Soccer City runs on IP
By Patricia Pieterse
“The 2010 World Cup has come and gone. We were all waiting for it, and it was fantastic,” says Andre Schoombie, MD of Advoco Engineering, at the recent Fujitsu executive forum held recently in Sandton.
Technology used at Soccer City:
Cabling: Category 6 and Single Mode Fibre from ADCKrone
Network: LAN switches, routers, firewalls, WLAN, NMS and directory services from Cisco
CCTV: IP cameras and DVR from Dallmeier
Access control by SAFLOK
Computing: workstations and thin client terminals by Fujitsu
Display by Sony and Fujitsu
The executive forum dealt with the technology in place at the Soccer City stadium, where the opening match and final match of the recent Soccer World Cup were held. |
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The requirements from Fifa from a technology point of view, says Schoombie, included that the network in and between all locations must support data/video and audio, video and streaming services must be available and systems management and support must be delivered in each location.
Fifa also required 99.99% availability, meaning downtime could not exceed four minutes and 30 seconds per month. Schoombie says there was no broadcasting downtime, and no loss of light throughout the World Cup.
However, the process wasn't problem-free. Schoombie says there was too much delay on the project. "The Fifa requirements were finalised too late, and therefore the preparation started too late," he says. This led to an increase in cost. “Without consistent timelines, it was laborious.” |
Another problem, Schoombie points out, was that the overlay infrastructure did not remain a legacy.
Another company involved with the Soccer City technology is Cisco. Glen Cox, VP of emerging market services for Cisco, discussed the IP network in place at the stadium. “Cisco provided the underpinning network infrastructure,” he says.
According to him, there is a trend towards the industrialisation of the Internet. “We're moving towards a common protocol based on IP. It's an unstoppable trend.”
He says we will continue to see convergence as people move from separate infrastructures to a single one.
He explains that multiple technologies in one building could be managed centrally. Systems such as thermostats, water systems, vending machines and elevators can be dealt with from one system.
“Given that the infrastructure is subject to attack,” he says, software is needed to monitor the systems. He explains Cisco's SmartCare system, which constantly monitors the infrastructure and gives reports.
Fujitsu, says Donovan Titus, key account manager for Fujitsu, was involved from nearly the beginning. “Fujitsu has been involved in since 2005,” he says.
One of the biggest debates with the technology, Titus explains, was about the infrastructure. “People wanted to use their own network, they didn't trust IP.”
However, Titus says with all the systems on IP, there were no problems. “The gates only opened late once - and that was due to a security strike.”
All the systems in the stadium were monitored and optimised, he says. The building management system enabled algorithms to optimise the lights, he says. “The power was run off generators, with City Power as the back up,” he says, and the diesel levels of the generators were also constantly monitored. Even the water was optimised, he says, with the toilet flushing being monitored.
“We wanted to make sure that on 11 June, it was the best stadium in the world.”
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