November 20, 2006
By Anish Abraham
THE 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup is about more than just football – ensuring that ticketing works smoothly, fans travel around effortlessly and television footage reaches billions of viewers around the globe presents the City with an information technology challenge of note.
Together with ITWeb, it will host an information communication technology (ICT) conference, titled "Connect IT: Joburg 2010 – Making IT happen", at the Sandton Convention Centre on 23 and 24 November, bringing together role players from public, private and educational sectors.
"We are the main sponsors and initiators of the conference," said Douglas Cohen, an ICT sector support programme consultant at the City's Department of Economic Development. "If it is successful we would like to make it an annual event leading up to 2010."
Ellis Park Stadium is a match venue for the 2010 Soccer World Cup
Successful hosting of the soccer spectacular calls for the latest in communication facilities, stadium management, ticketing systems and integrated traffic information management in host cities, each of which provide their own unique information technology challenges.
During the 2006 world cup, which was held in Germany, the hosts made use of 3 million Radio Frequency Identification chips in tickets, 40 000 network connections, 8 000 kilometres of temporary cabling, 25 communication servers and more.
"We need to use this initiative to create a world-class ICT platform that will transform the City of Joburg into a smart city and ensure the successful delivery of all governmental services," Cohen said.
The gist of the conference is to develop an understanding of the ICT requirements of the City by 2010, and the key role that Joburg will play as a host city, together with its partners, to resolve the presented challenges and opportunities.
Joburg aims to identify and facilitate both direct and indirect ICT opportunities through the conference, while also creating an enabling climate for small and medium enterprises to participate in the infrastructure opportunities and developing local innovative solutions.
The event is being driven by the City's Department of Economic Development, in partnership with its 2010 unit, which is based within the Office of the City Manager, with the following aims:
- To resolve ICT challenges and opportunities for 2010, such as building local capacity;
- To highlight the cross-cutting function of ICT for the City to achieve its ICT vision, while ensuring a focus on both innovation and legacy;
- To present potential opportunities for local companies and especially to maximise the broad-based participation of small, medium and micro enterprises; and
- To build partnerships between ICT players across Gauteng and within South Africa.
The conference
Comprising of presentations, interactive panel discussions and workshops, the conference will focus on six key areas: mobility, converged communications, traffic management, safety and security, ICT skills and information availability.
There will also be two main panel discussions. The first, titled Digital Stadiums and Digital Cities, will look at the priorities, requirements, challenges and opportunities experienced by the host cities, while the second discussion will look at local economic development and the legacy that will be left after the world cup.
"We need to ensure that the outcome of any 2010 ICT investment benefits the socio-economic needs of the whole city before, during and after the world cup, and that the legacy of the 2010 investment is leveraged in a sustainable and successful manner," Cohen said.
City officials speaking at the conference include chief operating officer Sibongile Mazibuko, chief information officer Patrick Mayaba, deputy director of marketing Elsabe Booyens, city safety programme manager Nazira Chachalia, and Cohen. In addition, there will be a number of local and foreign speakers representing international companies such as World Wide Worx, Siemens, IBM, Microsoft, Juniper Networks, T-Systems and Bell Canada.
Some of the companies being represented at the upcoming conference also played significant roles during the hosting of the 2006 world cup in Germany, bringing along with them a wealth of experience.
"We believe that this is an important initiative that will begin harnessing thinking around preparing the City for the ICT needs of 2010. The intention is not only to create the stage for information sharing and knowledge exchange, but also to facilitate ICT deliverables over the next four years leading up to 2010," Cohen added.
The conference is at the Sandton Convention Centre on 23 and 24 November.
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