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Inside the French tech company that powered the Olympics

French IT giant Atos has spent the last three years preparing the computer systems needed to handle accreditation, schedule volunteers and distribute results for this year's Olympics.

A view of the Paris 2024 Technology Operations Center. Image: Atos

A view of the Paris 2024 Technology Operations Center. Image: Atos

French IT giant Atos has spent the last three years preparing the computer systems needed to handle accreditation, schedule volunteers and distribute results for this year's Olympics.

Between the lines: Last week, in the middle of the Paris Games, Axios was able to peek inside the Technology Operations Center where Atos brings all the technology vendors together to jointly address issues as they crop up.

  • Behind a glass wall in an office at the Paris 2024 headquarters, reporters were able to see more than 100 workstations where Atos and the other tech providers stare at monitors and video screens.
  • That's how they keep an eye on what's happening at each of the venues around France, as well as the surfing competition held nearly 10,000 miles away in Tahiti.
  • Holding the surfing competition there poses more than a geographic challenge. Because of the 12-hour time difference between Paris and Tahiti, it's harder to find downtime to make the mid-Olympics tweaks needed to address inevitable glitches as they arise.
  • In an even more secure room — not even visible through glass — a separate team assesses cybersecurity threats.

Catch up quick: Atos — an IT services multinational that's little-known in the US — has been helping manage the Olympic computer systems since it signed on as a local partner for the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona.

  • It's been a global partner since 2001, and has been in charge of the computer systems for every Olympics since Salt Lake City in 2002.

Yes, but: Atos struggled to avoid bankruptcy even as it prepared to power this year's Olympics in its home country.

  • Atos' leadership, meanwhile, has spent much of the last few years seeking to restructure in order to ensure its corporate survival.
  • In July, Atos named Jean Pierre Mustier as CEO — the company's fifth chief executive in less than two years — as it seeks to restructure its debt and bolster its financial footing.

 

The big picture: Atos officials told Axios they are using generative AI in some non-critical areas, but opted against using it to offer Olympics information to stakeholders.

  • "It can introduce hallucinations, so you're not going to play with this," said Àngels Martín, director of Atos' Olympics Games business unit. "The rate will be too high."
  • That follows a trend seen throughout the Paris Games, where AI was much talked-about, but typically played a supporting role, especially generative AI.

Zoom out: Atos helps power several key systems, including those used to manage credentials that allow access for athletes, sports officials, volunteers and others.

  • Atos also oversees the information system that delivers near-real-time results from official timekeeper Omega to official broadcasters as well as the more than 20,000 accredited journalists covering the Games.
  • One of the biggest shifts over the years has been the move to entirely cloud computing, eliminating the need to bring bulky, hot and expensive servers to each Olympics.

Flashback: Here's how things looked back in 2010, when I got a similar peek behind the curtains of the winter games in Vancouver.

Author: Ina Fried

Source: Axios

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