Tr@ck and field

The meticulous planning that goes into staging an Olympic Games is pretty mind-boggling, including a mammoth IT infrastructure supporting the sporting spectacle. Business Management catches up with Jean-Benoit Gauthier, CIO of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), to hear about how he organises an event dubbed ‘the greatest show on Earth’.

“The winter Games can sometimes be a bit more difficult. Due to it being winter, everything has to be ready far in advance; you cannot dig the ground when it is icy.”
-Jean-Benuit Gauthier

When the Olympic flame is lit in the main arena, signalling the start of a summer or winter Olympic Games, all thoughts turn to the athletes demonstrating their sporting prowess over two weeks of competition. But, of course, an Olympic Games doesn't just magically happen; it takes years of planning with thousands of professionals working behind the scenes to ensure the event runs without a hitch. Gauthier is Director of IT for both the summer and winter games, so whether it's a sprawling Olympic site across Beijing or the awkward, icy environment of Vancouver, he and his team have to be ready on time. There is no leeway and no margin for error.

For the IOC, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, London 2012 is turning into the home straight. Less than 24 months away, the rigorous testing is not far off for Gauthier and the IOC's technology partner, Atos Origin. Atos Origin has been the main IT services partner of the Games since 2002 and has been involved with the Olympics for 20 years. The current contract is reported to be the largest sporting IT deal and has recently been extended to to cover the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games in Russia and the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Summer Games in Brazil in 2016. The IT vendor is working on an accreditation system for 250,000 athletes, officials, back-room staff and the media, as well as computerised staff rotas and delivering results to the world in less than a second. Other suppliers include telecoms firm BT who is is constructing a telecoms network for the site that is capable of carrying six gigabits of data every second.

For Gauthier, who has occupied this key role for more than five years, the crucial part of the jigsaw will be the IT operations unit - the nerve centre of the Games, housing some 900 servers. Every Olympic Games becomes more dependent on technology to function and London looks set to be no different. To borrow the motto of the Games, Gauthier is striving to go faster, higher, stronger in the IOC's bid to make 2012 feast of sport to remember.

You were quoted as saying last year that you can delay a rocket launch but you can't delay the Olympic Games because IT is not working. How do you handle the time pressures?

Jean-Benoit Gauthier. It's a good question. Technology has to deliver what the users need and this means that technology is an enabler. It means we have to be ready on time, because the functions have to be able to use the really advanced technology to support our activities. A key element here is that down the years we have developed a good way of transferring technology knowledge in order for people to really know their job well. Also, we have some long-term partners who are able to develop applications and support each function [of the IOC]. It is a dual process; you teach users and you develop, without reinventing the wheel, applications that can be transferred from Games to Games. With out partners, we are able to develop long-term plans because these people are excellent at developing the transfer of knowledge and bringing expertise.

Key for us is the need to test, test and test. During the last year or so before an Olympics, we have to test the performance of the applications. Its technical, not just functional testing. We also need to test the people because at the Games we rely on a lot of people. They also have to be a different venues so we have to solve these problems and these people need to be properly trained so they can react if anything happens during the Games. It doesn't mean that everything is perfect, but we have systems in place so that we can go to plan B, plan C or whatever is needed. To sum up, the key areas for me are the transfer of knowledge, our long-term technology partners and the testing period. They are all key to having a successful Games that are on time. 

Can you give us an idea about how much technology and IT and number of people involved behind the scenes at Beijing, for instance?

JBG. The IT budget here is not like what you would find in a regular company where very often people are focused on financial systems or human resources systems. Here, we are speaking about Games time applications because we need to enable tickets to be purchased, accommodate people, run results and disseminate information worldwide through the internet. We also have to install technological equipment in an area that you would not encounter in a regular company. If you go to a temporary venue then you need to cable it - you need to put all the right elements in place to support your servers and computers. It's quite a complex element because we had around 10,000 desktop and laptop computers in Beijing.

For Beijing, we had about 8800 people working in the technology area and another 600 people who belonged to the organising committee. To be honest, this is really a huge number because in past Games we had less people. We had between 2500 and 3000 volunteers and also the contractors who brought their own staff of 5600 people to Beijing from all over the world. Also, China Telecom and China Netcom brought a lot of local people, which was fantastic. So it was a mix of local and international experts who have the experience from previous Games.

Did Beijing throw up any unique challenges?

JBG. One challenge was adapting to the local culture. What was great about China is that you knew the Games would be different than Athens, while London will be different than Beijing. We always need to adapt because when you start working with an organising committee you never know how the Games will turn out. The first thing to do is learn the culture and how they behave and together we can build the Games. This was a very big event so we had to think of how the Games would impact on 1.4 billion people so it meant the pressure was higher but it was a good learning exercise.

The IOC has a partnership with technology specialists Atos Origin - the world's largest IT sports contract. What role do they play in staging an Olympic Games and how has their expertise proved invaluable in the past?

