World Cup is also a major event of the IT industry

No previous world football championship has required such high technology and technical infrastructure as this year. World Cup sponsors and FIFA technical partners like Avaya, Telekom and Toshiba have played a prominent role.

" The entire organization process is supported by multiple networking information systems together and people can log in at all relevant locations ," said Ralph Dietz, technology and telecommunications leader of Local organizing committee (LOC), explained.

Lighting system at the stadium takes place in the 2006 World Cup. Photo: CNet

Applications used in tournament organization are grouped under the concept of "Event Management System", such as issuing licenses to press circles, transport operators, managing records. materials and logistics (logistics) as well as operating plans for about 15,000 volunteers, competition results services .

" Another important technological task is to connect the media center network, equip the press's workplace, electronically check the entrance to the stadium, the telephone system ISDN and VoIP, access the Internet. broadband or transport systems ", Dietz summarizes IT requirements.

The role of the sponsor

Toshiba provides all laptops for FIFA employees, LOC and volunteers. Avaya is a converged network management company that supports voice and data transmission in the game field and connects them together, while Deutsche Telekom is responsible for the Metropolitan Area Network and information links. . In addition, Deutsche Telekom installs and operates the technical infrastructure for the media workplace.

Philips has been distributing RFID chips for 3.2 million entrance tickets, lighting 8 of the 12 stadiums, equipped with LCD screens for media centers, press stands and large screens in the city. Yahoo operates the official World Cup website www.fifaworldcup.com and the media for the press.

Pressure of time and location of network connection

The biggest challenge for IT professionals at the 2006 World Cup is the construction of a complex converged network in a short time. Since all the stadiums of the tournament are on the regular schedule of the Bundesliga season, the organizers cannot change the technology infrastructure before the final day of competition. " We only have less than 2 weeks to build the entire network and put it into operation ," said Karsten Hobbie, Head of the FIFA network project of Avaya.

Another challenge is the large number of locations that need to connect to the network. " We have to connect to about 70 locations, which is equivalent to a big business with different headquarters with different requirements, " Hobbie said. These areas include 12 stadiums, voice and data networks, international media centers, FIFA hotels and teams, " Welcome Center" at stations and ports. aviation, FIFA IT Control Center in Munich and Data Center in Bamberg, which is responsible for FIFA's Event Management System . "

Deutsche Telekom's T-Sytems subsidiary has used Asynchronous Transfer Mod (ATM) mods to connect locations. " FIFA requires higher quality of voice and data networks than corporate customers, " said Udo Grossecappenberg, project coordinator at T-Systems.

Equipping the network for the media

The organizers predict about 15,000 representatives of the media (journalists and technical experts) from all over the world to report on the World Cup. Therefore, T-Systems installed in the press stands, in the studio and in many areas of the 2 Mbps Internet and 30,000 ISDN phones. In addition, T-Systems has partnered with Avaya to establish for FIFA a VoIP network with about 3,000 phones across Germany.

TV signal via optical cable

The International Communications Center (IMC) in the Munich fairground is divided into International Broadcasting Center (IBC) for radio and television and Main Press Center (MPC) for the press. For the first time, television signals from the stadium are led through optical cable to IBC broadcast center to satellites to countries around the world.

Fiber optic cable supplied by T-Systems has a capacity of 155 Mbps. The 2006 Wolrd Cup is also the first sporting event to allow images to be transmitted in DHTV (High Definition Television) digital format with a 16: 9 aspect ratio.

Entry tickets using RFID

To eliminate forged and black market tickets, the entire World Cup 3 million tickets are equipped with Philips RFID chips. These chips do not contain personal data but rather a form of encryption. When entering the door, the reader will send the stored information in the chip to a central computer for comparison with the database. Therefore, in just a few seconds, the system was able to confirm whether the ticket was valid and avoid losing the time to manually check each ticket.

IT infrastructure for the 2006 Wolrd Cup

500 - 600 switches have been assembled in the stadiums. 15,000 km of copper cables with a total length of 1,000 km have been used.

4,500 devices are connected to the converged network of voice and data transmission, including about 3,000 IP phones.

10,000 thin screens of 16-50 inches are provided for reporters and the media. Large screens in the city range from 60 to 200 m2.

The "smart" traffic systems in the city help drivers find their way to the fastest stadium and the nearest empty parking space.

COX pilot system ( Communication and Orientation eXpert ) works on phones and mobile devices capable of receiving GPS, GMS, GPRS, WLAN and Bluetooth signals. Through COX, people who come to the stadium can choose the best, fastest and cheapest route.

Phan Ba