London 2012 - the app Olympics
Post date: Oct 10, 2011 7:9:58 PM
The Technology Operations Centre for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games has officially been unveiled in London's financial district Canary Wharf.
UK-OLYMPICS TECHNOLOGY - And they're off - the Olympics may still be 10 months away, but the job of ensuring that the technology keeps pace with the action is already at a critical phase.
Paul Deighton is the CEO of London 2012.
Paul Deighton, London 2012 CEO saying "What we're unveiling here today is what I call mission control. It's the technology operations centre, or TOC. And it's one of the half a dozen or so control centres we have across the different functions that you provide at a games - you know, one for transport, security, sport and here at the technology operations centre, a group of London 2012 people and our partners monitor every system at every games venue so we can absolutely see whether they're working, whether there are any issues and if there are issues we can help people at the venue get them resolved before they become a problem for us."
The organization behind the London Olympics has been running test events for each sport that will be featured in the London 2012
Michele Hyron is in charge of technology integration at the games, and says the communication channels are still being ironed out.
Michele Hyron, Chief Technology Inegrator saying
"We need to make sure the communication channels are open and efficient.You never take for granted that someone knows something if it has not been properly communicated. You need also to make sure that if something happens or is about to happen, everybody knows who to talk to and who to report to."
Planning includes preparing contingencies for worst case scenarios. Gerry Pennell is the CIO for the games
"The question was, in the event of something happening to this building at games time, do we have a backup and the short answer is yes."
But assuming all goes smoothly the CEO of London 2012 says these Olympics are shaping up to be the Multi-Platform games, and the technology operations centre is preparing accordingly.
Paul Deighton, London 2012 CEO saying
"i think the principle difference between London and Beijing is really just the amount of the games will be consumed around the world via different means, sort of the anytime, any place, anywhere Olympics and Paraolympics. It's really the customer experience whether they're watching it on their phone, on their TV or on their laptop and all the ways in which they can interact with the games - you know, sending clips of the 100 metres to their friends, or sending clips from a stadium to their friends. It's the customer experience and how that can be enriched through social media, I think that's the real development."
But he says, innovation isn't the most important thing about the technology featured at next summer's games..the main priority is making sure it works properly.
Matt Cowan, Reuters.