The Technology Lab is a miniature version of the 36 Olympic competition venues, with the IT systems for every sports event and venue being put through a series of tests to ensure the Games run smoothly.

During the initial stages of testing, the first pack of seven sports, including athletics, tennis, basketball, volleyball and triathlon, that will be tested by Atos Origin and London 2012 will require half a million lines of code.

The Technology Lab is due to be officially unveiled at a special event later today attended by Sebastian Coe, the chairman of London 2012, and Patrick Adiba, Atos Origin's chief executive Olympics and Special Events.

"We are delighted to be working with London 2012 on what will be our sixth Olympic Games as worldwide IT partner." said Abida.

"We are now drawing on our extensive experience of delivering the technology infrastructure and systems for previous Games.

"We are working with London 2012 and our other technology partners to ensure London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games are the best Games possible.

"The start of today's tests marks the successful delivery of a major milestone for Atos Origin in our preparations for the Games."

The contract Atos Origin has with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the largest IT contract in sport and London will be the sixth Games where the company has run the IT infrastructure - the first being the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

They have been preparing for London since the Closing Ceremony in Beijing in 2008, as well as working on the Winter Olympics in Vancouver last year.

Between now and the start of the Games, Atos Origin, as lead integrator, will work with its fellow technology partners under the direction of London 2012's technology Department to test and run the technology infrastructure and systems that will make the Games happen.

This includes the portal to recruit·70,000 volunteers;·the solutions that will deliver the results to the world's media in 0.3 of a second·and the systems to issue·200,000 accreditations that allow entry to the venues and serve as a visa for athletes, media, sponsor and officials to enter the UK, as well.

By the times the Games arrive, Atos Origin will manage the deployment of 900 servers, 1,000 network and security devices and a staggering 9,500 computers, officials said.

In the Technology Lab, the key partners are Acer for hardware, BT for cabling, Cisco for network devices and Omega for the critical testing of all the results systems and services.

"When an athlete crosses the line in an Olympic or Paralympic Games, they don't want to wait to see their time flash up on the screen, they want to see it straight away," said Coe.

"Similarly commentators and those viewing at home want to see the result instantaneously.

"The technology for London 2012 - like the athletes - is in full training for the Games and there are no second chances.

"Our teams, alongside our partners will undertake over 200,000 hours of testing to make sure that when it comes to technology, for the athletes it simply isn't a consideration."

Amongst the many hundreds of processes and systems set to be tested will be myInfo+ and the Commentator Information System (CIS).

myInfo+ will be available for the very first time at London 2012.

The new internet application enables accredited media, sports officials and athletes to access information available to them.

Competition schedules, medal ranking tables, transport news and sports records, will all be available via their laptops with users able to tailor their homepage so that it highlights the countries that they want to follow during the Games.

The system also allows users to bookmark results and reports and use the hyper-links to easily navigate to other websites including those of the International Olympic Committee and London 2012.

The Commentator Information System displays results on touch-screen PCs in less than 0.3 seconds at venue broadcast sites, providing broadcasters with the results before they hear the roar of the crowd.

CIS, myInfo+ and all other Atos Origin designed systems will, over the course of the next 18 months, be rigorously tested and cross referenced with every sports body and association to ensure they comply with the latest rules and regulations, officials promise.

Steve Cram, the former world record holder who is now a commentator for BBC, is among those backing the system.

"As a commentator I fully understand the importance of being provided with information on the hundreds of athletes competing in the Games," said Cram, who is also an ambassador for Atos Origin.

"Things can change in the blink of an eye and we need to be able to react to situations as and when they arise.

The Commentator Information System, from Atos Origin, provides us with a constant flow of up to the second, detailed and invaluable information that, coupled with myInfo+, means we can deliver results almost instantaneously to the billions watching the Games."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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