Final Olympic Technology Rehearsal Tests Games-Time Readiness of the Olympic Data Network
Date: December 28th, 2001
Release: IMMEDIATE
SALT LAKE CITY – The stage is set and the final technology rehearsal, Test Rehearsal 2 (TR2), for the Olympic Winter Games of 2002 is complete. The tests gave IKANO engineers an opportunity to test and ensure that the expanded data network will be ready for the Games.
IKANO Communications, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, is the Official Data Networking Services Supplier for the Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Winter Games of 2002. IKANO will provide all data-networking services and accompanying support for the Games.
The IKANO-built data network is the largest network in existence in the state of Utah and is considered the central nervous system of all technology functions for the Games. Nearly every aspect of technology for the Games will run over this network.
The high-performance Olympic data network will be used to aggregate data and information from Olympic events and then distribute the information to Olympic staff, athletes, officials, the host broadcaster, and the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee (SLOC) Web site.
“The IKANO engineering team has extensive experience building, managing and securing extremely complex, networks. IKANO currently supports its own nationwide network and I am confident that the Olympic network will remain secure for the duration of the Games,” said Dave Busser, SLOC Chief Information Officer. “We chose IKANO because of its demonstrated expertise in delivering high-performance network infrastructure, built-in redundancy, and its experienced staff.”
While Test Rehearsal 1 (TR1) went smoothly in October, only one-third of the network was built out at that time. Since TR1, the network has expanded to two-thirds of Games-time operation size.
Additional applications have been installed and have come online, more services have gone live, additional venues have been added and more traffic overall will flow over the network during TR2.
“The operation of the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Games Data Network was flawless during the second and final technical rehearsal,” said Bob Donohoo, IKANO Senior Network Engineer. “This IKANO-installed and supported data network was validated through several artificially created network failures as a part of testing the network redundancy features and training preparedness to date.”
One testing scenario involved losing power to all primary routers and switches at the A data center. Backup routers and switches were automatically enabled without any
human involvement. In addition, IKANO engineers detected the failure to the network within seconds and responded immediately.
Another scenario simulated a major cable cut to one of two cable entrances at another location. Three DS3 circuits were simultaneously cut. Within seconds of the circuit failure, all data traffic was routed from the competition venues through alternate paths over the data network. Again, IKANO engineers detected, isolated and resolved this simulated problem quickly.
To complete Test Rehearsal 2 (TR2), IKANO engineers reconfigured the Data Network at two competition venues to simulate the transition from Games to Paralympics. The transition was successful and provided valuable information for the greater network transition that will occur in early March 2002.
“This network, with some 450 installed switches, firewalls, cache engines, and routers of the 900 required for Games, met all expectations after making some minor modifications based on the results of the first Technical Rehearsal held in October,” said Donohoo. “At this point, we are going to expand the current network model and do not expect to make any design changes.”
“This final round of testing gave us a much better idea of what the network’s capabilities will be during Games time,” said Henry Smith, IKANO CEO. “It operated closer to capacity during this round of testing, allowing IKANO engineers to produce conclusive test results.”
TR2 allowed IKANO engineers to validate network design changes made since TR1, as the network was changed to increase security and reduce exposure to failures. While the network performed well during TR1, these steps were taken to ensure greater success during Games-time.
“IKANO is acutely aware of how serious it is when any system does not perform to expectations,” said Smith. IKANO’s Olympic data network is working well in Salt Lake, and will continue to do so through Games time.”
While the data network is operational both before and during the Olympic Winter Games, systems must be in place to ensure that the network stays operational. If a failure should occur, IKANO engineers must isolate and solve the problem as quickly as possible. While the primary network may fail-over to a backup network in a matter of seconds, the original problem must typically be corrected in a matter of minutes. To ensure that this happens, approximately 12 network management stations will be strategically placed throughout the network using a variety of utilities and several custom-built applications and databases written by IKANO engineers.
Information distributed over the network will include event schedules and real-time results, athlete profiles, weather and performance data. IKANO is currently building, configuring, testing, managing and maintaining a data network capable of supporting all the integral technology functions of the Games. The network will be available at all venues, many of which will stage events simultaneously.
Over 900 switches, 120 routers, 150 T1 lines, 11 T3 lines, 12 network management stations, firewalls, cache engines, a few load balancing servers and nearly two years of preparation and testing assure that the IKANO-supported Olympic data network will deliver a gold medal performance in February 2002 during its 17 days of operation.
About IKANO Communications, Inc.
IKANO Communications was founded over 10 years ago as a regional Internet service provider in the Intermountain West and since then has flourished to become the industry leader in private-label, wholesale, and retail Internet services. IKANO leverages its ISP platform to provide outstanding services at highly competitive prices. The company's rapid growth and excellence in the field have resulted in IKANO's ranking in the
Inc. 500,
Technology Fast 500,
Inner City 100,
Utah 100, and
Call Center of the Year.
Companies interested in learning more about IKANO should contact
info@ikano.com, or call
877.492.0121.
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