How one Sydney reseller assisted Socceroos' Asian Cup destiny

As the Australian national soccer team prepares for one of the biggest games in its history, a Sydney reseller has revealed how it supported the Asian Cup.

Communications Design and Management, a national service provider headquartered in the inner east of Sydney, told CRN of the staggering scale and speed of its network and managed services gig for the tournament.

One of CDM's two contracts covered LAN and wi-fi network deployment for all five stadiums and "ancillary sites" such as training venues, hotels and airports, using HP technology. 

Cabling alone in the five host cities added up to more than 17km of Cat 6 network cable and more than 4km of fibre optic channels. More than 300 access points were installed for the wi-fi network.

"We have offices in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane – and that's where the stadiums are, plus Newcastle, so we had good coverage," CDM general manager James Ross told CRN.

The second contract was for IT support services, which encompassed desktop SOE, global security policy, domain administration, Office 365, 24x7 service desk, onsite support at all stadiums, and distributed file and print.

The support services involved more than 400 Toshiba notebooks, with about 400 users configured for Office 365 and printing, more than 150 Konica and Epson printers, and 93 racks. The managed services included asset management as well as setting up a service desk and contact centre.

"All this achieved in about an eight-week timeframe," said Ross. "We probably had 30 people working on the Asian Cup, mostly fulltime staff rather than temps."

The Asian Cup, held over three weeks this month, culminates in the final at Stadium Australia tomorrow night – to be contested between host nation Australia and continental power South Korea. Multicultural support in Australia has helped smash attendance records, well beyond the organisers' forecasts.

"It's been a great opportunity to leverage all of CDM's capabilities," said Ross. "Everyone in CDM was very excited about getting the Asian Cup work – there's been a real buzz around the office."

CDM's website lists business information management, networking, project management, and managed services as its major activities. Ross told CRN that the company has about 150 staff spread around the country.

"Yes, I will be there at the final tomorrow night, hosting clients. It's a good chance to show off our work," said Ross.