Connecting the Games

With 4 billion TV viewers around the world and 16 million people watching on big screens across the UK, this has been the most connected Game ever. And it’s all been underpinned by one network.

The London 2012 network went live way back in April 2010. And long before that we had to design the communications infrastructure itself, which is basically the size of a large town.

In the lead up to the spectacular Opening Ceremony, there were 42 live test events as part of the London Prepares series, the official London 2012 sports testing programme.

Among the various technical challenges, the London 2012 website had to be engineered to withstand as much as one billion visits and 12 billion page views during the Games.

During the event itself, the network was managed from the London 2012 Technology Operation Centre (TOC) in Canary Wharf where over 90 BT people worked 12-hour shifts, with changeovers timed to avoid busy periods when events are taking place.

It’s just a shame there are no medals handed out for planning and engineering!

London 2012: communications fast facts

It's been compulsive viewing so far, and London 2012 is just as fascinating behind the scenes.

Here are a few facts about BT's communications network during the most connected Games ever:

• the accredited media and Games organisers have made over 250,000 telephone calls on BT's London 2012 network over the last week
• there was a 100 Gbit/s increase in internet traffic during the women's gymnastics when Team GB finished 6th and a similar increase when the men's team won a bronze medal
• when Andy Murray defeated Roger Federer in the men's tennis final there was a 25% increase in internet traffic over BT's national network 
• and there was a 30% increase in iPlayer traffic over BT's network when Usain Bolt retained his 100 metre title. At 9.63 seconds from start to finish, it's a moment when you really don't want buffering!