2‑6

2 Telecommunication Radio Broadcast

Operation and Performance of the Games
Data Network
KUROMIYA Takayuki

SAITO Wataru

SHIGECHIKA Noriyuki

The data network for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 is one of the most critical infrastructures and its
stable operation is essential for the smooth conduct of the Games as the infrastructure supporting the Games This article
introduces the specific challenges and framework organized for the stability of the Games data network analyzes theperformance and operation outcomes and discusses and summarizes the singularity and success factors of the Olympic
and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 derived from these results
Keywords：Data network Operation TOC Operation framework Incident

1．Introduction

framework that could flexibly change settings according
to user conditions and requirements

For the smooth conduct of the Olympic and Paraly-

Furthermore the characteristics of the Games in

mpic Games Tokyo 2020 (hereinafter referred to aswhich multiple events take place simultaneously in many

“Tokyo 2020 Games”) it is very significant not only tovenuesdevelop and provide an appropriate network but also toframework because the stable operation should be broad

maintain and operate it stably at all times The scoringin geographical and temporal scope But the growth ofsystems and other systems for the competitions also

the framework must not decrease the quality of thework on this communications infrastructure and any

operation performanceincidents could have a critical impact on the competitions

inevitably require a large‑scale operation

To cope with this challenge

we prepared thethemselves and the management of the Games It wasmaintenance and operation framework of the datanecessary to enhance availability by monitoring the

network for the Games in anticipation of the actual

normality of the network and responding quickly andGames for the test events more than a year before theaccurately to any incidents to ensure the stable operation

Games and made the operation process and procedureof the data network for the Games And it was also

mature through some training and knowledge sharing

required to have complete maintenance and operation

among the members
Although some problems occurred during the Games
time there were no critical incidents and the maintenance and operation team and the members involved

KUROMIYA Takayuki
Technology Services Bureau The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic
and Paralympic GamesSAITO Wataru
Technology Services Bureau The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic
and Paralympic GamesSHIGECHIKA Noriyuki
RCA Co Ltd (Telecom Advisor of Technology Services)E‑mail nazo@rca co jp

secured stable operation This section describes themaintenance and operation framework and analyzes itfrom the viewpoints of the actual performance andoperation results of the data network for the GamesThe Journal of The Institute of Electronics Information and Communication Engineers Vol 105 No 8 Supplement pp 54‑62 August 2022
© 2022 The Institute of Electronics Information and Communication Engineers

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Figure 1 Transition of Maintenance and Operation Framework (conceptual diagram)
The size of the maintenance andoperations framework changed accordingly for the test events and the technology rehearsals

2．Maintenance and Operation Framework of
the Data Network for the Games
21

site (venue) support

and coordinating with otheroperation centres The TOC consists of several teamstaff who are in charge of each technology service area

Establishment of the Framework and its Transi-

and work closely with technology partners such as Atostion

for IT integration and OMEGA for the clock timing andIn October 2018 while carrying on the maintenanceand operation services of the existing office network forscoring systems
The TOC structure was organized following the start

staff work we began to consider specific operationsof the test event i eabout the data network for the Games toward the actual

number of venues to be maintained and operated andGames time Then in March 2019 as starting to use theeventually the TOC Telecom Team had 35 positions andthrough the increase in thedata network for the Games we launched a full‑fledged

49 seats at the Games time A total of more than 200

maintenance and operation framework to aim to improve

members worked 24‑hour shifts during the Games

proficiency and accumulate experience

supporting the overall technical operations related to the

However especially in terms of cost it must not bepractical to allocate and continue the resources needed

event by collaborating with other teams within the TOC
and the venue telecom team (Figure 2)

for the actual Games time more than one year in

The shift formation requires numerous operation

advance So we expanded or downscaled the framework

members and the challenge is to equalize and enhanceas per the test events and the technology rehearsals

the operational skills among those members For thisheldreason we made 83 PnPs (Policies and Procedures) in

As there was a new factor that was the

postponement for one year we promoted the prepara-

totaltion of the Games time operation by keeping changing

manuals and operation flow documents regarding theincluding design information

business rules

the size of the framework as shown in Figure 1

data network for the Games The knowledge required

There are two teams for the Games operation one isfor the operation of the data network for the Games was

the TOC Telecom Team which is in the Technology

extensive and members in major positions at the TOC

Operations Centre (TOC) and the other is the Venue

and competition venues needed to be familiar with about

Telecom Team which is in each venue

20 to 30 of these documents We reviewed and updated
these PnPs based on the experience from test events and

