Cloud computing scores a goal for Uefa

Following the success of the Euro 2012 tournament in Poland and the Ukraine, Europe’s football authority Uefa is hailing another achievement – cloud computing.
 
The Swiss-based administrative body has hailed the benefits of outsourcing IT through cloud hosted services, reports Computer Weekly.

Because the way in which people watch the beautiful game is changing at a rate of knots, Uefa feels that it needs to be at the forefront of technological enhancement.

Use of cloud-based systems in partnership with Interoute’s network of datacentres has enabled Uefa to have access to tools which both increase the quality of services they offer to television broadcasters around the world but also reduce operating costs.

Uefa tested the cloud’s capabilities during the recent Euro 2012 tournament and were extremely pleased with the results.

It said that it was faced with two key challenges when the football extravaganza (eventually won by Spain, in case you were wondering) got underway.

On one hand it had to ensure that international broadcasting firms received the services they required to show matches to millions of viewers and on the other, it had to ensure that things ran smoothly on the ground, with games trouble-free and well organised.

A surge in people logging on to the body’s website Uefa.com could have meant major problems to Uefa’s servers under normal circumstances but it had this covered also thanks to using a private cloud set up hosted in Amsterdam and Geneva.

A dedicated command centre set in the Polish capital of Warsaw handled the demands put on the broadcast element.

Weynand Kuijpers, senior service delivery manager in the Uefa ICT unit, said: “The main challenge is to keep everybody paying attention to all the little details.

"As it is a live event, it requires the utmost attention, to prepare for the event and to have worked through all possible scenarios, to be ready before they happen.

"The biggest challenge is actually not technical but is complacency.

"After 15 matches, it is easy to think that everything is under control, but the reality is that another 16 matches have to be played, and therefore there is still the requirement to be at everyone’s very best.”