Atos opens technology centre for Paris Olympics in 2024
Atos has commenced preparations for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, with the launch of a new Technology Operations Centre. The centre will be the control and command centre for technology that supervises all 63 Olympic and Paralympic competition and non-competition venues.
Founded in 1997, Atos is a French multinational professional services firm, headquartered in Bezons, France. The firm’s worldwide offices offer support for clients with high-tech transactional services, unified communications, cloud, big data and cybersecurity services. As a longstanding supporter of the Olympic movement, and a local firm, the consultancy was therefore a key choice for the provision of technological services to next year’s global sporting showpiece.
"The success of the Olympic and Paralympic Games mostly depends on the ability to integrate, manage and ensure uptime for technologies and IT systems which form the core services provided to stakeholders throughout the competition ecosystem,” said Atos’ Chief Integration Officer for Paris 2024, Christophe Thivet. “The Technology Operations Centre (TOC) opening reflects the hard work of Atos' teams and partners alike."
Spanning a surface of 610 square-metres, the TOC is the control and command centre for technology that supervises all Olympic and Paralympic venues. As the chief IT integrator of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and part of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 Technology team, Atos will now play a key role in managing TOC operations related to IT services, coordinating more than 2,000 experts operating a 24/7 service throughout the competition.
The TOC is one of three technology hubs dedicated to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, along with Barcelona's Central Technology Operations Centre (CTOC) and the Integration Testing Lab (ITL) in Madrid. Atos is able to replicate these three autonomous, complementary, sustainable IT structures, thus reducing the environmental impact of IT during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The intricate system will be responsible for correctly gathering and publishing performance data and statistics on the Olympic Diffusion System (ODS). Atos will announce this data within a timeframe of 0.35 seconds, before it is broadcast on the competition's websites and other media, available for viewing from all devices including desktops, smartphones and tablets
The opening of the TOC completes the roadmap developed in 2020, heralding the initial operational phase with less than a year to go before kick-off. It was launched at an event attended by officials including Nourdine Bihmane, CEO Tech Foundations, Atos, as well as Tony Estanguet, President of the Paris 2024 Organising Committee.
Bruno Marie-Rose, chief information and technology officer for Paris 2024 remarked, "The opening of the TOC, the IT hub at the heart of Paris 2024, is a key milestone in the final sprint undertaken by Atos to deliver a more connected and technologically advanced Olympic and Paralympic Games for athletes, sports federations, the media and the general public. Paris 2024 will benefit from Atos' unique expertise, propelling technological innovation in the Olympic movement for more than three decades."
