It is a 610 square meter stage located in a classic building in the Paris region. Behind the glass partitions are 104 computers, arranged in five rows of desks. Giant screens line the wall in front of them, giving the whole thing the look of a space command. It is from here, at the center of these technological operations (Technology Operations CenterTOC), which manages all IT for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (JO), from July 26 to August 11, followed by the Paralympic Games, scheduled for August 28 to September 8.
A little over 300 people will take turns on site, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, to prevent and correct the slightest glitch that could spoil the two events. Including people sent to 63 Olympic sites, including 40 dedicated to events, Paris 2024 will mobilize more than 2,000 IT professionals. In total, 10,000 computers and 200 applications will be used for the two Olympics.
“The basis of the success of games is technology”, acknowledges Tony Estange, President of Paris 2024, during a visit to the Technology Operations Center organized for the press on October 3. For this Olympics, an envelope of 510 million euros, out of a total budget of 4.4 billion euros, is reserved for technology. “Thirty years ago, it was mostly about supplying computers. There we are in connecting, collecting and managing real-time data. “, describes Noordin Bihman, Deputy General Manager of Atos. Represented at the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992, the group became a technology partner of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2002.
Prepare for extreme scenarios
Without technology, there will be no real-time event timing and results: the very high-speed IT and telecom networks operated by Orange will send this official data to the commentators’ screens at the Olympic site in just 0.35 seconds. . For media that remain at a distance, they will arrive two seconds later. In total, Omega, the Paris 2024 timekeeper, will send more than 2 million messages from Olympic sites to Atos servers, data that will then be processed and forwarded.
The IT system is also critical for ticket management (13.5 million tickets issued) or athlete accreditation (10,500 for the Games, 4,350 for the Paralympics). Electronic and secure, this accreditation serves as an official visa for foreign athletes. IT is also cyber security, a very real threat, as Vincent Strubel, director-general of the National Information Systems Security Agency, appointed by the prime minister to be in charge of Olympic cyber security, recalled in July. At this level, the organizers want to be careful about the means of defense. Exercises simulating various computer attacks have already been conducted.
Source: Le Monde
Jason Root is a sports aficionado and a writer at Run Down Bulletin. With a passion for athletic competition and a wealth of knowledge on all things sports, he provides in-depth coverage of the biggest games and events in the world of sports.
