World Cup FRANCE 98 – Press Releases
27 April 1995
The Information Technology Choices for FRANCE 98: EDS and Hewlett-Packard.
Within the framework of the World Cup’s marketing programme, eight major international firms will be called on to become the Official Suppliers of the 1998 World Cup.
The French Organizing Committee will invite the best companies to contribute to the project through their financial efforts, their products, their services, and their teams for the success of a world-wide event.
Information technology is one of the key success factors of this project. It is essential to the Organizing Committee’s operations/actions in many, often decisive, areas of the event’s organisation (internal management, ticketing, accreditation, information databases, volunteer management, etc.).
The French Organizing Committee for the 1998 World Cup has chosen Electronic Data Systems (EDS) and Hewlett-Packard (HP) as Official Suppliers of the 1998 World Cup, for information technology.
EDS and HP will supply the Organizing Committee with complete services and all the hardware required to make optimum use of the most advanced information systems ever implemented for a World Cup.
EDS
World leader of information-technology services, EDS has 80,000 employees in 30 countries, and generated revenues of $ 10 billion in 1994. It will be responsible for implementing the entire information system and will be involved in every phase of the project. EDS will thus supply:
- management consulting for the event;
- functional and technical-architecture designs, development and implementation of applications;
- hardware installation in the venues, and facilities management.
As the systems integrator, EDS will ensure the project’s overall management and will supervise data-processing operations in the venues.
The choice of EDS guarantees:
- that the comprehensive information-technology needs of the Committee, including the most specific requirements will be addressed;
- the commitment to agreed results, taking into account the natural evolution of a project which cannot be fully determined three years before the event.
The experience acquired by EDS during the USA’94 World Cup, further backed by its long-term involvement in the field of sports, ensures it has the expert know-how required to advise the Committee about its technical, organisational, and operational choices. EDS will contribute to the success of the World Cup through the quality of its services, the extent of its competence, as well as its staff’s professionalism and enthusiasm.
Hewlett-Packard
With over 98,000 employees worldwide and a turnover of $25 billion in 1994, Hewlett-Packard is the second largest computer manufacturer in the world, and is leader in the market of UNIX systems and printers.
Within the framework of the World Cup project, Hewlett-Packard will be responsible for providing all the computer hardware (personal computers, workstations, servers, printers, network hardware, etc.) and it will participate in the technological choices thanks to its expertise, both in existing systems as well as in innovations expected by 1998.
Hewlett-Packard was chosen:
- for the excellence of its products and after-sales service;
- because of its wide range of computer hardware that fill the Committee’s requirements;
- for its locations either in or near all the World Cup cities, a factor which will facilitate technical support and, more generally, because of its substantial presence in France, including its production plants, competence and European distribution centers employing close to 4,000 people.
Thanks to its vision to make information available anywhere and any time, Hewlett-Packard meets exactly the Organizing Committee’s needs since it must implement efficient means to provide information for the media and the general public. Hewlett-Packard will contribute to the World Cup’s success by its innovative, high performance and top-quality products, as well as through its staff’s dynamism and motivation.
