IT industry welcomes technology challenges of 2012 & looks forward to Olympics 3.0

With the Olympic flag now handed to Boris Johnson on behalf of London, Intellect, the trade association for the UK technology sector, highlighted the pivotal role of technology in delivering on the promise of 2012.

With London opting out of competing with Beijing on raw spectacle, the successful delivery of its promise of a green, secure, and integrated Olympics rests on technology. The aspiration is to deliver the first ‘Olympics 3.0’ with spectators being able to enjoy multiple viewpoints, real time Games updates and live travel information through mobile devices. Each audience member will be able to access information previously available only to the sports commentator in the booth.

Intellect’s Major Events Group is comprised of over 220 companies including; Atos Origin, Consult, Deloitte, Hyperion, Nortel and Tricerion. ICT will support over 205 international sporting organisations, 20,000 worldwide media, nine million spectators, and over four billion television viewers of the games. Carrie Hartnell, Transformational Business Programme Manager said: “London will be the focus of the world’s attention in 2012 and will be showcasing the best of British technology. Broadcasting, ticketing, venue management, security and transportation will be delivered through innovative and interconnected technological solutions. Come 2012 technology will be central to London’s Games and its legacy.” 4G mobile devices, contactless access platforms and smart cards will revolutionise the experience of spectators and athletes alike. Using these devices attendees of the London Games will be able to interact with the games in a number of ways including; finding their way through the London traffic, receiving security alerts, buying tickets, web blogging on the Games live, networking with friends across the Olympic village and accessing local wireless networks for close-ups and replays of Olympic events streamed to their mobile devices.

David Birch, Director of Consult Hyperion commented:“By 2012 the technologies – mobile and contactless – will have come together. Major manufacturers, such as Nokia, have already begun to integrate the contactless technology into their mobile phone product range. Once again London has been in the forefront of the development of new applications and services to take advantage of this fantastic platform. Barclays, O2 and TfL have just completed an experiment involving several hundred people who have been using their phones to catch the bus, ride on the tube and buy cups of coffee with a simple wave. The possibilities for 2012 certainly look exciting.”

Transport operators, banks and retailers are continuing to roll out new contactless terminals throughout London, laying down the rails for the next generation of contactless mobile devices to run on. This enabling infrastructure can provide a platform for a whole new set of innovative products and services to support London’s Olympics. Patrick Adiba, Executive Vice President for the Olympic Games at Atos Origin - Worldwide IT Partner to the International Olympic Committee through to the London 2012 Olympic Games, said:"As we complete the delivery of the IT infrastructure and systems for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, we see two areas where technology will play a greater role in London in 2012. Firstly in helping to deliver the low carbon Olympic Games from helping people plan their journey to the Games through to how the Games are broadcast around the world. Secondly in improving how the global audiences watch and follow the Olympic Games. In Beijing we have processed more than double the amount of competition data for media and news agencies than we did in Athens four years ago. We believe that this will increase yet further as audiences worldwide expect more detailed and colourful information about the competition events as they happen in the way that they want to receive it."The technology infrastructure being built into London 2012 will enable our Olympics to be environmentally sustainable, making London the low carbon Olympics. From helping people plan their journey more efficiently to intelligent building management, technology will be at the forefront in reducing London’s 2012 carbon emissions.

* - Article from PublicTechnology.net

Outsourcing: Westminster Council IT infrastructure free by 2015

Please see the below article from Computer Weekly concerning Westminster City Council's aim to outsource all of its IT Infrastructure by 2015. Hopefully this can be successful and deliver value for money. I am doubtful as it seems to me London Boroughs go through cycles. We have seen outsourcing tried before and we have seen it fail before. In fact we don't have to go too far back on Tony Collins's blog on Computer Weekly to find a story confirming that there have been many failures with outsourcing within the Public Sector. Fingers crossed for Westminster City Council and their new approach to outsourcing.

Westminster City Council will be infrastructure-free by 2015, after completing the outsourcing of all its IT services.

CIO David Wilde said the council plans to transfer all its IT services to suppliers, who will also be responsible for day-to-day IT management. The council IT department will be left with a need for more project management skills and a "strong strategic arm".

Wilde said that cost cutting is not the main reason for the strategy. "It's not just about reducing costs, it's about getting more value for the same money," he said. "It's very easy to run an aggressive procurement exercise and go for the lowest cost - it doesn't mean that you then get the best service."

He said infrastructure-free environments are the future for many of the public sector organisations.

"A lot of local authorities have gone part-way down this road, but I'm not aware of any that have gone completely infrastructure-free. Even those with big 10-year deals are still hybrid, and manage some IT internally."

The move means different, "broader" skills will be required in the council IT department, according to Wilde. He said it is too early to know if there will be job losses. Staff will need to retain some technical expertise, and have commissioning and project management skills as well.

"It means quite a big skills change for IT staff. They'll need to know how contracts work and how supplier management works. We need to retain some technical expertise so we can be an intelligent customer. Staff will need to be extremely well-informed."

The aim of the Westminister project is to increase efficiency, transfer risk, get better quality of service and increase flexibility.

Wilde said, "Major legislative changes are having a massive impact on the technology we use to deliver services. Moving to an infrastructure free environment should mean the supply side should be much more agile and can deal with these changes more quickly."

One example, he said, is the Integrated Children's Service, which required local authorities to overhaul the way social services manage individual cases.