The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is working with the IT arm of Schlumberger Ltd. to provide state-of-the-art security systems for the Athens 2004 Summer Olympic Games.
The Greek government has hired 45,000 uniformed security personnel to patrol the 2004 Games and has set aside $600 million for security, in what has been called “the most heavily protected and perhaps most uneasily watched in Olympic history”.
Schlumberger will provide more than 200,000 Games participants and officials with electronic security badges, and information which is sent from card readers to a master database that will allow IOC officials to track badge holders, from venue to venue.
The new system will also ensure that Games participants meet local immigration requirements and will facilitate security checks by law-enforcement agencies.
Schlumberger’s contract with the IOC is the world’s largest sports-related IT contract, extending from last year’s winter Games in Salt Lake City to the 2008 Beijing Games.
For additional security JVC is wiring the main press centre with 11 video cameras that will provide security officials with a 360-degree view of activities in the centre.
