars Entertainment is committed to its employees, suppliers, communities and the environment through its PEOPLE PLANET PLAY framework. For more information, please visit www.caesars.com/corporate.
About UNLV
UNLV is a doctoral-degree-granting institution of more than 30,000 students and 3,500 faculty and staff that is recognized among the top three percent of the nation’s research institutions – those with “very high research activity” – by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. UNLV offers a broad range of respected academic programs and is committed to recruiting and retaining top students and faculty, educating the region’s diversifying population and workforce, and driving economic activity for Southern Nevada. Learn more at unlv.edu.
Contacts
Jennifer Massaro
Senior Director, Global Public Relations
403-309-6886
jennifer.massaro@nutanix.com