Telkom received the highest praise for its communications network and quality of work during the FIFA Confederations Cup. Building on this success, the World Cup will simply be a case of the same, only bigger.

TALE OF TWO TOURNAMENTS

The FIFA Confederations Cup (FCC) is widely understood to be a dry run for the world’s greatest sporting event, the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This time, South Africa is hosting the twin spectacles. While the former has already run its course, to great acclaim and all-round enjoyment, all eyes are now on the “main event”, the World Cup in 2010. The importance of a ‘dress rehearsal’ on a somewhat smaller scale than ‘the real thing’ almost goes without saying. The importance and scale of the World Cup quite simply demands it. And ICT implementation folks are used to it – proof-of-concept implementations are common these days.

And it’s not as if anyone’s complaining. For its trouble the host nation gets two major crowd pullers in two successive years and a marketing investment of almost inestimable value, one that keeps yielding dividends for years on end.

MATCHING SKILLS

Professional services company MATCH Services (MATCH) was chosen by FIFA to provide ticketing, accommodation and event IT services to it for the next two Cup pairings – the FCC 2009 and the 2010 FIFA World Cup, as well as the FCC in 2013 and FIFA World Cup in 2014.

To operate local activities in connection with the events, the Swiss-based company formed a wholly-owned South African subsidiary, MATCH Event Services.

Executive co-chairman Dick Wiles says MATCH’s IT objective for the 2009 event was to provide systems and services that would enable its successful operational delivery, while also meeting the expectations of key FIFA user groups (including officials and media). This involved:

• A number of mission-critical software systems supporting accreditation, staffing and transportation
• A private network connecting event locations in support of the FIFA delegation and staff, the event organising committee [LOC] and thousands of media representatives
• A massive number of network and communication devices, computers, printers, servers and cabling for all event locations, and
• An event monitoring and support operation integrating resources from all organisations involved in event IT, including MATCH’s own and those of the LOC, key sponsors and service providers.

PICKING PROVIDERS

MATCH made use of world-famous contractors to manage the complex requirement, including software development company (and 2010

FIFA World Cup sponsor) Satyam for the core event systems. In addition, South Africa’s premier telco networks Telkom (a National Supporter of the 2010 FIFA World Cup) and MTN (also a 2010 FIFA World Cup Sponsor), will provide the communications component. Telkom provided fixed telephony and data infrastructure across the event’s geographical spread and duration, while MTN brought a mobile component to the network, augmenting Telkom’s network and adding mobility to the mix.

Wiles says the scope of the FCC event and the forthcoming World Cup require high quality data transportation (and broadcast, for which MATCH is not responsible), placing heavy demands on Telkom’s installation. “Of course, the World Cup requirements will be far more significant,” he says. “But we are confident that Telkom will be able to deliver.”

RIGHT FIRST TIME

Where stadium work is concerned, MATCH depended on the LOC and venue management to allocate enough time to complete the work. Wiles says that the time available for overlaying FIFA Confederations Cup infrastructure was particularly tight, but says this should be different during the World Cup.

FIFA CONFEDERATIONS CUP IN A NUTSHELL Dates: 14 June – 28 June Teams: 8 (from 6 confederations) Venues: 4 (Ellis Park, Johannesburg; Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria; Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein; and Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg) Total attendance: 584 894 Average attendance: 36 556 Matches played 16 Goals scored 44 (2.75 per match) Champions Brazil (third title), Runner-up United States, Third place Spain, Fourth South Africa Highest number of defeats: 3 (South Africa and USA) Most yellow cards: 10 (South Africa and Spain) Most shots at goal: David Villa (24), Kaka (21), Bernard Parker (South Africa, 18), Fernando Torres (18), Clint Dempsey (17) Top number of goals: Brazil (14), Spain (11), USA (8), South Africa (4), Egypt (4)

Wiles reports that the team was working “almost 24/7” throughout May 2009 to get ready on time. “We didn’t really have a full month. We normally like to test, test and re-test, but in some cases we didn’t get to test at all. So we had to make sure we got the installation right the first time.”

For the World Cup, more realistic time frames will allow work to progress in more orthodox fashion. Infrastructure build-out began at the beginning of 2009.

VENUE AND KEY SITE CAMPUSES

Inside each stadium, Telkom installed one primary and one backup carrier room, each equivalent to that of a small city. From these, voice and data infrastructure was branched out across the stadium, and each was separately connected to a different exchange. This existing infrastructure will also be used for the World Cup.

Key locations such as ticketing and accreditation centres, where uptime is of the essence, and all locations within the campus, offices and media tribune were redundantly-connected to carrier rooms.

NO SIGNIFICANT OUTAGES

It speaks volumes for Match and its suppliers like Telkom that there were no significant outages during the event. “One always expects the unexpected, such as a damaged circuit or a power failure,” says Wiles. “Even when that happened, the backup always worked.”

Telkom was impressive, he notes.

“They’ve come a remarkable distance in putting down the necessary infrastructure since the first time we took stock. The great thing is that this will leave a lasting legacy for South Africans.”

Something else that impressed Wiles about Telkom was its professionalism and the standard of its processes. He says Match would generally be tempted to use its own operations centre to monitor telecommunications, but Telkom’s NNOC was more than up to the task. “Consequently, come debriefing time, networking wasn’t even on the radar.”

MORE OF THE SAME

Wiles, who has personally been involved in every FIFA World Cup since 1994, as well as the past two Confederations Cups, has no doubt that Telkom will shine again during next year’s tournament.

“We’ve proved that with proper processes, fundamental architectures and operations, delivery is almost a given. Then it simply becomes an issue of scale – 10 stadiums instead of four, more hotels, more ticketing venues – it’s not going to be anything new.”

With that assurance, we can only say Ke nako!

C O N T A C T

Dick Wiles
Executive co-chairman responsible for IT delivery: MATCH SERVICES AG
Tel: +27-78-455-7550
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
URL: www.match-ag.com

Nonku Dlamini
Executive: Government Sales
Telkom SA Ltd
Tel: 012 680 7172
Fax: 012 680 7415
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: www.telkom.co.za