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Boston Red Sox: Page 3 of 4

The Red Sox almost lost their travel SAN last year when it fell 14 feet to the ground while it was being loaded on an airplane at the Baltimore airport. Fortunately for Boston, it was the last game before a three-day All-Star break. The Red Sox called EMC's support team, and the system needed only minor repairs. It was ready to go by the next road swing.

Conley says technology was a major focus when the current ownership took over the club in 2002. Besides the video system, the Red Sox store scouting and statistical reports, financial information, and broadcast support applications on their SAN. Still, Conley says the IT budget is around $1.5 million -- or about the price of a utility infielder. And it's hard to determine ROI for a SAN that has little direct financial implications.

"The baseball operation's happy," Conley says when asked about the SAN's major benefit. "If it's not available, the players are beside themselves. They don't understand the video system, they say, 'Just get another' if it doesn't work. Some of it might be plain old baseball superstition, but the players depend on it."

Then again, if it were just superstition, they would have stuck with the HP system they used to win the World Series.

Dave Raffo, Senior Editor, Byte and Switch