If providing WiFi service to spectators at sports venues across the U.S.
is tough, then providing it to the prickly and complaint-prone press
corps and demanding Olympic family at the Sochi Games is downright
dangerous for a company. But Canada’s Avaya, which is delivering WiFi at every venue, didn’t hesitate. “We’ll deliver during the Games, and we want to be sure people are
talking sports and not technology,” said Dean Frohwerk, who leads
Avaya’s solutions engineering efforts and is overseeing work at the
Sochi Games.
Delivering The Goods
The top 5 apps used by Olympic executives, Olympians and media during a four-hour period:
■ Twitter (5,130 MB)
■ Facebook (2,222 MB)
■ Skype (1,475 MB)
■ Dropbox (778 MB)
■ Instagram (746 MB)
The company is the official supplier of network equipment in Sochi. It
installed 2,500 wireless access points throughout Sochi’s venues, and
its systems are processing 1-2 terabytes of data daily. The sponsorship has been good for Avaya’s business. Because Sochi was
built from scratch, it was able to win contracts to provide services at
many of the new hotels, restaurants and retail outlets being built
before the Games. Frohwerk said Avaya’s business in Russia is up 120% since it
became a Sochi supplier. It hit its revenue goals in the market
two-and-a-half years into a four-year plan. He expects those numbers to rise further after hosting and demonstrating
its work in Sochi to more than 70 CIOs it’s bringing to Sochi from
companies around the world. Frohwerk: “That’s when it really starts resonating with the customer. It’s not what you’re planning to do. It’s what you did” (
More at SBJ's ON THE GROUND Blog).
