Security and cloud, Atos’ strengths at the Tokyo Olympics
For the last Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Atos as an IT partner of these events has put on the cloud and enhanced security.
From an IT perspective, the organization of the Olympic Games represents a considerable amount of work. As the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games come to an end this weekend, September 5, 2021, Atos, official global IT partner of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since 2001, has drawn up an initial assessment of the solutions and services put in place for both events.
For this edition, all of the strategic systems and applications used were in the cloud, a migration completed since the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games. In addition, the number of physical servers was reduced by almost half, from 250 servers for Rio 2016 to a little more than 130 for Tokyo 2020. These developments have made it possible to reduce energy consumption, the quantity of infrastructures and, in so doing, the number of employees having to travel on site to manage them, thus contributing to reduce the environmental footprint of the Games.
Games in full digital transformation
This year is also distinguished by record digital traffic, with 50% more users on the Games digital platforms compared to Rio 2016 and 6.5 million users for the official Olympic website during the first few years. days. In total, 339 events were broadcast almost instantaneously to the public, journalists and broadcasters, with billions of spectators at stake. 400,000 accreditations were also issued, up 30% from Rio 2016. “In this unprecedented time, the support and trust of our global Olympic partners is more important than ever,” said Thomas Bach, President of the CIO. “We are pleased to continue to work with Atos, our trusted guide in this time of great digital transformation to provide the structure and major digital platforms we rely on to host the Olympics.”
Solutions deployed by Atos include Olympic Games management systems supporting planning and operations, as well as information delivery systems to deliver real-time results to the media and the Olympic family. In addition, Edge Computing technology has been implemented to reduce processing times and ensure the fluidity of services. Finally, to reinforce security and safety, an advanced access control system (AACS) integrating facial recognition functionalities provided by NEC has been deployed.
Take care of cybersecurity
To develop these strategic tools and applications, no less than 200,000 hours of technical testing were necessary during the preparations, with the realization, for the first time, of remote technical tests. Particular emphasis was also placed on cybersecurity, with a Security Operations Center (SOC), a CSIRT (Computer Security Incident Response Team), a detection and response system at the endpoints as well as services. vulnerability assessment.
