CieloVision Powers the Next Generation of Smart Franchises with Hewlett Packard Enterprise

I founded Cielo with a simple but powerful vision. I wanted to help multi-unit franchise businesses leverage resources like real-time data and artificial intelligence to run smarter and reach higher goals more quickly.

We’re headquartered in Plano, Texas, but our work takes us nationwide to connect with businesses like retail stores, restaurants, gyms, and even trampoline parks. As different as our customers may be, they share one key challenge: They need more efficient ways to operate at scale and are looking for tech that solves real problems without being too complicated to manage.

Customers demand smarter, faster options

Our clients didn’t just need faster, smarter, more automated options. They needed these options across dozens (or even hundreds) of different locations. They also wanted centralized, real-time visibility into areas like staffing, sales, inventory, and safety.

Unfortunately, our early deployments weren’t built to scale. Our edge servers were highly fragmented, and latency was a concern. The lack of visibility led to issues like higher IT overhead and limited expansion opportunities.

Clearly, we couldn’t get where we wanted to be with our existing systems. Cielo needed something built with reliability, scale, and centralized management in mind. We were searching for a partner capable of delivering enterprise-grade compute power at the edge—and Hewlett Packard Enterprise became that partner.

Striking the right balance of scalability and management

HPE had the right balance of hardware, edge scalability, and remote management. The HPE ProLiant DL145 gave us compute optimized for these AI workloads at the edge, and HPE Compute Ops Management provided a single pane of glass to manage them effectively across the nation at a reasonable cost.

“HPE ProLiant DL145 gave us compute optimized for these AI workloads at the edge, and HPE Compute Ops Management gave us a single pane of glass to manage them effectively across the nation at a reasonable cost.”

Working with HPE marked a turning point for our business. We now had the ability to run AI workloads locally and a cloud-like management interface that let us deploy, update, and monitor servers all across the country. These additions transformed previously tedious, site-by-site tasks into streamlined and hyper-efficient processes so we could scale CieloVision nationally without concerns about runaway costs or downtime.

Finally, we had the right infrastructure to give our customers what they’d been asking for.

Creating smart(er) entertainment centers

We can do so much more now than before, and our clients have enjoyed the benefits. One example is the total transformation of Altitude Trampoline Parks.

Altitude was one of those customers seeking smarter, faster, more automated operations to support their fast-growing international franchise. Running AI workloads locally opened the door to numerous real-time capabilities.

With HPE, we transformed Altitude locations into smart family entertainment centers, where we can process:

• guest traffic patterns
• employee check-ins
• concession sales
• marketing campaigns

All of this processing happens at the edge without latency or dependency on cloud bandwidth.

“With HPE, we transformed Altitude Trampoline Parks into smart family entertainment centers, so now we can process real-time guest traffic, employee check-ins, concession sales, and marketing campaigns all at the edge without latency or dependency on cloud bandwidth.”

We run AI-powered computer vision locally for safety monitoring, queue management, and visitor engagement. Complete integrations with point-of-sale (POS) systems also let us create and deliver dynamic upselling opportunities through targeted digital signage. When reviewing audience analytics in real time, we use HPE Compute Ops Management to change dynamic ads on the digital signage and enhance engagement.

Targeted upselling and smart signage have led to a 20% increase in revenue for Altitude. Automated compliance monitoring has also drastically reduced total labor hours for a healthier bottom line, and AI-driven security alerts have contributed to improved incident response times. Our customers can't say enough about the experience:

“The Cielo Vision platform has revolutionized the way we do business at my Altitude locations by providing enhanced customer experience, mitigating risk, and driving additional revenues. The Cielo partnership has turned my old digital displays and made them smart. The AI system anonymously detects customer demographics and sentiment and allows for improved engagement by directing people people where to go, what not to do, or showcasing a concession item at the right time. Cielo and my team are working on several more AI tasks, which we will launching in the near future. This has been a game changer for my parks, so we plan to scale throughout my other locations.” —Ben Thomas, Multi-unit Altitude Owner

Reducing overhead and maximizing scalability

For the Cielo team, the benefits of partnering with HPE go far beyond what guests see.

The AI-driven insights and alerting within HPE Compute Ops Management allow us to monitor our entire collection of edge servers via a centralized cloud experience. Instead of tackling deployments one at a time, we can take care of multiple locations at once, reducing overhead significantly.

Apart from that, increased scalability and reliability are among the biggest benefits of our HPE partnership. We know we can order any number of HPE ProLiant servers, stand them up anywhere, and run AI at the edge in dozens or even hundreds of locations and manage them all seamlessly. Before adopting HPE, none of that was possible.

“The biggest benefit of working with HPE has been scalability and reliability. We know we can order any number of HPE ProLiant servers, stand them up anywhere, and run AI at the edge in dozens or even hundreds of locations and manage them all seamlessly.”

The collaboration with the HPE team has been just as important as the technology. They understand the challenges of multi-unit businesses and have worked alongside us as we’ve co-engineered solutions that fit the unique needs of franchise owners and scaled across multiple verticals. They’ve made all the difference in delivering meaningful outcomes for our clients.

A new era brings a new category of smart franchises

Partnering with HPE has allowed us to deliver a next-generation franchise technology platform that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. For Altitude, that means better safety and higher sales margins. For other valued customers, it means reduced complexity, improved visibility, and a greater ability to adapt to the most rapid industry changes.

"Together, HPE and Cielo are enabling a new category of smart franchises that effectively leverage AI and edge compute to help businesses grow revenue, reduce costs, and improve their guest experiences.”

Together, HPE and Cielo are enabling a new category of smart franchises that effectively leverage AI and edge compute to help businesses grow revenue, reduce costs, and improve their guest experiences.