Oh, the irony of it all! A few years ago, I visited Siemens in Germany. The people with whom we met proudly told us that a recent study had determined that Siemens was fourth in the whole world in the number of countries where they had a corporate presence. That’s a lot of countries!

Who was ahead of them? In third place was Coca Cola; in second, the Catholic Church. Who was number one? It was Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the governing body for the ever popular sport we crass Americans call soccer.

So, with Germany hosting this year’s World Cup, and Siemens challenging FIFA for ubiquity in the world, what did Siemens choose as a theme for their Catalyst Conference hospitality suite? Yep, American Football! Aaarrggh!

But the little bear I received tonight was really pretty cute – football and all!

By the way, this will be my token World Cup post. My colleague Jonathan Gershater told me I should follow up my series of blogs about the Phoenix Suns with some commentary on the World Cup. I must admit that the little story about Siemens and FIFA is about all I know about international football. I trust that someone with more knowledge will carry the torch.

Technorati Tags: Identity,
Digital Identity,
Identity Management,
Siemens,
FIFA,
World Cup