3‑2

3 Information System Digital Media

System Platform for the Tokyo 2020 GamesKAWASE Takeshi

OGURA Mikio

The System Platform considered “naturally in operation” was built and operated under the pressure of “absolutely
unstoppable” even at the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 For the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo
2020 we made maximum use of cloud services built a private cloud that clears the high system requirements unique to the
Olympic and Paralympic Games implemented a common platform that connects to the cloud and operated the Games in a
hybrid cloud environment The System Platform for cyber security was also thoroughly implemented and zero incidents
affecting the operation of the Games were recorded This article reviews the System Platform of the Olympic andParalympic Games Tokyo 2020 and discusses its prospects
Keywords：System platform Private cloud Common platform design Platform security

1．Introduction

2．Overview of the System Platform

The Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020

The information system was built for the Olympic and(hereinafter referred to as “Tokyo 2020”) were post-

Paralympic Games operation by establishing a Primary

poned for one year for the first time in history due to the

Data Centre (hereinafter the PDC) and a Secondary

spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19) ended

Data Centre (hereinafter the SDC) for disaster meas-

successfully with the Information System of the games

ures in the host city for each Games In addition a Venue

operating smoothly without any interruption during theData Centre (hereinafter the “VDC”) and an On Venue

entire duration of the Tokyo 2020 Games The System

Result (hereinafter the “OVR”) were installed at each

Platform which consists of servers and storage thatcompetition venue to deploy systems for the Gamesʼ

operates the information system also contributed to themeasurement and distribution The competition was

success of the Games by achieving stable operation

operated under a design that allows operations towithout a single incident affecting the gamesʼ operation

continue even in the unlikely event of network problems

This article reviews the challenges and solutions to thebetween venues

System Platform specific to the Tokyo 2020 Games anddiscusses the legacy of the GamesThe System Platform for past Olympic and Paralympic Games was on‑premise until the Rio 2016 Games
which was changed to a cloud environment owned by aglobal partner from Pyeongchang 2018 Games (Figure
1)

KAWASE Takeshi
Technology Services Bureau The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic
and Paralympic GamesE‑mail kawase takeshi@fujitsu com
OGURA Mikio
Technology Services Bureau The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic
and Paralympic GamesE‑mail ogu@fujitsu com

The Journal of The Institute of Electronics Information and Communication Engineers Vol 105 No 8 Supplement pp 124‑131 August 2022
© 2022 The Institute of Electronics Information and Communication Engineers

124

The cloud environment runs the “Games Information
System and Games Management System”
Suite” “Integrated Data Platform” etc“Officeand provides

functions to each venue via the PDC/SDC
The Tokyo 2020 Games while following the basic
layout of the System Platform of previous Olympic andParalympic Games accelerated the shift to the cloud and

THE JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF ELECTRONICS INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERS

Figure 1 Overall View of the System Platform
The System Platform consists of the main Primary Data Centre Secondary Data Centre
for disaster measures Venue Data Centre and On Venue Result for each stadium and a hybrid cloud system using external clouds （©2021‑
International Olympic Committee‑All Rights Reserved）

established a System Platform based on the following

often happens to organizations that are being built

two basic policies

in a short period server virtualization capabilities
are needed that can provide server resources in･Basic Policy ① :an on‑premise environment promptly when

Public cloud computing and existing systems ofpartners and suppliers should be used to the possible

required()

Performance and stability are required based

extent in the construction and operation of short‑termon the assumption that hundreds of thousands ofuse systems

users will be accessing the system intensively in ashort period immediately before and during the･Basic Policy ② :Olympic and Paralympic Games In other words

Functions that cannot be handled by the existinga cloud environment that can withstand highsystem and mechanisms for inter‑system linkage should
be built independently in a private cloud environment

loads is required()

Because mission‑critical systems must be
operated such that they can never shut down

Based on the above policies

the Olympic andduring the short Games period reliability andParalympic Gamesʼ system was operated in a “Hybrid

redundancy are required to ensure that opera-

Cloud Environment” that maximizes operational flexibil-tions can continue even in the event of a data

ity and cost advantages The authors believe this Systemcentre disaster or serious problems

Platform utilized the most cloud technology compared toprevious Olympic and Paralympic Games contributing

Building the system using cloud services such as IaaS

to flexible application development/operation and ais recommended to meet the above requirements

back‑office automation environment

However servers must be installed on‑premise at eachcompetition venue to meet the requirements of millisec-3．Requirements for the System Platform
31

