Technology plays major role in London 2012

One of the main challenges of London 2012 is the circulation of a vast amount of data generated from Games results systems to billions of people around the world – in a variety of mediums and in real time.

A Technology Operations Centre (TOC) has been set up in Canary Wharf to coordinate the monumental task, acting as a nerve centre for the Olympic Games and its 94 venues, 36 of which are competition venues.

Atos, the worldwide IT partner of the Olympics and Paralympic Games, has revealed that the full extent of the technology required to run such a complex operation includes 900 servers, 1,000 network and security devices as well as more than 9,500 computers.

Another Worldwide Olympic Partner, Acer, has provided the PC infrastructure for the Olympic complex, consisting of 16,000 desktops, notebooks and tablets as well as 950 servers across the numerous venues, including the TOC, Media Centres, the Olympic Villages, the LOCOG headquarters and all the competition venues.

Omega, which first served as the Official Timekeeper of the Olympic Games at Los Angeles 1932, has taken up the role for the 25th time at London 2012. These days, it takes 450 professional timekeepers working with more than 400 tonnes of equipment to ensure that the timing, scoring, display and distribution of the results are flawlessly executed.

Panasonic, also a Worldwide Olympic Partner, is tasked with the challenge of delivering the field of play to the spectators through its large on-site video screens and audio systems, and also to billions of TVs around the world using its digital broadcast equipment. London 2012 is the first-ever live 3D

Olympic Games, made possible through a partnership between Panasonic, the IOC and Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS).

Samsung has been a Worldwide Olympic Partner in the Wireless Communications Equipment category since the Nagano 1998 Olympic Winter Games, providing a wireless communications platform and mobile phones for the Games. The technology provided by Samsung gives the Olympic Family a real-time, user location-based information service and interactive communications. 

Paul Deighton, CEO of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) outlined the role of technology in the run-up to the Games: “About a quarter of our budget is spent on technology and it really does underpin how we operate, how we do results and distribute them to the people who use them; how we manage the venues in terms of timing, the scoreboards, etc. It is a massive exercise.”