The team responsible for the IT for the Athens 2004 Olympic
Games faces a mammoth challenge, not least to meet the IOC's goal
of spending less on IT than at previous games. Ross Bentley talks
to Claude Philipps, chief integrator for the Athens games
It is just over 10 months until the Olympic flame will again be
lit, and the athletes competing in Athens are starting to step up
their training regimes. The IT manager responsible for the IT
infrastructure for the games, however, has been preparing since
early in 2001.
"We were here before the construction of the stadia started to make
sure the technology interfaced with the buildings and we will be
the last to leave after we have rolled up all the cable and packed
away the equipment," says Claude Philipps, chief integrator with IT
services company SchlumbergerSema.
Philipps is overseeing the project and despite rumours that
preparations for the event are behind schedule, he is confident
that the IT side will be ready for the starter's pistol well ahead
of schedule.
"All the gossip about preparations being behind are just that,
gossip," says the 53-year-old Frenchman. "All the big bits of
technology are in place. We have planned well ahead for this
project and have been working to a detailed strategy of what we
need to have, where and when.
"Because of the high-profile nature of the event, failure is not an
option and we have an immovable deadline. We cannot rely on penalty
clauses. We have to be ready for the start date."
Philipps is responsible for an operation of truly Olympian
proportions. The games' computer network encompasses 60 venues
around the Greek capital and incorporates 450 Unix servers, 450
Windows boxes, 10,000 PCs and 400 laptops.
The 300-strong IT team embodies the spirit of the games with
members hailing from 22 different countries. Eventually the number
of IT staff will swell to more than 1,300 as volunteers join the
team for the duration of the 17-day event in August.
Despite the challenge facing Philipps he says the technology will
not be out of the ordinary. With the world watching, this is not
the time to be experimenting with sexy technology. "We are using
only robust, tested products - this is no time to showcase new
technology," he says.
SchlumbergerSema is the lead technology sponsor for Athens 2004 and
the company is working with a number of best-of-breed suppliers to
complete the infrastructure.
The Swatch Group is responsible for all the timing and results
mechanisms, Sun Microsystems and Dell are providing hardware and
software and the networks equipment comes from Cisco.
Xerox is supplying the printers, and local Greek operator OTE is
providing support for the telecoms side of the operation.
With so many vested interests involved Philipps has worked to
ensure an atmosphere of openness exists among the disparate members
of the team. "Everything is on the table - there are no secrets,"
he says.
"We all work in a large open office and share all our issues. We
have a feeling that we are all working towards one cause."
As well as managing the other suppliers, SchlumbergerSema has been
responsible for developing the critical internet-based applications
that make up the games management system. These have been developed
over the past three years at SchlumbergerSema's European
headquarters in Spain.
The applications include software to gather results and broadcast
them through the different media, both online and in printed
form.
Then there is a tool to manage the accommodation bookings for the
10,500 athletes competing in the games as well as an application to
organise the huge transportation operation required to ferry
participants to and from the sporting arenas.
Another application has been developed to register all the
competitors and to check they have obtained the qualifying time.
This is the first Olympics where individual Olympic committees have
the option to register their athletes online.
"Of course, we have kept the paper-based accreditation system in
place because many countries do not yet have the capability to
register online," says Philipps.
Inclusion is one of the main tenets of the Olympic ideal and this
ethos extends to efforts to reduce the cost of implementing the IT
that backs up the games.
Where you might expect the IT budget to increase every four years
as the International Olympic Committee embraces new technology and
new ways of conducting business, the orders from on high are to
strive to reduce the IT budget as each Olympic games comes along,
Philipps says.
According to Philipps, the International Olympic Committee wants to
make the cost of hosting the games more affordable so in future
less wealthy countries will have a chance of successfully bidding
to host the event.
One way the current IT team is reducing costs is through extensive
use of a knowledge management database that contains IT know-how
garnered from previous Olympics.
Philipps says drawing on this resource ensures his team does not
reinvent the wheel but instead draws on the best practice
experience learnt at previous games.
This, coupled with the amount of experience that exists in the IT
team, makes Philipps confident of 100% success. He estimates that
about 20% of his team have experience of implementing IT at an
Olympic event, whether it be the Sydney Olympics 2000 or the Salt
Lake City Winter Olympics held in 2002.
Another way the IT team is controlling spend is by trying to use as
much of the IT equipment previously used at Salt Lake City as
possible. This practice of recycling equipment at different events
is on-going.
After the Athens games are over the IT kit will be packed away
with a view to rolling out as much as possible for the Winter
Olympics in Turin, Italy in 2006 and the 2008 Summer Olympics in
Beijing. This process is made possible because SchlumbergerSema has
the contract to be the lead technology supplier to the Olympics
until 2008 - the largest sports IT contract ever awarded.
IT security is a major issue for Philipps, because of the high
visibility of the games. He says, " You never know who will try to
break in, whether it is by hacking or using a virus or a denial of
service attack.
"We have isolated the games network, with no access to the internet
or e-mail but we are still taking precautions and have put in
firewalls and layers of anti-virus and intrusion detection
software."
The security measures also encompass physical security. When
testing the security of the IT system for the Salt Lake City games
someone slipped into the datacentre, installed a wireless device
and was then able to access the system from outside.
This time all the bases are covered. "We will have security staff
on hand at all times to monitor the network and to ensure that no
one can break into any of the datacentres," says Philipps.
In the run up to the games, Philipps and his team plan to test the
network rigorously and check that all business continuity
procedures are in place.
"We will rehearse everything and play out many 'what if'
scenarios," he says. "Is our kit robust enough? Is the network
reliable enough? What happens if there is a power cut? What happens
if volunteers do not turn up? We will leave nothing to
chance."
As the games approach, Philipps shows no sign of being nervous.
"When you are prepared you are less anxious," he says. "I have been
working on this project for a long time."
But surely he must be proud of what he has achieved so far? "So far
nothing has been achieved," he says. "I will be proud the day games
has finished."
According to Philipps, a successful IT project manager must be
fully prepared and ready to take the plaudits only after the system
he is responsible for has done its job.
It also helps if you are not superstitious - next year's Olympic
Games open on Friday 13 August.