Just like IBM Corp in 1994, Hewlett Packard Co is going to be under considerable strain when it provides information systems for the 1998 soccer World Cup in France, reports the Herald Tribune. Throughout the tournament computers will handle some 2.5 million tickets for 64 matches in 10 locations. Television audiences for the tournament are estimated to total 37 billion, some 6 billion more than watched the Atlanta Olympics last summer. HP has already established a web site dedicated to the occasion and has already received some 70,000 hits in just two weeks. When the tournament starts it will receive an estimated 10 million hits a day.
