Atos' cloud orchestration success behind Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020

Tokyo, Japan, and Paris, France – September 29, 2021

The Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 were unique in terms of organization in the context of COVID-19. Once more, Atos, Worldwide IT Partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, successfully enabled thousands of fans to share the athletes’ experience by orchestrating and securing all the IT systems behind the event.

Year on year, Atos strives to reduce the environmental impact of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and has supported this by fully migrating all systems to the cloud. Atos has implemented innovative ways of working, extensively using the latest technologies to manage remotely all the testing, homologations, and rehearsals. In addition, relentless effort has been deployed to scale down the number of physical servers by nearly 50%. This new delivery model enabled to reduce energy consumption, heat emanation, intensive hardware infrastructures, as well as the number of employees travelling to the host city[1]

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Facts & Figures on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic & Paralympic Games

• All critical applications were hosted 100% in the Atos cloud
  
• 878 events in the Olympic and Paralympic Games program with near-instant transmission of results to fans, journalists, and broadcasters
• Billions of viewers
  
• 200,000 hours of technical testing
  
• Physical servers reduced by nearly 50% compared to previous editions – operating from 250 servers in Rio 2016 to just over 130 in Tokyo 2020
• 67 million users on the official Olympic Games results webpage
  
• 49,510 volunteers accepted through the volunteer portal
  
• 535,000 accreditations issued – which also served as a secure official border entry document into Japan

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At peak, Games systems hold the most critical personal data in the world. Atos secured the entire IT infrastructure of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, leveraging its expertise in digital cybersecurity and using real-time data analysis tools. Its teams of cybersecurity experts monitored systems and networks continuously, from a Security Operation Center (SOC), combined with a Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT). They were working closely with the Atos business and technology experts of the Technology Operations Center.

“Tokyo 2020 were unprecedented Olympic Games, and it took an equally unprecedented effort from all of us to make them happen in a safe and secure manner for everyone. Atos has been truly instrumental in connecting, securing and digitally enabling the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 to all stakeholders worldwide, while decreasing the environmental impact of our IT operations. We are delighted to continue to work with a leader in the digital field, bringing innovation to the Olympic Games, and helping us to connect digitally with all our fans around the world.” said Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

“The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games were historic, as athletes broke records, opened minds and changed lives. Being able to tell that story of diversity and inclusion across the world was vital, and the Atos cloud ensured that we could stay digitally connected with fans, journalists and broadcasters. To do that safely and securely was particularly important to us in Tokyo as we launched WeThe15, which aims to end discrimination towards the 1.2 billion persons with disabilities. We congratulate Atos for ensuring that the Paralympic Games were as high-performing in the IT back-end as they were on the field of play.” said Andrew Parsons, President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

Atos is actively supporting the campaign #WeThe15 launched by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the largest campaign ever of its kind focused on disability visibility and inclusion. The Group has extended its employee resource group for people with disabilities and their allies and is committed to addressing inclusion as a major cause.

“Like athletes, Atos experts have been preparing for the event years in advance, with ambition and determination. When it comes to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, there are no second chances,” said Elie Girard, Atos CEO. “Each edition of the Olympic and Paralympic Games brings together more and more connected spectators, and digital is more than ever a central player. The expertise of our teams made it possible to deliver a flawless event, and to ensure moments of joy and emotion to the world community. In these unprecedented times, I am very proud of the success of these Olympic and Paralympic Games, which were remarkable by their extraordinary resilience.”

Looking forward to Beijing 2022 and Paris 2024

For the first time in the history, the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games will take place only 5 months after the end of the summer edition – which necessarily represents a real preparation challenge. The Atos teams are already on site in Beijing, eager to bring their innovation, commitment, and passion to the successful organization of the next edition. Atos is also already preparing actively for the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2024 which will be held in Paris.

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[1] 50% reduction of staff travelling to support the Games in the Technology Operation Center in Tokyo.

About Atos

Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with 105,000 employees and annual revenue of over € 11 billion. European number one in cybersecurity, cloud and high-performance computing, the Group provides tailored end-to-end solutions for all industries in 71 countries. A pioneer in decarbonization services and products, Atos is committed to a secure and decarbonized digital for its clients. Atos operates under the brands Atos and Atos|Syntel. Atos is a SE (Societas Europaea), listed on the Next 20 Paris Stock Index.

The purpose of Atos is to help design the future of the information space. Its expertise and services support the development of knowledge, education and research in a multicultural approach and contribute to the development of scientific and technological excellence. Across the world, the Group enables its customers and employees, and members of societies at large to live, work and develop sustainably, in a safe and secure information space.

Atos press contact

Lucie Duchateau – lucie.duchateau@atos.net – +33 (0)7 62 85 35 10