The new and secure cloud infrastructure, powered by EMC, will be used to test and run IT applications which will distribute results to the world’s media during the Games.

Additionally, it will also support planning systems that will be used during the recruiting of volunteers, support workforce management, as well as managing competition schedules and processing accreditations for athletes, media and the wider Olympic Family.

"As is the case for many businesses, the move to the cloud brings many benefits For the Olympic Games," said Patrick Adiba, chief executive of major events at Atos.

"It takes away the need to rebuild an entire infrastructure for each of the Games, which is both timely and costly.

"It also helps the IT team to react faster and to anticipate new needs and perhaps most importantly, it provides flexibility.

"As the Olympics does not need to operate at full capacity all the time, a cloud infrastructure will enable computing power to be scaled up and down to meet demand and ensure the best experience for users."

The new infrastructure was used for the first time in August to test the competition schedule and workforce management systems, and throughout this month the cloud capacity will be increased for a limited period to carry out technical testing which proves the infrastructure can support the expected demand through the project.

The capacity will then be reduced in line with the limited need to use the infrastructure at this stage and by the close of the year Pyeongchang 2018 will be utilising the system.

When the volunteer portal for the Games goes live around two years before the Games, capacity and bandwidth of the cloud will be increased again to meet the anticipated increase in demand.

Jean-Benoît Gauthier, the IOC’s technology director, believes the delivery of the cloud system is an important moment in helping to stage the Games.

"The delivery of the secure cloud, IT infrastructure to support all Olympic Games from 2018 is a major milestone in our digital transformation," he said. 

"Cloud is a perfect fit for the Olympic Games and we are delighted to be working with our long-term Worldwide IT Partner on this important project that will benefit all those who participate in the Games - media, athletes and spectators."



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