IT integral to Olympic effort

13:01 6th August 2008

The performance of IT systems at the Beijing Olympics will play a critical part in ensuring its success, according to computerweekly.com.

The international technology services company Atos Origin has admitted to feeling nervous one week before the ceremony, following five years of work, with eight other suppliers, on the IT infrastructure of the games.

Atos currently has 400 staff in Beijing, most of which are centred on the technology operations centre, which is the IT hub of the event.

"There are millions of things that could keep you awake at night. There is no one big problem as the technology is very complex, anything can happen and there are lots of small things," Jeremey Hore, Atos Origin's chief integrator told computerweekly.com apprehensively.

"But at the end of the day we have spent a lot of time testing and preparing, and if we identify issues we need to be able to respond," he added.

The Olympic torch arrived in the Chinese capital today, three days before Friday's opening ceremony.

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