Scalability and Reliability

The following three points can be cited as characteristics of the Information System for the Olympic andParalympic Games

ond response time for competition measurement andimmediate distribution of results It was also necessary
to set up a PDC/SDC to consolidate these servers andconnect them to each cloud thereby establishing a
System Platform
Therefore it was essential to build a private cloud as
the System Platform for the Tokyo 2020 Games that()

In a situation where business requirements

satisfies the following requirements

take longer than expected to be finalized which
Special Issue : Technology and Innovation in the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020

125

①

Have a server virtualization function that can
provide a server promptly when needed②

technology systems and creating a common platform In
addition since many business applications were pro-

Provide an environment that ensures reliability

vided agilely using the public cloud environment it wasby ensuring hardware and virtual server redun-necessary to design a hub function to connect the on‑

dancy

premise and cloud environments③

Has expandability and ease of expansion for theincrease in the number of resources and data for the33

duration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games andCyber security measures have been an issue that has

reduces costs by improving the efficiency of

attracted worldwide attention at the Tokyo 2020 Games

infrastructure construction and operation

as cyber security attacks have caused security incidents④

Continues the Olympic and Paralympic Games
operations even during a disaster

Thorough Security Measuresthat have affected the operation of the Olympic andParalympic Games in the past
Therefore to prevent security incidents from occur-

32

Standardization and Platformization of Common

ring at the Tokyo 2020 Games it was essential toFunctionsestablish a highly robust System Platform and we

The Information System for the Olympic and Paralympic Games will be constructed as an international

focused on comprehensiveness when considering security measuresmulti‑vendor system including the core system for

A hybrid architecture was adopted for the Common

Olympic Games and Paralympic Games operations

Platform of Security Functions which included not only

provided by the global partners Although 66 businessthe cloud environment of global partners but also major

applications were finally introduced at the Tokyo 2020

cloud services used in the back‑office environment

Games each business department and partner company
studied the system individually giving rise to concerns

4．System Platform Designthat the system development project would become
isolated and siloed resulting in insufficient data integra-

41

Physical Design of the Private Cloud Environmenttion between systems and unnecessarily high costs
Therefore Tokyo 2020 designed an enterprise archi-

For easy construction of a private cloud environment

tecture based on a rough analysis of business require-that meets the requirements described in 3 1

ments in the initial study phase standardizing data andvertically integrated virtualization and cloud computing

Figure 2 PRIMEFLEX for Cloud(©2021‑Fujitsu Limited)

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Vertically integrated virtualized cloud platform

THE JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF ELECTRONICS INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERSasystem “FUJITSU Integrated System PRIMEFLEX for

Platform targeted the ① Authentication Platform which

Cloud (PRIMEFLEX)” which employs globally provenis required for each application

virtualization technology and can be expanded as

Platform which is required for coordination among

needed was adopted as the PDC PRIMEFLEX is aapplications② Data Linkage

and ③ Integrated Database Platformvertically integrated virtualization and cloud computing

which consolidates the information of each application

platform that can be expanded as needed (Figure 2)

To integrate with on‑premise systems we built ① and

The introduction of PRIMEFLEX enabled the configu-② on a private cloud and ③ on a public cloud (Figure 3)

ration of a system with high mutual compatibility byunifying OS types

versions

security levels

andcentralized monitoring of hardware failures and re-①

Authentication Platform

The

Authentication

Platform

was

implemented

source thresholds to centralize operation and manage-

through a hybrid cloud environment providing authenti-

ment

By enabling the flexible provision of virtual

cation functions for Single Sign‑on (SSO) and Multi‑

servers following the timing of business application

factor Authentication for staff and stakeholder businessintroduction and gradually expanding the resource poolsystems

toward the production of the Games period the scale of･

the private cloud was kept to the minimum necessary to
reduce introduction costs and minimize maintenance andSingle Sign‑on Function :Provides SSO authentication for each application using
SAML Open ID Connect and proxy authentication

operation costs to establish the System Platform This･

has also enabled the company to establish a System

In addition to integrated Windows authentication andPlatform with minimal maintenance and operation costs

ID/password authentication we provide multi‑factor

In addition to prepare for the risk of data centre

authentication functions such as one‑time passwords tocollapse or system shutdown in the event of a disaster aMulti‑factor Authentication Function :strengthen the security of each application

sub‑site SDC was set up so that it could be switchedover in the incident of a disaster The System Platform
environment was designed to be at its minimum and wasconstructed and operated cost‑effectively②

