UEFA extends Interoute cloud partnership to ensure '100 per cent availability of services' for Euro 2016
"Interoute understands our events process and has an agile operating model to fit," says UEFA Head of ICT Dan Marion
UEFA has extended its IT partnership with Interoute in a deal that will see the cloud services firm continue to provide Europe's top football authority with infrastructure to support its competitions, websites, events and business operations.
The partnership extension comes ahead of next year's UEFA Euro 2016 tournament in France, when it is predicted that 160 million visitors will visit UEFA websites, a much larger figure than the usual 80 million a year.
As a result, Interoute will provide UEFA with critical business systems in the continuation of a strategic deal which has existed since 2011.
The extension will see Interoute aid UEFA in launching new IT strategies and services over the course of the contract. Those will include an Interoute hosted Microsoft Lync Service, a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) strategy and various other applications that will be made available using Interoute's cloud infrastructure network.
Core to the deal is an agile service-level model that will enable UEFA to spin up server capabilities to ensure 100 per cent availability of services during the increased pressure put on services by Euro 2016 and other high-profile events.
"Interoute's networked cloud is the infrastructure platform for 98 per cent of all the IT services that UEFA provides, from digital media to vital back office activities," said Daniel Marion, head of ICT at UEFA, who hinted that a familiar working relationship with Interoute played a key role in the contact renewal.
"Interoute understands its events process and has an agile operating model to fit with the needs of supporting and managing the ICT systems it uses to run some of the most high-profile football competitions in the world," he said.
"Interoute is big enough to offer innovative solutions to help it achieve its business aims, but has an organisational structure that allows fast flexible access to the people in its business that help it succeed," Marion concluded.
Jan Louwes, executive VP for enterprise sales and marketing at Interoute, also welcomed the extended deal with UEFA.
"Supporting UEFA's ICT team, Interoute plays a critical role in helping deliver the best experience for European football fans everywhere. We are proud to be working closely with UEFA to use the power of our networked cloud infrastructure platform to bring fast, new and valuable services to fans around the world," he said.
Neither the financial terms nor the length of the extended UEFA Interoute deal have been revealed.