Beijing Olympics presents IT challenge

By Staff and reports

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Launching a short-term communications network in Beijing could be one of the biggest challenges of the 2008 Olympic games.

Olympic IT staffers are already addressing the task of rolling out a network in a city with a less-than-optimal fixed line infrastructure.

Tony Basile, Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the U.S. Olympic Committee, told reporters that Beijing may have to go wireless in order to support a reliable communications system.

$300M IT budget

Building a temporary Olympic network in any city is a tremendous task, even in host cities that have relatively sophisticated infrastructure.

The Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, which will be held in February, requires a $300 million IT budget, according to Information Week.

The budget covers the rollout of 4,500 workstations, 550 servers, 14,200 desktop telephones, 10,000 mobile phones, seven Internet centers and two data centers.

For the Beijing Games, the Olympic Committee has contracted Sema, a unit of Schlumberger, to be its primary IT services provider. The 2004 Summer Games in Athens will give both Sema and Olympic officials an opportunity to test communication networks that run wirelessly.

"Athens will serve as a dress rehearsal for what we're likely to ultimately have to do in Beijing," Basile told Information Week.

"We've basically taken the tack that we can't depend upon a wired infrastructure."

But that's not the only IT headache.

IT staff will also have to contend with an inflexible deadline, ensuring that Beijing's Olympic network will operate smoothly from day one.