Data Linkage Platform

Provided a platform for real‑time data integration andbatch data integration between various environments(PDC/SDC systems provided by Games partners and

42

Design of Common Functions of System Plat-

cloud services)･form
The design of common functions of the System

High‑speed Data Linkage Function :Provided data (CSV XML etc ) linkage function

Figure 3 Design of Common Functions
The systemʼs authentication function data linkage
function and integrated database function are commonizedSpecial Issue : Technology and Innovation in the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020

127

Figure 4 Multi‑layer Security Defense Mechanism for Security Measures of Private Cloud
Functions for security measures are
deployed comprehensively to identify prevent detect respond to and recover from attacks to ensure robustness

between systems including external systems via cloud431

computing and the Internet･

Detecting the Occurrence of Vulnerabilities
and Immediate Application of Countermeas-

Data Processing Functions :ures

Provided data processing functions such as format

To eliminate vulnerabilities the existence or nonexis-

conversion merging filtering and fixed value setting

tence of vulnerabilities was validated every month in theare provided for data linkage

operation system

The System Platform requires amechanism to quickly and without omission apply③

Integrated Database Platform

measures for detected vulnerabilities to all businessInformation commonly required by each application

applications on all virtual servers and “BladeLogic”

such as persons involved in the Tokyo 2020 Games waswhich automates patch application and provisioning

aggregated and compiled into a database which could be

was introduced to achieve operation with a unified

used with the API

security level

By providing common functions we could reduce the432development period for each application and significantly
contribute to the reduction of development costs
In addition the centralized management of accounts
and other information made management and operation
more efficient

Establishment of the Multi‑layered Defense
Mechanism

To protect against cyber‑attacks a comprehensive
multi‑layered defense mechanism was established bydeploying various solutions

facilitated tracking in the event of

In addition to protection from attacks operations

security incidents and enabled the smooth operation ofwere established to detect and immediately respond to

the Games system

suspicious behavior

43

Design of Security Measures

433

Network‑level Communication Control

The main policy of the security measures that wereServers were defined to be installed in four zones

comprehensively implemented is described below (Fig-according to their purpose (Table 1) All communica-

ure 4)

tions between servers in different segments were
controlled by a firewall in the form of a whitelist
In addition all operations on the servers must be

128

THE JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF ELECTRONICS INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERS

Table 1
Zone

Zone Division and Definition

Table 2

Zone Definition

DMZ

External zone that is open to the Internet
Zone that requires an external connection to the

Edge

Internet

TrustedDefault trusted zone

SecureMost secure and isolated zone

Configuration of System Platform during the Games
PeriodCompetition venue（VDC・OVR）

Data centre（PDC・SDC）
・Number of installed servers : 35
・Number of virtual servers : 220
・Storage capacity : 490 TByte

512

・Number of installed servers : 140

Thorough Operational Training

We conducted a series of operational drills to verify
performed via a jump server and remote desktop

the operation of the System Platform in the actual

connections to the jump server

It should require

operation of the Games through test events and to deal

multifactor authentication using an authentication appli-

with simulated incidents through Technology Rehearsal

cation in addition to IDs and passwords

and Table Top Exercise to familiarize ourselves with

Security measures at the network level prevent thesystem monitoring and operation In addition several

intrusion of malicious programs and enhance robustness

Disaster Recovery Rehearsals were conducted toto minimize damage in the event of an intrusion into therecover from system downtime due to PDC damage orinternal network

cyber incidents An operational system was establishedand operations were mastered so that operations could

434

Built the Backup and Restore Environment

To ensure smooth restoration in the event of a cyberbe immediately restored even in the event of a large‑
scale failure

incident that compromised the system environment wehave installed “Arcserve UDP” which backup criticalsystems daily and restore them to their pre‑attack state

52

Achievements during the Olympic and Paralympic GamesThe System Platform environment was designed to

The System Platform built for the Tokyo 2020 Games

ensure the continuity of Games operations by enabling

was expanded to the following configuration during thereliable and rapid recovery from cyber attacks

Games (Table 2)
In Rio 2016 Games 138 Physical Servers and 258

5．Operation Result at the Tokyo 2020 Games
51

Improvement of Operational Maturity

Based on the design of the System Platform describedin 4 above a security countermeasure mechanism was

Virtual Servers were operating at the PDC and SDC In
Tokyo 2020 the number of servers and storage spacebuilt exclusively for the Games was significantly reducedby shifting to the cloud
Regarding the common functions of the Systemconstructed and thorough audit tests and operational

