COMMUNICATIONS: Avaya's system - used to relay World Cup data via Korea and Japan - will allow FIFA to make major phone savings

The soccer may be making the headlines in this World Cup, but the massive organisational work behind the scenes is vital in ensuring that everything runs smoothly.

Effective communications are essential to the success of this effort and the communications network installed in Japan and Korea is one of the largest and most complex in the world.

The network is being used to schedule games, report results, transfer television footage, confirm accommodation and maintain security systems.

It provides instant access to match results and other information to an army of volunteers, fans and the media.

US-based provider of communications services, Avaya, is the company responsible for this.

"With this system a journalist can take a picture of a goal and send it back within seconds via our centre in Japan or Korea," according to Mr John McCabe, managing director of Avaya in Ireland. This is done using wireless LAN (local area network) technology.

Essentially, this allows people at the games to access the network without wires.

In the past it was necessary physically to connect a device such as a computer or laptop to the network over the phone line, for instance.

With this new technology, signals are sent through the air on radio waves.

So, for example, a photographer at the games can take a picture during a match and e-mail this back almost instantaneously to his base without having to hook his laptop up to a phone line.

Up to 10,000 devices can be connected, including laptops, computers, digital cameras, printers and personal digital assistants.

Another interesting aspect of this network is the use of voice-over-internet technology (VoIP) to make phone calls.

This means that the network can handle voice as well as data traffic.

This technology has improved considerably in recent times and now the quality on phone calls is as good as on a regular telephone network.

"FIFA reckons that it will save a quarter of a million dollars this month on telephone calls," says Mr McCabe.

This is one of the largest such networks in the world, comprising thousands of miles of cabling and spanning the two countries.

It connects the 20 stadiums that are hosting the games, as well as two international media centres and two FIFA headquarters in Japan and Korea.

The company estimates that there will be four times as much traffic over the network during the World Cup as a large public corporation generates in two years.

Given the size of the network, security is a big issue. A series of secure servers, and firewalls are built into the system to protect against unwanted intrusion

"Our combination of network monitoring and security features are designed to protect against all service-affecting issues, including intrusion or attack," says Mr McCabe.

The network is being monitored and supported from as far away as Singapore and the United States.

The main support centre is based in Singapore and it is from there that the performance of the network is monitored. The Avaya system continuously monitors the network and either corrects any problems automatically or alerts support staff when a problem occurs.

Those of us who have not made it to Japan or Korea can get instant access to match facts and statistics thanks to a tie-in with website www.sports.com.

Match results, and minute-by-minute commentary are available on the website and a service is available whereby these results can be sent directly to mobile phones.

Avaya's Irish operation, based in Bray, Co Wicklow, employs 240 people in cable manufacturing, sales and services and voice and data networking services.