Cup IT sets a record

The 2010 Soccer World Cup in SA was the first to have had a constant uptime of IT systems, says Mahindra Satyam.

“I can honestly say it has not been 99%, but 100% uptime. No systems were ever down,” says Dilbagh Gill, head of sport business and Fifa executive relationship at Mahindra Satyam.

The company was Fifa's official IT services provider for the tournament and, as another World Cup first, used a fully Web-based events management system, instead of the third-party software Fifa had been using previously.

Gill says the system worked perfectly and after the first week, all glitches and potential problems were smoothed out. He adds that most of the challenges were identified and tackled during the Confederations Cup last year.

“IT services are like the goalkeeper [in soccer]. No one remembers the goals the keeper saves. The less you hear about us, the better we're doing our job... and this has just been a wonderful experience.”

Mahindra Satyam will start work on the 2014 World Cup, in Brazil, by September. After the success of the first-time Web-based system, Gill says a move will be made to the cloud for the next tournament.