Johannesburg, 16 Nov 2006
What event sees 50 000 spectators attending each match, about 3.2 million tickets sold (70% of these internationally), and 300 000 international ticket holders visiting the country - each attending, on average, four to five matches?
It is the Soccer World Cup, one of the world's world's largest - and most unique - IT projects, and it's coming to Johannesburg in 2010.
With a "smart, digital, world class African city" prepared for the ICT needs of 2010 as the City of Johannesburg's vision, the time has come for information sharing and collaboration between key 2010 role players. These will cross all spheres of the public sector - national, provincial and local - universities, and the private sector.
The opportunity for sharing and collaboration will be at "Connect IT: Jo'burg 2010 - Making IT happen", an ICT conference hosted by the City of Johannesburg in association with ITWeb, The Innovation Hub and the Jo'burg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE). The conference will be held at the Sandton Convention Centre, on 23 and 24 November.
Through Connect IT: Jo'burg 2010, the city aims to identify and facilitate both direct and indirect ICT opportunities. It will create a level playing field, allowing small and medium players to not only participate and share in the resulting infrastructure and application opportunities, but also to start developing innovative solutions locally.
The focus of the conference is to start developing an understanding of the ICT requirements for the city by 2010, and the key role that Jo'burg, as a host city, together with private sector partners, can play in delivering on these ICT challenges and opportunities.
The conference comprises presentations and interactive panel discussions and workshops. The workshops, which will take place on both days, aim to solicit input from ICT representatives at the conference across six key infrastructure areas:
1. Mobility workshop (23 November)
2. Converged communications workshop (23 November)
3. Traffic management workshop (24 November)
4. Information availability workshop (24 November)
5. Safety and security (24 November)
6. IT skills challenges workshop (24 November)
The converged communications workshop, for example, will review integrated data and voice communication requirements for the 2010 World Cup and explore broadband solutions to be included in the city's Broadband Network Project. It will be facilitated by international keynote speaker, Norm Silins, GM of telecom solutions at Bell Canada.
Participants in the converged communications workshop panel include: Thami Msimango, CTO of Telkom; Dr Angus Hay of Neotel; Herklaas du Plessis of the City of Johannesburg and Jacquie Subban of Ethekwini Metropolitan Municipality.
Two panel discussions are planned. The first discussion, "Towards digital cities by 2010", will explore the key priorities, requirements, challenges and opportunities as experienced and anticipated by the various cities, as they set out to deliver on their respective digital city visions.
The second panel discussion, "Local economic development priorities: Leaving a legacy before, during, and beyond 2010", will look at what needs to be done to ensure that 2010 ICT investments benefit both the operational and the socio-economic needs of the city.
There is an impressive line-up of local and international speakers, who will be sharing experiences from the 2006 World Cup in Germany, outlining requirements for the 2010 World Cup and exploring preparations of countries such as Canada, which is also getting ready for a major 2010 sporting event.
Speakers on the agenda include:
* Sibongile Mazibuko, City of Johannesburg
* Patrick Mayaba, City of Johannesburg
* Norman Silins, Bell Canada
* Michael Lange, T-Systems
* Steffan Rusche, Siemens AG
* Doug Clark, IBM North East Europe
* Andy Jolliffe, Juniper Networks
* Danny Naidoo, Microsoft
* Dr Neville Comins, The Innovation Hub
* Logan Hill, Faritec
* Deon Scheepers, ATIO
* Michael Silber, Michalsons Attorneys
The conference will close with a report back on the key 2010 infrastructure opportunities for small, medium and large ICT players, and recommendations put forward for consideration by the City of Johannesburg, as identified during the various workshops.
With only seven days left to register, don't miss this unique opportunity to help make 2010 happen.
Book your seat at Connect 2010 and become part of Jo'burg's 2010 vision to have a smart, digital, world class African city, prepared for the ICT needs of 2010!
Register online, or contact Denise Breytenbach on (011) 807-3294.
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