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MUMBAI:
The Commonwealth Youth Games 2008, recently held in Pune, India
from October 12 to 18, ran on a next-generation data network infrastructure
set up by Nortel* [NYSE/TSX: NT].
The
always-on, highly available network supporting 1,000 users, ran
multimedia applications including real-time schedule updating, statistical
analysis, resource coordination and media coverage helping ensure
the Commonwealth Youth Games 2008** (CYG 2008) ran smoothly.
The
CYG 2008 Committee chose Nortel because of its track record of being
selected as the Official Converged Network Equipment Supplier for
the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and the Official
Network Infrastructure Partner for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic
Games. In addition the company deployed the communications networks
for major sporting events such as the Turin 2006 Olympic Winter
Games and the Special Olympics World Summer Games held in Ireland
in 2003. One of the key selection criteria for technology vendors
for the CYG 2008 Pune was to have provided IT solutions for at least
one Olympic, Asian or Commonwealth Games in the last five years.
"Nortel
came with great references as it has been chosen to provide the
networking infrastructure for the upcoming two Olympic Games. In
addition, Nortel's past experience supporting the sporting events
at Turin and Ireland was a major reason for us to select them for
the Commonwealth Youth Games 2008" says Vijay Gautam, IT Secretary,
Government of India.
CYG
2008 Pune included 1,300 athletes and 350 officials from 71 countries.
The Games were held on a campus spread over 200 acres, housing nearly
30 buildings.
"We
needed the ability to share information instantly in a manner that
united many different applications across many different devices
for many different users. To make this a reality, we required a
highly reliable network that would work across the campus, and be
flexible to the users wherever they were," says Rohit Srivastwa,
director Technology, CYG 2008, Pune. "With the Nortel solution
and design, we did not see any downtime. And that helped us make
the CYG 2008, Pune a huge success."
"This
builds on our strong momentum in delivering the ultimate experience
for the fans and participants of the Games. We have recently won
deals to outfit some of the world's most sophisticated sports stadiums
and more importantly, the next Summer and Winter Olympic Games will
be brought to you by Nortel," says Hitesh Lokhandwala, managing
director, Nortel India. "It was a very complex design, which
our team worked hard to simplify. And with our next-generation switches,
the business of conducting this mega sporting event had become simple."
The
CYG 2008, Pune network was able to support 1000 users at a time,
and was running several online software applications to track the
various events. The gaming statistics software ran on the network
to capture all current action and produce accurate results of each
event, real-time event analyses and comparative information on records
established.
Hundreds
of volunteers were deployed to assist in the various events of CYG
2008, Pune. The Nortel network running the software coordinated
the movements of these volunteers on a real-time basis. Various
media teams covering the CYG 2008 used the network to compile reports
and sent it to their broadcasting teams. Online broadcast of the
schedule of events and the participants was also updated on a real-time
basis over the Nortel network.
With
so much activity happening simultaneously, the network was required
to be completely reliable. Nortel solutions built in redundancy,
as well as resiliency through a sub-second failover architecture
- ensuring that if any network element failed, a back-up solution
took over within a second, with no interruption and no drop in performance.
Nortel
scored over other vendors in being able to give a solution which
would accommodate all the connectivity requirements of the organizers.
For instance, the network had to support fiber as well as copper
termination interfaces: Nortel's Ethernet Routing Switches (ERS)
5530 were capable of supporting both interfaces, while the solutions
from other vendors could support only one interface.
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