The Olympic Games: Real Time Results Management - British Computer Society Lecture at Surrey

Tuesday 20 May 2008

The Olympic Games: Real Time Results Management

Sandy Forrest, Atos Origin

Every two years, the world watches whilst the sporting elite challenge each other for the pinnacle of achievement, an Olympic Gold medal. Behind the scenes, there is a phenomenal effort to ensure that the technology that underpins the operation of the Games in this modern connected world succeeds. In Athens, the Atos Origin technology team during the Games was 3,500 strong, over 80% of whom were volunteers, trained in the last few weeks before the Games.

Whilst the responsibilities of the technology suppliers to the Olympic Games are extensive, the main things that four billion people are waiting to see are the results, quickly, consistently, everywhere. The information systems are the interface between the capture of timings from trackside equipment (provided by fellow sponsor, Omega) and the rest of the world - displays in the stadium, news feeds, internet, television graphics, and possibly most importantly of all, the commentators. It sounds easy really, but consider that events are sometimes separated by hundreds if not thousands of miles, and that information security and high availability operations are paramount, that they do this for 16 days, times 2 (Paralympics as well), once every 2 years, with different partners, different people, different cultures, and in different parts of the world. Oh, and it has to work - each time, every time.

The lessons are remarkably relevant to all major programmes of work, technology or otherwise: efficiency, risk management, preparation, scenario testing, automation, and leaving no stone unturned.