Platform business applications were operated between

training were conducted to improve the security level of

12 authentication platforms and 8 data linkage platforms

the System Platform before the Games time

The integrated database platform was widely used forbusiness applications for the Games officials such as

511

Thorough Auditing/Testing

Tokyo 2020 ICON a support system for infectious

Security reviews by security specialists during systemdisease control operations The rapid provision of theinstallation penetration tests and security assessments

server environment through the private cloud and theby multiple external organizations were conducted to

streamlined application development through the com-raise the security level and attack defense exercises by

mon function design of the System Platform reduced thewhite‑hat hackers were conducted to close vulnerability

delivery period of the business applications from two toholes

six months and reduced the cost

In addition we conducted periodic inventory and

In addition

62 incidents related to the System

audits of accounts with administrative privileges andPlatform were issued during the Games period but nomaintained an environment in which privileged accounts

incidents affected the Gamesʼ operations Implementing

were kept to the minimum necessary to prevent

multi‑layered security measures thorough audits andunnecessary accounts from being misused

strengthening the System Platform through operational

Special Issue : Technology and Innovation in the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020

129Figure 5

System Platform Using Common Cloud Platform for Each Olympic and Paralympic Games

training contributed to the stable operation of the Games

allow each country to use the System Platform thatsystemmeets the requirements of the Olympic and Paralympic

The server security network and application teams

Games simply by setting up a network base that serves

worked in unison to set up the platform and the one‑as a hub for relaying between each venue or base and theteam monitoring and operation prevented threats before

cloud and by having a dedicated line to the common

they occurred

cloud platform (Figure 5)
On the other hand in considering the reliability and6．Future Prospects

redundancy of the System Platform attention must be
focused on cyber security trends that have become

The stable operation of the platform including theincreasingly severe in recent years as well as operation-

System Platform and communication networks intro-

al problems that frequently occur at large‑scale cloud

duced in this report is considered to have primarily

service providers Specifically instead of “same architec-

contributed to the significantly fewer critical incidents

ture different location” redundancy that mainly assumes

that occurred during the Games time compared tophysical disasters at data centres “different architec-

previous Olympic and Paralympic Games The effective-

ture different location” redundancy that also assumes

ness of the hybrid cloud/multi‑cloud System Platform

contamination of the system environment by severe

was confirmed at the Tokyo 2020 Games and it iscyber‑attacks should be considered This may minimize

expected that the optimal combination of those will be

the business impact caused by cyber‑attacks andconsidered for future Olympic and Paralympic Games

problems in the external business environment

To meet high response requirements and to ensure

We want to take this opportunity to thank ourcontingency in the incident of network problems it will

partners and suppliers who have contributed to thebe necessary to install servers at local venues forconstruction and operation of a stable System Platform

Olympic and Paralympic Games operations However

throughout the Tokyo 2020 Gamesbecause of the high level of requirements specific to the
Olympic and Paralympic Games it would be a heavy
burden for the organising committees of each host citywhich are just starting to define the requirements anddesign the system Therefore it is preferred that a
global partner involved in multiple Games provides acommon cloud platform for each Olympic and Paralympic Games that meets the requirements This will130

References
(

)

(

)

M. Tasaki, “Olympic IT Challenge : Behind the Scenes of the Games
Supported by Systems,” Impress R&D, Tokyo, 2016.
K. Chihara, K. Takahashi, and S. Kanayama, “System Infrastructure
Supporting Large-Scale Sporting Events,” Fujitsu Limited, Tokyo,
2018.
(Received February 28 2022)

THE JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF ELECTRONICS INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERS

KAWASE Takeshi
Graduated from Ritsumeikan University in2006 He joined Fujitsu Limited in the same
year He was seconded from Fujitsu Limited to
the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee in 2017‑04 In 2017‑04 he was transferred from Fujitsu
Limited to the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee to take charge of infrastructure construction in the Technology Services Bureau

OGURA Mikio
Graduated from the University of Electro‑
Communications in 1996 Joined Fujitsu Limited in the same year He was transferred from
Fujitsu Limited to the Tokyo 2020 Organising
Committee in 2015‑09 as the Manager of the
System Infrastructure Section of the Technology Service Bureau He was transferred to theTokyo 2020 Organising Committee from Fujitsu Limited in 2015‑09 where he established thesystem infrastructure for the Tokyo 2020
Games as the head of the System Infrastructure
Section of the Technology Services Bureau㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇㍇

Special Issue : Technology and Innovation in the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020131