Atos opens Olympics operations hub

Tech firm Atos has opened the Technology Operations Centre (TOC) for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Boasting a surface area of 610m², the TOC for IT networking and communications technology supervises all 63 Olympic and Paralympic competition and non-competition venues. As the global IT partner, chief IT integrator of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and part of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 technology team, Atos said it will play a key role in managing TOC operations related to IT services, coordinating more than 2,000 experts operating a 24/7 service throughout the competition.

Atos is also the Official Digital Technology Partner of the European Olympic Committee for the 2023 and 2027 editions of the European Games.

After three years of remote collaboration, the Group’s 15 technology partners will now be working together on-site. Atos will be using the TOC to coordinate 140 Venue IT Managers across all operational locations. The TOC will deploy a range of IT equipment to support the running of the competitions and delivery of results. Atos will also provide support to the 60 venue results managers from the TOC.

The latter will be responsible for correctly gathering and publishing performance data and statistics on the Olympic Diffusion System (ODS). Atos said it will announce this data in a timeframe of 0.35 seconds, before it is broadcast on the competition’s websites and other media, available for viewing from all devices, including desktops, smartphones and tablets.

In an example of how the systems will see use, the commentator information system (CIS) will provide sports journalists with data, whether live on-venue from Paris or off-venue in their home country.

The TOC will be one of three technology hubs dedicated to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, along a central technology operations centre (CTOC) based in Barcelona and an Integration Testing Lab (ITL) in Madrid. Atos said it will be able to replicate these three autonomous, complementary, sustainable IT structures, thus reducing the environmental impact of IT during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Following pilots held by the ITL, test events for 18 sports at 11 competition venues have been conducted to allow the TOC and CTOC teams to assess fundamental systems and applications in real time. By July 2024, more than 250,000 hours of testing will have been completed.

“The opening of the TOC, the IT hub at the heart of Paris 2024, is a key milestone in the final sprint undertaken by Atos to deliver a more connected and technologically advanced Olympic and Paralympic Games for athletes, sports federations, the media and the general public,” said Bruno Marie-Rose, chief information and technology officer of Paris 2024.

“Paris 2024 will benefit from Atos’ unique expertise, propelling technological innovation in the Olympic movement for more than three decades,” he said.

Christophe Thivet, chief integration officer for Paris 2024 at Atos, added: “The success of the Olympic and Paralympic Games mostly depends on the ability to integrate, manage and ensure uptime for technologies and IT systems which form the core services provided to stakeholders throughout the competition ecosystem. The TOC opening reflects the hard work of Atos’s teams and partners alike.”