fifa, Football, 2010, world cup, productivity, email and more

What a buzz…. 10 days left before the start of one of the largest copyrighted events in the world, and it’s a great time to be living in Cape Town and to be in South Africa as an IT Professional.

I remember where I was during the last world cup – in the middle of an email migration from an old version of something, to a new version of something, and while I’m still migrating mail, football’s largest event is coming to Cape Town – my home town……..

So what does that mean for productivity? Maybe not much as productivity is measured :p  however some days the traffic is predicted be be slower than others, particularly since some bits of the road going into Cape Town aren’t quite finished yet:

Depending on what does or doesn’t happen on the road, my personal productivity may not be affected. Remote access to critical sites mean that as long as the internet keeps on working, I’ll keep on working – after all it would be a REALLY bad time for Telkom – the local incumbent provider to be embarrassed in front of the world and it’s shareholders.

Hopes are that all that bandwidth that’s been provisioned for the benefit of millions of viewers may trickle down to the bandwidth starved masses, it’s either that or Nando’s may start selling pigeons and memory sticks as sides to their meals.

Mass marketing aside, living in Cape Town and being part of a host City is a wonderful experience – part of the event means we’ll have enough power while the matches are on, even if stadiums won’t subscribe to the grid during a match, we certainly will.

2010 as a year and a number will mean a lot to many South African’s and visitors alike. We hope that the visitors who come to our shores will fall in love with our country and our continent as we all do…. And then come back!

Let’s count our blessings, love our visitors, enjoy the opportunity we’ve been given to have a lot of fun, and if you’re an IT pro reading this, and 2010 means part of the name of your current favourite product then be part of the bigger picture of making this year one of our countries best.