Competition Venues Organizers Partners News Archive

PARTNERSHIPS

The IT labour pool working alongside the CFO consists of four of its eight Official Suppliers. The challenge represented by the organisation of an event like the World Cup in this area is formidable. And the bonus will be on this group of experts, together with the CFO, to bring it to a successful conclusion.

A quick run-down.

 

INTEGRATING

The first company among the eight CFO Official Suppliers to sign a partnership agreement with FRANCE 98, EDS (Electronic Data System), the "Official Supplier of IT Services", is in charge of designing, integrating and administrating the World Cup IT systems. EDS provides a complete range of services to the CFO, including management consultancy, the design of the various networks involved and the integration of the systems.

EDS is involved to the hilt in all the principal phases of the project. The company has developed the ticketing system, the means for the CFO to manage the 12,000 Volunteers, and the accreditation process. Another vital mission: the design and development of the FRANCE 98 Website. Before teaming up with FRANCE 98, EDS had already shown good instance of its expertise in the domain of sport, contributing to the Barcelona Olympic Games, the 1994 World Cup in the United States, the Major US Soccer League and international cycling events.

 

Hewlett Packard, based in Palo Alto, California, is the "Official Supplier of IT Equipment and Equipment Maintenance" to FRANCE 98. It provides the CFO with hardware, which runs applications involving CAD, accreditations, logistics, human resources and Volunteer management, ticketing, results and statistics management, information systems, office management and the CFO e-mail system. This is a range of tasks which meant providing the CFO with a great deal of very different equipment: PCs, workstations, servers, storage facilities, printers, scanners, IT network equipment, and medical and analysing material.

Hewlett-Packard also provided the CFO with a number of products for network administration management and IT stock.

 

EQUIPPING

 

 

TRANSMITTING

 "Official Telecommunications Operator" to FRANCE 98, France Telecom, a veteran of the Winter Olympics at Albertville, covers all areas of telecommunication.

For the World Cup, the company is providing a large range of equipment and services-and the figures involved are on the same scale as the event itself: 2 million kilometres of optic fibres (50 times the earth's circumference!) will be used, 15,000 telephone lines will link 125 operational units (stadiums, press centres, media stands and so on) and 11,000 television and computer points will be installed.

In the IT domain, France Telecom is providing the data transmission networks, and houses one of the FRANCE 98.com Websites.

 

The overriding objective of Sybase, the Official Software Supplier to the World Cup, is to enable those taking part in the event to access information at any time, in any place, whether at the CFO, the venues or on the Net. Sybase software can be found at the very heart of the information system, enabling the organisation of accreditation for 50,000 people and the delivery of tickets, contributing to the security of 2.5 million spectators and supplying match results in real time to the media and fans throughout the world. Sybase software is also behind the official World Cup Website and INFO FRANCE 98, the Intranet system developed for the media. The company, founded in 1984, and whose headquarters are at Emeryville in California, has subsidiaries and distributors all over the world.

 

MANAGING

 

 

"NO MARGIN FOR ERROR"

CONVERSATION WITH PHILIPPE VERVEER, IT DIRECTOR FOR THE FRENCH ORGANISING COMMITTEE
Philippe Verveer, Head of IT for the CFO, in front of the computers providing access to INFO FRANCE 98 in the press room at Marseille during the Draw in December last year: "We want to provide impeccable service."

Philippe Verveer, who has a Ph. D. from Paris University in electronics, has considerable company experience, and was Head of IT for the Winter Olympics in Albertville.

He joined the French Organising Committee in 1993 to do a similar job for the World Cup. Here he gives us a run-down on the policies and means adopted by the Committee in order to take on the fantastic challenge of IT for FRANCE 98.

WHEN DID YOU START WORKING ON WORLD CUP INFORMATION SYSTEMS?

In December 1993. Definite contacts with would-be partners were written up after the 1994 World Cup, and in January 1995 we were joined by our first partner, EDS, with Hewlett-Packard and Sybase close on its heels. And before this World Cup even starts, we will have had a number of opportunities to test ourselves in all-out operational mode. The Draws in 1995 and 1997 were two such occasions, and the Tournoi de France last June was another.

WHAT ARE THE MAJOR PROBLEMS IN ORGANISING SOMEThING SO COMPLICATED?

Our main concern is to be ready in time, which, when all's said and done, isn't such an easy business where IT is concerned. Before the kick-off, we have very little time to install 2,000 PCs, 100 local networks and 600 printers, among a lot of other equipment. We have absolutely no margin for error. Everything has to function perfectly from the word go. The other major difficulty will be that all the places we have to cater for will come to life with a bang. A large part of our infrastructure has to be accessible from the ten stadiums and the International Media Centre. In total, hundreds of different areas-not always designed for the occasion, either-are scheduled to house IT equipment. But all that's just on the operations side of the World Cup. The other challenge for the IT department is to be able to deal with all the very different and specific demands of the event, like ticket sales and managing accreditation.

WHAT METHODS ARE YOU ARE USING TO ENSURE THAT ALL THE INFORMATION SYSTEMS RUN SMOOTHLY?

During the competition, we shall have a centralised command post, which will be to all intents and purposes the brain of our set-up. We shall have a national network linking all the venues, and a local network within each venue. All networks will have back-up systems to avoid any break-downs-safety measures which have also been set up for the databases of the 200 IT servers accessed by the 2,000 PCs being provided, and which ensures that all data is recorded several times on different supports. It goes without saying that outside users will be blocked from accessing any of this. In addition, technicians will be constantly on the look-out for any breakdowns, and be ready to repair them before users are even aware that anything has happened.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY WAS YOUR GENERAL APPROACH?

We will be doing what we must to ensure things go off without a hitch. Don't get the idea, however, that we're trying to make this the "Technology World Cup." We want technology to be entirely at the service of the event by providing exactly what it needs, and anticipating all its specific demands and limitations.