2012 Olympics are 'major win for UK IT'

The 2012 London Olympics will demand major investments in IT for transport management, security and other areas of the public sector, according to a new report from Kable.

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog) has a projected budget of £204m for information systems, £63m for telecommunications and £12.5m for internet applications to help make the games a success. The Role of IT in the 2012 Olympics shows that IT will be needed for far more than the management of the competitions.

A major effort will be needed to ensure the smooth flow of competitors, officials and spectators to and from the events. According to London's 'bid book' for the Olympics, the sector will account for £7.2bn of the £9.9bn of capital investment, and there will be significant upgrades of the relevant information systems.

This could involve a move from automatic number plate recognition to tag and beacon technology for the city's road management. It also offers the potential for the extensive use of smart cards, which could be extended to train stations outside London where events will take place.

Security will also be important, with a big expansion in the number of CCTV cameras in the city, and a move from analogue to digital technology facilitating more automatic analysis of people's behaviour.

Although there is uncertainty over the extent of the national ID card rollout by 2012, it could conceivably be used as part of the ticketing process for spectators resident in the UK. Spectators from overseas could use biometric passports or take place in an on-site enrolment process.

The games will also have implications for the NHS National IT programme, online arrangements for tourism and how local authorities promote themselves on the internet.