Avaya, the company that provided the digital backbone for the broadcast of last year's German Soccer World Cup, plans to expand its presence in SA and adjacent markets.
However, its role in SA's 2010 soccer extravaganza is still unclear.
As the official convergence communication provider for the 2006 World Cup, Avaya provided an estimated 45 000 network connections and 30 000 network devices that carried over 15TB of data. In addition to carrying broadcast footage, the system was instrumental for player and media accreditation, reporting of results, material tracking, accommodation confirmations, transportation and ticketing.
Avaya VP for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) channel Patricia Hume is developing a strategy for the small and medium business (SMB) channel in Africa, in general, and SA, in particular. "The market opportunity here is tremendous," says Hume.
She adds the global SMB market (companies employing less than 100 people) is worth $6 billion. The organisation already has a presence in 40 countries in the EMEA region and 1 700 business partners that generate 33% of Avaya's regional income through indirect sales.
"Avaya has the intent to grow in this market. We want to push that up to 50% by 2010," Hume says. Partnerships with SMBs will be key to achieving this.
IT challenge
The $5 billion company is the one-time business communications unit of Lucent Technologies, once part of Ma Bell (AT&T), the company founded by the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell.
"The EMEA [division] has just been formed. The most important thing now is to get the team to work as a team. I know this may sound simple, but we need to get this group of people to understand their role, how they should work together and the level of excellence they need to deliver, not only to our partners, but also to everyone in our channels," Hume says.
"We are collecting data, we are analysing the data, we are doing the mapping, we are focusing the team so they are not wasting their time..."
Avaya's local business development manager, Leslie Forsman, doubts the 2010 host cities have "grasped the enormity" of the IT challenge they face.
"It is not something you can turn on with a snap; it is an enormous project," he says. "We will meet the criteria for 2010, we have no choice. [However,] some of those things are quite onerous."
On the positive side, he says, the money required to fund the infrastructure is there. It is now a matter of tacking down the technology that will be used - and who will provide it. "I'm not sure who; it will probably be 'the usual suspects'."
Related story:
Telkom downplays bandwidth fears
Share