By Ndaba Dlamini

A conference is planned to discuss the information technology challenges facing the city for the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup. Interested parties will work together to seek solutions to any expected problems.

An information and communications technology (ICT) summit in November will provide a platform for companies in the information technology (IT) industry to look at ways to deal with the technology infrastructure challenges facing Johannesburg ahead of the Fifa Soccer World Cup in 2010.

The conference, Joburg Connect: making IT happen, will take place on 23 and 24 November at the Sandton Convention Centre. Top IT experts, companies, organisations and key players involved in the organisation of the world cup are expected to attend.

Hosted by the City in partnership with the IT company, ITWeb, the conference will look at information sharing, knowledge exchange and collaboration in the ICT industry.

It will also be used by Johannesburg as a key vehicle to facilitate the growth and economic development of the local ICT sector by exposing opportunities and supporting innovation and the future global market penetration of companies, particularly small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs), over the next four years.

"The summit will also make sure certain IT companies are exposed to opportunities that will be presented by hosting the 2010 Fifa World Cup," says Douglas Cohen, of the City's department of economic development: ICT sector support programme.

The Joburg Connect 2010 summit will be the first ICT-only conference to provide a platform for information sharing involving all role players of the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup, and it will ensure that the legacy of the event is leveraged in a broad-based, sustainable and successful manner for 2010 and beyond.

According to Cohen, the technology challenges presented by the hosting of the world cup are huge. In Germany, during the 2006 Fifa World Cup, three million Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips in tickets, 250 000 users, 40 000 network connections, 8 000 kilometres of temporary cabling, 25 communication servers and more were used.

The 2006 event was the most viewed world cup ever, with more than three billion fans following the soccer games. A voice and data communications network that connected all sites and systems installed by the huge IT company, Avaya, spanned 25 locations across the country, giving 250 000 users access to the Fifa World Cup computer network.

Each of the stadiums was equipped with 23 high-definition television cameras and was connected via dual fibre optic links to a super high-speed backbone capable of transporting data at speeds of up to 480Gb per second. The more than three-million fans who attended the 64 games had tickets embedded with RFID chips.

Questions can be asked that with such a magnitude of technology in use at the 2006 world cup, whether Johannesburg had the infrastructure to host the event in 20101. In response, Cohen says the summit will serve as a "kick-off" platform to deal with the IT infrastructure limitations.

"Given the scale of the event, there are huge challenges to be surmounted and the conference is one way of getting the ball rolling. When 2010 comes, we will definitely be ready."

The conference will cover a broad spectrum of technologies seen as key to Johannesburg's 2010 ICT infrastructure requirements. It will explore pertinent policy, regulation and standardisation issues which may affect ICT infrastructure over the next four years.

Some of the topics to be discussed include call centre solutions, IT maintenance, network management, ticketing solutions, transportation systems, web services, stadium management systems, smart cards and database integration, among others.

Cohen says the summit is a must for all business and IT decision-makers in the public and private sector, in particular the IT sector in South Africa and other African countries.

"The conference is designed for C-level management and business executives, business and IT decision-makers across all industries in South Africa, suppliers of IT solutions and services and decision-makers from companies interested in 2010 ICT infrastructure opportunities and those arising from telecommunications and broadcasting deregulation."

Bookings for the conference are now open and companies and individuals can register online on the ITWeb website.

Source: Johannesburg News Agency