World Cup organiser Fifa will this month begin testing newly built computer networks to ensure that they work for this summer’s tournament in Germany.

IT supplier Avaya has completed the infrastructure for 12 World Cup stadia at its laboratory in Frankfurt, and will start internal performance tests this week.

The networks, which will be used to run accreditation, transport, logistics and match result systems during the tournament, will receive further testing by Fifa at the end of this month.

Cologne and Hanover will be the first sites to have networks installed in early April.
Rollout of IT infrastructure to other stadia will take place after the German football season closes (Computing, 15 December).

‘The last stadium will be Munich on 20 April,’ said Doug Gardner, managing director of Avaya’s Fifa World Cup programme.

‘Then we have a massive task to get all the stadia up and running by early May.’

Avaya plans to carry out a series of ethical hacking projects to ensure that the IT systems cannot be compromised. Intrusion detection systems throughout the network will help to block viruses and other illegal traffic.

Physical security will also be increased, with the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags in 3.1 million World Cup match tickets.

The RFID tags, from electronics manufacturer Philips, will contain data about the ticket owner and their seating location, and will be scanned on the holder’s entry to the ground.

Philips is also working with FIFA to install 10,000 televisions and monitors into football stadia and the International Broadcast Centre in Munich.

Giant video screens will also be installed by Philips in each stadium so that football fans can see close-ups of the game and goal replays.

Supporters not fortunate enough to get tickets for the match be able to view the game from 20 fanfest video walls, which will be placed in major German cities.

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