OLYMPICS LONDON 2012: Atos quick out of the blocks to deliver Games to worldwide audience

By Sportsbeat staff

JUST about the only thing quicker than Usain Bolt at London 2012 were staff at  IT services firm Atos - who managed to transmit results to the world's commentators in an amazing 0.3 seconds.

BEHIND THE SCENES: Hundreds of Atos business technologists helped London 2012 go off with a bang

With eight million ticket holders and four billion people watching round the world, Atos business technologists beat expectations to deliver a new personal best allowing viewers to enjoy the Olympic Games on more devices than ever before.

Hundreds of Atos experts were busy behind the scenes, making sure viewers could interact with the athletes' exploits through their TV, mobile devices, social media and the internet. That was no mean feat, with London 2012 the most digitally enabled Games in Olympic history - making it the largest and most sophisticated sports IT project of all time.

Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee, said: "With the support of Atos, we have been able to meet people's expectations to watch the Games via multiple channels, on multiple devices in real-time.

"Atos is the brains behind the operations for the Olympic Games, consistently delivering on schedule and within budget.  As our long-term partner, I look forward to working with Atos as we look ahead to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games."

London 2012 was the first Olympic Games in history to stream every single minute of the action live.  It was also the first time ever at a Summer Games that all 26 Olympic sports were sent to broadcasters worldwide via Atos' Commentator Information System (CIS).

Other new benchmarks included processing more than 250,000 accreditations for the Olympic family, providing the IT infrastructure at 35 competition venues, processing 30 per cent more competition data for media and news agencies worldwide than ever before - and providing competition, schedule, weather, transport and other essential information to all 14,700 athletes.

Thierry Breton, chairman and CEO of Atos, said: "As lead integrator, project manager and operations manager, we were responsible for the key IT systems for the Games and I am delighted to say our team delivered.  The way people have interacted with these Games via their TVs, mobile devices, social media and the internet has made London 2012 the most digitally enabled Games of all time and we are proud of the role we have played in what has been a resounding success for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), LOCOG and the entire Olympic family."  

With just 19 days to go until the start of the London 2012 Paralympic Games, the Atos team of business technologists is already working hard to make sure the delivery of its IT solutions is the same as Usain Bolt's on the track - flawless.

© Sportsbeat 2012