Avaya Global Services' 275 employees at its network operations center in St. Petersburg have their work cut out for them: They have six weeks to do a project that normally takes two years.
The FIFA Women's World Cup 2003 soccer tournament was moved from China to the United States because of the SARS scare, and Avaya has to scramble to set up computer networks for six stadiums across the United States.
"We had two years of planning going into China," Avaya spokeswoman Deborah Kline said. "And that sort of went out the window."
Now, equipment has to be shipped to St. Petersburg, set up and tested here before being sent on to the stadiums in Portland, Ore.; Washington; Carson, Calif.; Columbus, Ohio; Foxboro, Mass.; and Philadelphia.
The networks will handle data ranging from real-time results and game statistics to managing accreditation for players, journalists, staff and volunteers, and linking it all to FIFA's database in Switzerland.
Despite the tight schedule, Kline says, the company won't be adding any employees to its St. Petersburg group. "We feel they're up to it," she said.
