Roskilde Festival’s unusual network needs are supported by nLogic and HPE Networking Mist AI switching and Wi-Fi solutions.

This is how nLogic and HPE Networking Mist AI once again support the operation of a festival with 130,000 participants.

The network cannot fail. Not for a single day.

Roskilde Festival is one of Europe’s largest festivals, with up to 130,000 participants every year. But it is much more than that. For eight days every year, a temporary city rises from scratch, complete with neighbourhoods, infrastructure, retail and volunteers from all over the world. Behind it all is a network that has to work from the first day to the last, regardless of weather, load and the unpredictable demands a festival of this scale brings.

There is no time for a plan B. Everything has to work 99.99% of the time.

Infrastructure rebuilt from scratch every year

What makes Roskilde Festival’s network situation unique is not just the scale. It is the combination of complexity, time pressure and how the organisation works.

The infrastructure is built in record time every year. It is run by a volunteer organisation, where people change from year to year and do not necessarily have deep technical experience. The systems must therefore be usable without weeks of training. And when the festival is over, everything is packed down again, only to start over the following summer.

On top of that, Roskilde Festival is constantly evolving. New features, new stages, new service areas. The network does not just have to work. It has to scale and adapt year after year, without complexity growing at the same rate.

The network covers the entire festival site, with hundreds of access points, kilometres of cabling and switches spread across stages, service areas, press centres and audience zones. The scale is considerable, and it is rolled out and taken down within a few weeks every year.

It is an infrastructure challenge on a scale very few businesses ever face.

The solution: intelligent automation with HPE Networking Mist AI

Together with nLogic, Roskilde Festival implemented HPE Networking Mist AI Wi-Fi and EX switches as the foundation of the festival’s network infrastructure. Choosing the Mist platform was no coincidence. It was a deliberate choice of an architecture built to handle exactly the combination of requirements the festival has: fast rollout, simple operations and high reliability.

A key part of the solution is integration with the festival’s own systems. Wi-Fi is configured automatically via API, based on order data from internal systems, and switching is integrated into a custom deployment system. This means the network can be rolled out quickly and consistently across the entire festival site, without requiring specialist knowledge from the people doing the work.

That is exactly the balance that is hard to strike: a system advanced enough to handle the complexity, yet simple enough for a volunteer organisation to run without weeks of courses beforehand.

The ambition goes beyond today’s operations. With HPE Networking Mist AI as the foundation, the work is moving towards a self driving network. A network that does not just react to problems, but continuously optimises itself based on real time data. It is a direction that fits naturally with Roskilde Festival’s ambition to grow and develop year by year, with technology that grows alongside it.

Visibility and proactive operations

Beyond the rollout itself, the Mist platform gives Roskilde Festival’s IT team continuous evidence that Wi-Fi is working across all locations. When issues are reported, response times are fast, and the platform sends proactive notifications about potential problems before they turn into real disruptions.

Security is built into the platform, not added afterwards. Network access is controlled and monitored from the ground up, even under the intense and dynamic conditions a festival creates.

In an environment with no time for reactive troubleshooting, that makes a decisive difference. The IT team can act on a problem before it affects anyone.

A partnership that keeps evolving

The collaboration between Roskilde Festival and nLogic is not only about technology. It is about having a partner that understands the unusual demands of an organisation like Roskilde Festival, and can turn them into solutions that work in practice, year after year. It is a partnership built on shared growth, shared knowledge and a mutual understanding of what it takes when the infrastructure cannot fail.

The collaboration with Roskilde Festival is an example of the kind of partnerships nLogic builds, where the technical solution is adapted to the organisation’s reality, not the other way around.

Roskilde Festival donates its entire surplus to humanitarian, non profit and cultural causes. Since 1971, the festival has generated around DKK 476 million, mainly benefiting children and young people. A working infrastructure is not just a technical matter. It is a prerequisite for the festival to continue its purpose.

nLogic and HPE Networking: a partnership built on expertise and trust

Roskilde Festival is one example of what nLogic and HPE Networking can deliver to customers with demanding network needs. nLogic helps organisations design, implement and operate network infrastructure that lasts, whether it is a temporary festival city, a data centre or a distributed enterprise architecture. With a local presence in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, nLogic Group combines deep technical expertise with close customer relationships.

The partnership with HPE Networking is not only commercial. It is a professional partnership built over many years. nLogic Group was named Partner of the Year for Support Services by HPE Networking, an award given to partners that demonstrate outstanding technical expertise, consistent delivery and excellent customer support. It recognises the daily effort nLogic’s technical teams put into ensuring customers get the full value of the solutions delivered.

As an HPE Networking partner at the highest level, nLogic has proven expertise in HPE Networking Mist AI. That is exactly the expertise Roskilde Festival draws on every single summer.