M2 PRESSWIRE-20 June 2002-Avaya: Avaya scores goal for FIFA World Cup with high performance converged voice and data communications network; Enterprise class network carries nearly four terabytes of data in the first 14 days of world's largest sporting event (C)1994-2002 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD
RDATE:06212002
SEOUL and TOKYO -- Avaya Inc., (NYSE:AV), a leading global provider of voice and data networks to businesses, today announced its converged voice and data communications network, which is powering the operations for the 2002 FIFA World Cup is delivering enterprise-class levels of performance, reliability and security for the world's largest sporting event.
Avaya said its network, which FIFA uses to handle mission-critical functions - such as stadium operations, logistics management for the 32 teams, media relations including provision of match statistics and information on players, and materials inventory among more than fifteen other functions and applications - is performing at peak efficiency. The company said the FIFA World Cup network carried nearly four terabytes of data between May 31 and June 14. A terabyte is a measure of computer storage capacity, and represents a thousand billion bytes (1,000 gigabytes).
At its current level of operation, by the end of the games the network is expected to ultimately carry 10 terabytes of data or 10 trillion bytes, which is equivalent to six years and seven months of continuous MP3 download-and-play music. Another way to compare the quantity of data is that it equals half of the 24 million volumes of books, photographs, recordings and other information available at the United States' Library of Congress, the largest library in the world. These high levels of data traffic are equivalent to four times what a Fortune 500 company might handle on any given day. For example, a large banking institution would average 100-200 Gigabytes daily through its entire Asia Pacific network, while the FIFA World Cup network averages about 500 Gigabytes per day.
Among some of the notable statistical analysis of the network's performance are:
* There has been virtually zero downtime in the network since it went live on May 8.
* Of the billions of packets of information routed through the network, effectively 100 percent were successfully transmitted as Avaya reported a packet loss of less than 0.00001 percent. How little is that? It is about the same as reading today's newspaper and perhaps finding a missing period at the end of 1 sentence on 1 page.
* The hundreds of switches, routers and other devices in the FIFA World Cup(tm) event network are being monitored remotely around the clock by Avaya services technicians in five network monitoring centers worldwide (Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, Denver, Colorado and St.
Petersburg, Florida). Nearly 98 percent of all alarms generated in the network have been resolved remotely by Avaya's Expert Systems without having to dispatch a services technician.
* Not only is the network proving to be highly robust and efficient, the Avaya technical team also reports extremely fast transmission times for moving data to various locations within the network. During peak usage times the average roundtrip network speed for transmitting a typical file is 70 milliseconds, or 7/100 of a second between the Korea International Media Center and the Japan IMC. That same file would move from the Korea IMC to a stadium in Korea in about 64 milliseconds, while a round trip between the Korea IMC and a stadium in Japan takes roughly 82 milliseconds. Those times compare favorably with the blinking of an eye, which averages between 5.19 and 8.23 milliseconds1.
"The 2002 FIFA World Cup is providing Avaya with a showcase to demonstrate our technology on a world stage, while significantly increasing the company's brand awareness," said John McCabe, Managing Director, Avaya in Ireland. "Avaya is proving that enterprises can effectively and efficiently support mission-critical communications through IP convergence and we're doing it with millions of people watching our every move. With the eyes of the world on Korea and Japan, the 2002 FIFA World Cup is uniting the globe and Avaya is connecting it." The 2002 FIFA World Cup is the first time a network has had to support simultaneous matches in two countries. It features 40,000 connections among 20 stadiums, two international media centers and two remote FIFA headquarters locations.
Among the technologies being used for the first time at the FIFA World Cup is Internet Protocol (IP) telephony. This technology enables FIFA to establish its voice communications on the same network as its data operations. The network is carrying nearly 100,000 IP phone calls a day.
By routing voice calls over its own data network, FIFA has simplified its network administration and has reduced the cost of connecting the stadiums and FIFA remote headquarters, generating a cost savings estimated at more than $200,000 over the month-long event.
"FIFA is extremely pleased with the success of the 2002 FIFA World Cup to date," said Gerard Gouillou, General Manager, Information Technology for FIFA. "To manage an event the size and scope of the World Cup, many thousands of people are involved. Avaya has enabled us to manage the business of football, which has enabled the teams to stage what is shaping up to be one of the most memorable FIFA World Cups in history. We're happy to have Avaya as an official partner of the FIFA World Cup." Avaya Wireless allows mobility and easy access to Internet Among the more popular network applications provided at this year's World Cup is Avaya Wireless Local Area Network (LAN) Cards. More than 450 FIFA executives and staff are connecting to e-mail and the Internet to conduct their daily work using Avaya Wireless at FIFA headquarters hotels in Seoul and Tokyo. Additionally, journalists using Avaya Wireless have the ability to be connected to the FIFA World Cup network without being tethered to their assigned workstation and wired telephone connection at the stadium or the International Media Center. Instead, they can move freely and easily to various locations within the IMC and the stadiums, while never being out of touch with editors and continuously empowered to transmit stories and photography from anywhere at any time.
