Converged Communication Network from Avaya to Change the Way People Experience the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™

23-May-2006

Mobility will be key to staging the world’s largest sporting event.


FRANKFURT, GERMANY – With 64 matches over 31 days, mobility will be critical to maximize productivity and efficiency for the journalists, FIFA employees and volunteers at the World Cup, the world’s largest sporting event. Avaya (NYSE: AV) is building a converged communication network that will enable the estimated 15,000 media covering the tournament, to provide the most up-to-date information and images to fans, giving those in attendance and at home the closest to real-time FIFA World Cup experience to date. It will also give FIFA personnel and volunteers who will be working the event, the mobility they need to make them more productive.

Mike Kelly, Head of IT for FIFA said: “With billions of fans watching around the globe and the media using our networks to transmit photos and information instantly – we cannot compromise on performance. We require our employees to be easily contactable whenever and wherever we need them. Avaya’s solutions will help us to redefine how our employees and stakeholders can work around the World Cup.”

The media covering the 2006 FIFA World Cup will require up-to-the-minute and accurate information to satisfy the public’s need for near-instantaneous information through online portals, broadcast and other media. A series of wireless local area networks (WLAN) in some of the stadiums, will give the press complete mobility within these environments. Photographers capturing game time action and analysts transmitting match statistics can now use their approved devices such as wireless laptops to reach Avaya Wireless Access Points from anywhere in the stadium – without having to move from their match position.

John Sibley of London based Action Images, a world-wide acclaimed photographer, comments: “I have specialised in football photography since 1991, and one of the great things about covering FIFA competitions is the way that technology has made me much more efficient.” He continued, “Historically, photographers covering the FIFA World Cup used conventional film cameras. The film then had to be taken to the stadium’s media centre, developed, scanned and uploaded – taking up to 45 minutes. Now, with digital cameras I can transfer images straight to my laptop and transmit them directly over FIFA’s network. Now, this can take less than 60 seconds and fans can see photographs in near real time.”

In addition, the converged communication network that Avaya is supplying for the FIFA World Cup will incorporate key mobility features such as Extension-to-Cellular that will maximize productivity and efficiency of FIFA employees, volunteers and executives working at the World Cup.

In order to ensure smooth running of the 31 day 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany competition, it is especially critical for members of the FIFA and Avaya staffs to remain in constant contact. In order to reduce the time spent trying to find and contact people, Avaya integrated and installed the Avaya Extension-to-Cellular application which allows individuals to be reached on a single telephone number, wherever they are.

For example, office calls can be automatically routed to any mobile device along with key capabilities like conferencing and transferring. Furthermore, if the call cannot connect it will return to the office voicemail – meaning it is no longer necessary to have multiple mailboxes.

FIFA personnel will also have a single interface to access their voicemails, emails, directories and more, allowing them to check, store and manage them from any phone or laptop with Avaya’s Modular Messaging.

Since becoming a trusted FIFA World Cup partner in 2001, Avaya has worked with FIFA to help bring the excitement of the world’s most popular sport to an estimated accumulated global audience of 30 billion fans. Avaya has already provided converged communication networks for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, 2003 Women’s World Cup and the FIFA Confederations Cup 2005.

Notes to editors:
The full Avaya FIFA converged network includes: Avaya Communication Manager, MultiVantage® Communications Applications, Modular Messaging, Extension to Cellular, Intuity® Audix® Messaging Solution, Avaya IP Office, S8700 Media Servers and G650 Media Gateways.

About Avaya
Avaya Inc. designs, builds and manages communications networks for more than one million businesses worldwide, including over 90 per cent of the FORTUNE 500®. Focused on businesses large to small, Avaya is a world leader in secure and reliable Internet Protocol telephony systems and communications software applications and services.

Driving the convergence of voice and data communications with business applications - and distinguished by comprehensive worldwide services - Avaya helps customers leverage existing and new networks to achieve superior business results. For more information visit the Avaya Web site: http://www.avaya.com.

About the FIFA World Cup and Avaya
As the Official Convergence Communication provider for the 2006 FIFA World Cup™, Avaya is providing a champion communications network infrastructure for the World’s largest sporting event. The converged network – that combines voice and data on the same infrastructure – will connect the 12 FIFA World Cup stadiums, the media centers in all stadiums and the FIFA headquarters in Berlin. Players, coaches, volunteers and fans alike will benefit from the Avaya network that will be instrumental in player and journalist accreditation, results reporting, material tracking, accommodation confirmations, transportation, and ticketing, among other critical functions. With an estimated 45,000 network connections, 30,000 network devices and over 15 terabytes (or 15,000,000,000,000 bytes) of data, it is the largest converged communication network ever built for a sporting event.

Contact Information

Allesandra deSantillana

Media Relations

Avaya Inc.

Contact via E-mail