The final has been set. 32 teams have played 62 games on the road to
arguably the most sought after trophy in the world of sports. Only two games
remain: The third-place match between tournament surprises Korea and Turkey,
and the eagerly awaited final clash between soccer giants Germany and
Brazil. The 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan has provided its fill of
excitement and heartbreak as world soccer powers France, Italy, Portugal,
and Argentina were cast out of the contest at the hands of young upstarts
such as Korea, Turkey, and Senegal.
And throughout the tournament, Avaya (www.avaya.com)
has provided the converged voice/data network, which has handled the needs
of stadium operators, team and tournament officials, players, the mass of
global sports media, and more. And according to Avaya spokespeople, the
network has performed at peak efficiency. The company said the FIFA World
Cup network carried nearly four terabytes of data between May 31 and June
14. At its current level of operation, by the end of the games the network
is expected to ultimately carry 10 terabytes of data or 10 trillion bytes,
which is equivalent to six years and seven months of continuous MP3
download-and-play music.
For the first time at a FIFA World Cup event, end users are able to place
phone calls using IP telephony. This technology enables FIFA to establish
its voice communications on the same network as its data operations. The
network is carrying nearly 100,000 IP phone calls a day. The VoIP
capabilities are part of a larger IP over ATM network linking each of the 20
stadiums, the two international media centers, and each of the national (one
in Korea/one in Japan) headquarters. Avaya has deployed 25 Avaya IP
communications servers with more than 7,000 voice endpoints throughout the
FIFA network. The products are part of Avayas Enterprise Class Internet
Protocol Solutions (ECLIPS) product line.
According to Doug Gardner, Avayas managing director for the FIFA World
Cup program, Avayas IP solution for FIFA has proved up to the challenge.
Like any big business, communications is at the heart of FIFAs
operations, Gardner said. From managing team logistics and accrediting
reporters to confirming accommodations and reporting match results, there
simply is no room for compromise or error. Weve delivered an IP telephony
solution that is saving FIFA money without compromising on features,
reliability, or scalability of the network.
Another popular application at this years event is Wireless LAN
access. Hundreds of executives and staff are connecting to e-mail and the
Internet using Avaya Wireless LAN cards. Additionally, journalists using the
technology are able to connect to the FIFA World Cup network without being
tethered to a workstation or wired phone at a stadium or the International
Media Center. Instead, they can move freely and easily to various locations
within the media center and the stadiums, staying constantly in touch with
editors and continuously able to transmit stories and photography from
anywhere at any time.
In addition to managing the networking needs for the 2002 FIFA World Cup
Korea/Japan, Avaya has signed on as a sponsor of the 2003 FIFA Womens
World Cup hosted by the Peoples Republic of China, and the 2006 World Cup
in Germany.
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