"Delivering the world's most watched sporting event is no small task. It takes staff in multiple nations coming together to make sure billions of fans around the world are able to view the matches on TV and get up-to-the-minute information on FIFA's official website," said FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter. "Avaya has provided FIFA with exceptional technology, such as its Avaya Wireless solution in our headquarters hotels in Seoul and Tokyo, which allows the FIFA delegation spread over the two countries to stay connected and communicate with speed and reliability from any location within the hotel. I am convinced wireless technology will play an increasingly important role in sports and in the 2006 FIFA World Cup(tm) in Germany." Wang Tao is a sports reporter from Beijing Daily in China who is covering the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea. He sends news stories to his publication back home via the Internet. At the beginning, he used the wired telephone line to access an Internet connection in the Main International Media Center in Seoul. "It was not convenient because I had to write stories with my laptop in one place and then go to another location to plug into the line and send out the stories," he said. Then Wang decided to use the Avaya Wireless Card, which would enable him to access the Internet anywhere in the media center or the media tribunes at the stadiums. "I got the card and an Avaya engineer helped me to install it in my laptop. Five minutes later, I was on the Internet. I was thrilled," he said. "With the wireless card, I can research information on the Internet, write the stories and send them out in one single place and at one go." Avaya also supplied wireless Internet connections to more than 100 players, officials and family members of the U.S. team at its headquarters hotel in Seoul. Cobi Jones, who is playing in his third World Cup is one of the more enthusiastic members of the U.S. delegation using Avaya Wireless. "The Avaya Wireless system has been fantastic," Jones commented. "We can use it all over the hotel and the connection speed has made using the Internet fast and efficient."
Avaya at the FIFA World Cup - A Valuable Branding Opportunity
In addition to providing it with an unprecedented venue in which to showcase its enterprise class communications solutions - defined as providing enough feature functionality, reliability and security for a company to stake its business on them - Avaya said the 2002 FIFA World Cup also provides the company with a significant branding opportunity afforded to only a select few companies. With more than 300 Broadcast Partners worldwide, which is twice the number of broadcasters who televised the 1998 FIFA World Cup(tm) in France, the cumulative television audience is expected to surpass 40 billion over the course of the championship. The opening match between France and Senegal drew a television audience of 500 million viewers worldwide. More than two billion people are expected to view the Final Match on June 30. Additionally, FIFAworldcup.com registered a record 80,621,278 page views on June 3, representing a 133 percent increase over the 34 million page views logged on May 31, the day of the opening match.
About Avaya
Avaya Inc., headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., is a leading global provider of voice and data networks as well as communications solutions and services that help businesses, government agencies and other institutions - including more than 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500 -- excel in the customer economy. Avaya offers Customer Relationship Management Solutions, Unified Communication Solutions, Service Provider Solutions, MultiService Networking Infrastructure, and Converged Voice and Data Networks - including the company's no-compromise Avaya Enterprise-Class IP Solutions (ECLIPS) - all supported by Avaya Services and Avaya Labs. Avaya is the worldwide leader in unified messaging, messaging systems, call centers and structured cabling systems. It is the U.S. leader in voice communications systems and services. Avaya is an official sponsor for the 2002 FIFA World Cup(tm), the FIFA Women's World Cup 2003 and the 2006 FIFA World Cup(tm) tournaments. For more information about Avaya, visit its Web site at
Avaya in Ireland
Avaya employs over 220 people in Ireland and offers converged voice and data, customer relationship management, messaging, multi-service networking and structured cabling products and services. Customers in Ireland include American Airlines, Compaq, IBM, Lufthansa, Bank of Ireland (Banking 365) and Ulster Bank. Also, Avaya has a number of business partners in Ireland who sell a range of voice, data and cabling products.
For more information about Avaya Ireland, visit its Web site at www.avaya.ie or telephone +353 (0)1 204 2000.
1"Blink duration as an indicator of driver sleepiness in professional bus drivers," H. Hakkanen, H. Summala, et al., Sleep
CONTACT: Hubert Grealish Tel: +353 (0)1 204 2297 e-mail: hubert.grealish@fireflycomms.com Renaldo Juanso Tel: +82 18 696 556 e-mail: juanso@avaya.com Inge Sengelmann Tel: +81 90 1532 3739 e-mail: sengelmann@avaya.com Hubert Grealish, Firefly Communications Tel: +353 (0)1 204 2297 e-mail: hubert.grealish@fireflycomms.com
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