Behind the scenes of the first all-IP converged network for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
When the Olympic Flame is lit at the opening ceremonies for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games on February 12, 2010, it will represent the culmination of years of dedicated preparation by the athletes participating in the event. In much the same way, it will mark the culmination of years of designing, testing, and deploying the communications and data network that will be critical to the success of the Games. The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC), Bell—the official telecommunications provider of the first-ever all-IP Games—and Avaya—the official converged network equipment supplier—are working together as one team to deliver a secure, reliable, end-to-end communications experience for the Olympic family of athletes, media, officials, and spectators at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games. While the goal of technology is to be invisible during the Games, significant effort is taking place behind the scenes to deliver a flawless communications experience to all those involved.
The Network
Optical Ethernet Core
Ethernet routing switches with split multilink trunking to achieve load sharing and sub second resiliency. 10 GigE and SONET services on a unified platform.
VANOC Administrative Data Enterprise
Avaya Ethernet routing switches, secure routers, application switches and VPN/security products will provide VANOC staff with secure access to applications anywhere, anytime. A secure network access switch will play a key role ensuring media, staff, athletes etc. are granted network access based on their device credentials.
Games Data Centres
The data centres are the heart of the 2010 Games network. Avaya Ethernet routing switches, switched firewalls and application switches will ensure that such critical applications as competition scoring – which must be sent from the data centres to the IBC within a third of a second – are always available.
Bell Hosted VoIP Service
Bell will offer Carrier Class VoIP services using Avaya servers and IP phones – the first ever Olympic Games deployment of VoIP technology.
Bell Internet Access/WiFi Hot Spot Service
Bell will be delivering wired and wireless Internet Access to the media and to the Olympic family with the Avaya LAN portfolio.
Technical Operations Centre
The Technical NOC will be used to manage, monitor and troubleshoot the entire 2010 Games network.
Competition Venues
Redundant 10-Gig connections will be deployed to ensure that high bandwidth network access will be extended to media, staff and athletes and officials in each major venue. Hundreds of Ethernet routing switches will provide converged communications.
Main Media Centre
Avaya Ethernet routing switches, application switches and security products will provide reliable network access to some 10,000 writers, photographers and broadcast media.
International Broadcast Centre
The IBC will bring the 2010 Winter Games to some three billion television viewers across the globe. Avaya systems will carry broadcast traffic from each venue to the IBC, where it will then be broadcast to each country via satellite.
Athlete Villages
The nearly 7,000 athletes lodging in the Athlete Villages can stay connected to home with Internet access and IP telephony provided by Bell, while Games kiosks throughout the village will provide up-to-the-minute information on events, standings and venue logistics.
Supporting Venues
Avaya secure routers will extend Ethernet over Bell's commercial T1/T3 network, providing cost-effective communications to smaller venues such as practice facilities.