SYSTIMAX Solutions powers world's first athletes information system at Qatar's ASPIRE

SYSTIMAX Solutions, a leader in copper and fiber solutions, and its business partner Telematics, provided the academy with the core communication backbone that would act as the foundation stone to support a broad scope of advanced systems, including the world's first comprehensive athletes database system.

"Our vision at ASPIRE is to build top athletes and an overall stronger sports culture in the country. There is so much sporting talent in this region, but up until now the opportunities for young athletes to advance their skills and realise their full potential have been limited," said Mr. Soubhi Abdulkarim, IT Manager of ASPIRE. "We want to nurture these young athletes and lead them to sporting and academic excellence, which is why it was important for us to build an infrastructure that would not only help us teach and train more effectively, but allow us also to provide a service to the sports industry as a whole."

The ASPIRE infrastructure will be underpinned by the SYSTIMAX GigaSPEED® XL7 solution, which supports bandwidth-intensive applications and boasts performance ratings 400% above the international standards laid down for category 6 copper cabling. Working concurrently with this copper-based solution, will be the LazrSPEED® fibre solution which provides a low-cost route to reliable LAN communications supporting 10 Gb/s transmissions at distances up to 300 meters. The fibre backbone technology is essential for ASPIRE as it will enable it to overcome possible bandwidth bottlenecks, allowing it to use more price competitive networking products and saving the academy money on its overall IT expenditures. To address new technologies in the future, Telematics also installed the unique TeraSPEED™ single-mode fibre cable solution that is designed to cost-effectively future-proof enterprise backbones for next generation equipment and allow up to 60% more capacity.

"The infrastructure will support ASPIRE's state-of-the-art facilities and provide students and staff with the latest technology tools that will help foster sporting, academic and social education. For example, the academy will set-up a comprehensive athletes database system, where data on athletes can be collected and combined with various advanced interfaces and systems to provide in-depth analyses on each and every athlete, making it the first tool of its kind in the world. This would not be possible without an advanced cabling infrastructure that would support these kinds of complex systems," said Mike Atkinson, managing director of Telematics.

The decision to use SYSTIMAX Solutions' technology was a result of an extensive evaluation process by ASPIRE. "SYSTIMAX's structure connectivity solutions offered us superior performance parameters that easily supported our application requirements of today while providing more than enough scope to underpin the more bandwidth intensive applications of tomorrow," said Soubhi Abdulkarim, IT Manager, ASPIRE. Other key success factors were Telematics' solid track record in designing and installing advanced networking systems in the region and the renowned 20-year extended product warranty and applications assurance that SYSTIMAX Solutions provides on its Structured Connectivity Solutions (SCS).

Using advanced Voice over IP (VoIP) solutions that are supported by the infrastructure, students and faculty staff will be able to take advantage of high speed video conferencing facilities in all the classrooms and meeting rooms, that will also link ASPIRE to other organisations around the world. The academy will also set up a sophisticated portal-based information system that will allow students, their coaches, parents and sponsors to share and exchange information.

"Focusing on raising the standards of sport throughout the region, ASPIRE is committed to scouting out talented young athletes from around the Middle East and giving them the chance to compete at international levels by combining education with advanced training facilities," said Craig Tindle, Country Manager Qatar, SYSTIMAX Solutions. "We are proud to have worked with them on such an ambitious endeavour."