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Uefa extends ICT outsourcing deal with telecoms supplier Interoute
European football governing body Uefa extends its managed ICT services deal with provider Interoute with more systems planned for hosted private cloud
European football governing body Uefa has extended its managed ICT services contract with telecoms provider Interoute. The supplier will host Uefa's applications and systems in a private cloud for at least another four years.
Uefa has put 98% of its IT services – such as digital media and back office systems – on Interoute’s platform.
Uefa’s uses these applications and systems – including the Uefa.com website and an in-house developed portal – to manage tournaments such as the Uefa Champions League and Euro 2016.
For example, for the 2012 tournament in Poland and Ukraine, Uefa's football administration management environment (Fame) ensured the 40,000 or so tournament participants – ranging from spectators and taxi drivers to the players – could do what they were accredited to do. Critical systems underpinning Fame include Microsoft Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange and SAP. More than 12,000 users a year access Fame from 173 countries.
Uefa broadens revenue streams
Uefa plans to launch new services on the back of the deal. This includes hosted Microsoft Lync and bring your own device (BYOD) services.
“Interoute understands our events process and has an agile operating model to fit with the needs of supporting and managing the ICT systems we use to run some of the most high-profile football competitions in the world. Interoute is big enough to offer innovative solutions to help us achieve our business aims, but has an organisational structure that allows us fast flexible access to the people in its business that help us succeed,” said Daniel Marion, head of ICT at Uefa.
At a time when digital technology is revolutionising the way people watch sporting events, organisations such as Uefa – which makes money selling broadcasting rights – must harness the latest IT if they are to benefit financially.
The added strain these front-line challenges bring to IT departments means organisations must find ways to reduce the IT department’s workload when it comes to keeping things running smoothly in the background.
The private cloud is in two datacentres, in Amsterdam and Geneva. It provides Uefa with the ability to easily flex the amount of computing resources it uses.
Read more about Interoute
- Uefa outsourced its IT infrastructure to a supplier-built private cloud to cope with demand and free-up in-house resources for contingency action.
- Cloud services giant plans to use private equity funding to support its merger and acquisition activity and push ahead with datacentre growth plans.
- Network provider Interoute is using Infinera technology to bring bigger bandwidth to enterprise and service provider customers.
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