Atos, the information technology services partner of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), who have supported the Games since 1989, are using canopy technology, a joint venture between Atos, EMC and VMware, allowing large groups of remote servers to share data and computer services.

While the technology was only just coming into operation at the time at London 2012, it was used to a limited extent at at the Winter Olympics in Sochi earlier this year, where cloud-technology assisted the running of the Official Games website. 

In Rio, more than 80 competition and non-competition venues will have IT infrastructure linked together, which will include hundreds of servers and thousands of laptops and desktop computers, while in Pyeongchang two years later all IT services will be combined this way.

"We have been delivering solutions flawless for the IOC since 1992 so we're comfortable the move to the cloud will not impact delivery," Sanfeliu, Atos's chief integration officer for Sochi 2014, told CRN.

"We believe the Olympic environment is a perfect fit for cloud computing and essentially Canopy."

By Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic sponsor Atos hopes the entire information technology system will be cloud operated ©Getty Images



Atos has described Rio 2016 as a "key milestone" in a "paradigm shift from a 'build each time' to a 'build once' model in delivering services over the cloud".

Areas the cloud-based technology will span include accreditation, athlete entries and qualification, and workforce management.

With the system having already been designed, the current focus is on building the systems ready for testing, with it being hoped that by the beginning of 2016, the IT equipment will be deployed.

It has been hailed as a key achievement by Atos following the announcement of the extension of the French company's TOP sponsorship status in February during Sochi 2014.

"Atos is our long-term worldwide IT partner who has played a critical role in helping us deliver seven successful Olympic Games," said the IOC's director of technology Jean-Benoit Gauthier.

"We are now trusting it to transfer the delivery of the IT for the Games to the cloud, so we can continue to innovate and ensure an excellent Games experience for all."