JBG. We have a contract that covers three areas: application development, systems integration and information security. Application development covers all the key applications we need for the Games. For instance, if you go to an Olympic Games then you need IOC accreditation and our long-term partner is able to implement and transfer this application from Games to Games. The second element is systems integration and operations, which means they are able to bring past expertise, procedures and experience to the next Games. It covers how they work with global or local partners because you will always need a telecom infrastructure that needs to be integrated. You need to work with hardware and mobile providers and everything needs to fit together, which is the responsibility of Atos Origin. Also, with a lot of venues that are not central located at a Games you need a technology operations centre that supports each of the venues. This is supplied by Atos Origin. When it comes to information security, we hear a lot about hacking and intrusion. So, it's very important that we have some clear focus on this and Atos Origin has developed a key expertise in this field and a very good approach for the Olympic Games. They start early on implementing it and are very good at supporting the organising committee.

It's around 24 months until the London 2012 Olympic Games. How are things progressing in terms of the IT infrastructure and outside suppliers? Am I right in saying that everything has to be finished 12 months before the Games begin for rigorous testing?

JBG. Yes we will certainly try to get everything finished [with a year to spare]. The first element we need for the Games is to build and secure venues. The development of the Olympic Park in London is a very big work in progress with 10,000 people working on it and more than 60 percent of it is complete. You can never say you are comfortable but the progress is positive. They will certainly be on time, maybe even earlier than expected. This is good from a technology point of view because we don't have to come in at the last minute and rush to install everything. We will have our first event this year for the organising committee - a sailing regatta in Weymouth, which will be an opportunity to test things. The idea is to train people, maybe not the applications because these won't be ready yet. Although we may have bugs in the applications, it's all about training people and a milestone for on the way to the Games.

As I said, a key element for London is making sure the venues are ready on time. The second is that we need to have a balanced budget - things are very good at the moment but there is still a very long way to go. The third is about how to reach now this new generation of people.  We use TV a lot to reach the global audience and this is a key part of the Games. London has launched an interactive way of connect with the general public, through the internet and mobile phones but we know we have a long way to go on this. The signs are positive, though.

How do challenges differ between summer and winter Olympic Games?

JBG. For me, the biggest challenge for the summer Games is the site. We need sometime to build a big arena on big area and you have a lot of activities everywhere. The size is one of the biggest challenge for the preparation of the Games. It means that you have to think more about infrastructure, how you build it and how you connect all the venues with a high bandwidth. We also have the issue of peak mobile usage and making sure we can support it. When you have 90,000 people at an opening ceremony sending picture MMSs or SMSs to tell friends and family where they are, you really need a big infrastructure and a reliable partner to help you do it. This is always a big, big challenge.

The winter Games can sometimes be a bit more difficult. The size of the event may be smaller but it can be more difficult technically. Due to it being winter, everything has to be ready far in advance; you cannot dig the ground when it is icy. Also, when you are up a mountain mobility is always difficult and coverage is difficult to reach. Both summer and winter have their own challenges but its different every time.

London 2012 will be the most hi-tech Games ever. How do you strike the balance between providing the athletes, officials and spectators with best information and data and taking risks or pushing the boundaries with new technologies?

JBG.The success of the Games won't be down to technology - it will because of the athletes. However, I spoke about the accreditation system but I don't think about whether it has to be fancy, it just has to work. When you have 200,000 people to accredit it is important there are no queues, people will get access to where they want to go, it will be a transparent process, fully controlled and the background checks by the authorities will be done properly. So do we need advanced technology for that?  I think we need the most reliable technology.  We have to look at what is relevant.  Technology is advancing so it means we cannot develop technology for the organising committee that is four years old. Everything has to change. We also have to reach people where they are, the way they want. Technology can support this and it can support what people think of London. The key to ensure the Games in London will be different than the Games in Beijing and technology has to allow it. It's not just cut and past  of Beijing. We need to do it properly and be sure we can support the development of the organising committee.

Rio de Janeiro has been selected as the host city for the 2016 Olympic Games. Have you begun preparing for these Games already and do you foresee any unique issues or challenges that will have to be overcome?

JBG. The two main discussions we have had with Rio is about construction, like roads, and the marketing side because they need to start activating it. On the technology side, we start to work with the organising committee five to six years before the Games so this year we will go to Rio to discuss technology. For me, the key element is the selection of a telecoms partner and they need to structure a technology department within the organising committee

One challenge will be how they really leverage of organising big e vents. They have already organised the Pan Am Games and they are working hard on the soccer World Cup in 2014. They need to leverage this knowledge because it will be a big step for them to compared to what they have already some. We are ready to support them with that.

What do you enjoy most about being Director of Technology at the IOC?

JBG. You have to stay humble. When we speak about the Rio Games, no one knows for sure how they will turn out. I have worked on a couple of Games so its about bringing experiences to the next one. If we can work together, understand each other, share our culture, share our knowledge then we can really develop the right level of technology to support the operation and to support the function and to stage a wonderful Games for the athletes in Rio.

Factoid:

10,000

Number of desktop and laptop computers at the Beijing Olympic Games

 *       *        *        *        *  

October 2008

1000 days to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games

December 2009

Design of the technology infrastructure and systems complete

July 2010

Launch of volunteer portal, providing information on 70,000 helpers needed to stage the Games

October 2010

The first phase of 200,000 hours of integration testing begins

February 2011

The equipment deployment centre opens. Thousands of computers, servers and network and security devices are configured and distributed to over 90 venues

June 2011

IT systems and infrastructure are rolled out to all venues

February 2012

The technology operations centre opens. The accreditation system is launched, enabling online registrations

May 2012

A week-long technical rehearsal is staged

July 2012

Results systems operation.

August 2012

The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games

Source: Atos Origin