Case: Atos delivered the Cloud for the Olympic Games

How we beamed competition data around the world in less than a second
Atos, in its role as Worldwide It Partner to the IOC, has run and orchestrated all key IT systems that helped secure the Olympic and Paralympic games in PyeongChang. In 2018, for the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, all applications were hosted 100% in the Cloud. Atos ensured that results were delivered around the world in 0.3 seconds. How do we run our Olympic programmes and what is the role of the Cloud?

Atos and the Olympics: a long lasting relationship
As Worldwide IT Partner of the IOC, Atos is involved in multiple Olympic and Paralympic games (Salt Lake in 2002, Athens in 2004, Turin in 2006,  Beijing in 2008, Vancouver in 2010, London in 2012, Sochi in 2014, Rio in 2016, Pyeongchang in 2018 and Tokyo in 2020). These projects are a complex mix of people, technology, cultures and processes. IT is always at the heart of making the Olympic and Paralympic games a success, and due to the scale of the event the effect of what we do is always highly visible as the world is watching. 

The IOC and Atos have embraced digital transformation. We see steep changes in how disruptive technologies can address emerging challenges and make a major impact at the Games for the mobile generation. The Games are watched across multiple platforms; mobile and online being the most prominent way it is consumed since Rio 2016. This requires a paradigm shift in the IT approach; building critical services on a cloud solution delivered together with other technology partners. The resulting efficiencies and operating flexibilities make possible a consistent multichannel customer experience – anytime, anyplace, anywhere. Please watch the video below to learn more about what we do for the Olympic Games: 

The role of the Cloud
The 2018 Olympic Games were the first Games where all critical IT Systems were run in the Cloud (such as Olympic Management Systems, Olympic Diffusion System, all web results, the mobile results app). All was delivered over the Atos secured Canopy Cloud. By implementing this Cloud solution, Atos realised a 30% reduction in operational costs whilst maintaining maximum performance, and delivered real-time results that were transmitted to 8 billion different devices worldwide in less than 0.3 seconds. 

So what difference did the Cloud make? The Cloud migration was part of our ‘build each time’ to ‘build once’ model, in which we saw the following changes: first of all, delivery was centralized with new centers of excellence in integration, implementation, testing and support which delivered more effectiveness, efficiency and consistency. Second, the Cloud provided for a new collaborative platform for the project members from different (competing) stakeholders, which caused major advances in knowledge management and experiences that could be re-used. Third, Atos’ Cloud technology is a completely carbon neutral solution that contributed to a more and sustainable Olympic event. Fourth, thanks to the Cloud, content that was never shown is now at the fingertips of viewers, anytime, any device, real time. 

There is one more critical business area where using Cloud technology and real-time data analysis techniques help: security. The Olympic Games are an iconic security target, holding the most critical personal data in the world at peak times. With more information becoming available to users, the increase in IT security is ever daunting. In Rio, 570 million security events were generated (400 IT Security events to deal with every second). Using real-time data analysis tools and a set of rules that search through the millions of security logs generated daily, Atos’ solutions are tracking nearly every hint of digital activity within the Olympic network - ensuring zero impact on the Games. 

Interested in reading more about our olympic efforts? Read the Olympic brochure and learn what´s needed to manage this large IT project, how the Games are turned into a fully connected global consumer experience and how real-time data analytics are used for safe-keeping the Games.