22

TOC Telecom TeamThe TOC is responsible for all the operation oftechnologies provided by the Organising Committee for
the Games by monitoring its normality providing on‑technology rehearsals and periodically deployed those toeach member at study sessions and other events toefficiently share appropriate knowledge
In the TOC room a dashboard was projected on theSpecial Issue : Technology and Innovation in the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020

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Figure 2

TOC Telecom Team Structure

Assigned thirty‑five positions and worked closely with the venue telecom team and other teams within TOC

front wall of the room so that all members who started
their shifts could overview the operation status of eachvenue (Figure 3) macro traffic trends (Figure 4) andthe number of client connections by network or by venue(Figure 5)
In addition NTT supported the TOC by preparing aparticular formation from their office for emergency
response in case of a large‑scale circuit failure caused bynatural disasters
23

Venue Telecom Teams

At each venue
Figure 3 Dashboard (panel) in Front of the TOC
The panelindicating each venue changes to green during competition yellow
for incidents that do not affect services and red for incidents that
do affect services (©2021‑International Olympic Committee‑All
Rights Reserved)

Figure 4

Dashboard (traffic) on the Front of TOC

the Venue TeleCom Manager(VTCM) headed the Venue Telecom Team andconducted on‑site operations with technical support
from the TOC as needed The Venue Telecom Teams
were responsible for communicating with users on‑site

Visualize macro traffic trends and understand daily changes

Figure 5 Dashboard in Front of TOC (Number of Connected Devices)
number of client connections by network/venue

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

Intuitively grasp the57

Figure 6 Venue Telecom Team Structurefeature of the venue

The venue telecom team headed by the VTCM was flexibly organized depending on theand quickly responded to inquiries such as Wi‑Fi device

Table 1

Number of Telecom‑related Incidents and Tickets
Sev 1 Sev 2 Sev 3 Sev 4

properties and requests for cabling changes

SR

Total

In a typical competition venue we defined the number

June 2021

0

0

151

369

315

835

of positions and seats for a venue telecom team would be

July 2021

0

3

219

1 201

762

2 185

five and about 20 headcounts were assigned to the teamAugust 2021

0

2

74

388

265

729

September 2021

0

0

14

57

60

131

June‑September
Total

0

5

458

2 015

1 402

3 880

to respond during the competition by working shifts
according to the competition hours As shown in Figure
6

the number of seats and shift members wereincreased depending on the size of the venue tostrengthen the operation performance On the other
hand the same member was assigned to multiple sites to

Severity 1 : Critical services are disconnected
Severity 2 : Redundancy is lost
Severity 3 : Some services are unavailable
Severity 4 : One user is affected
SR : Service request configuration change etc

reduce the total number of permanent staff for
improving the efficiency of operations In the end a totalof approximately 900 members covered all venues

3．Network Operation Performance

Although we organized the venue telecom team ofeach venue only for test events technology rehearsals

31

Incidents and Service Requests Handled

and the actual Games time we assigned the members

We managed all information of all technology‑related

who installed the data network for the Games at theincidents centrally by issuing incident tickets on the IT

venue to the operation and maintenance team of theService Management Tool (ITSM) which conformed tosame venue in principle It should enable an efficient andthe ITIL international operating standard

flexible operation and maintenance service to beshows the number of incident tickets handled by the

Table 1provided by members who had an accurate grasp of thetelecom team at the TOC and each venue Sev and SR in

installation status and who had fostered a trusting

the table indicates Severity and Service Request

relationship with the other people engaged in therespectively

construction at that venue

There were no Severity 1 incidents related to

The venue telecom team organized a comprehensive

telecommunications that could have had a significant

venue installation document and it enabled the TOC

impact on the competitions However there were someteam members to understand the venue installation

Severity 2 incidents during the Games time such as

status and physical constraints without having to visit

power failures of communication equipment due tothe venue and enabled the TOC to provide prompt

power supply troubles There also were incidents ofsupport when an incident or a new service request arose

insufficient performance and connection difficulties ofat the venue

Wi‑Fi for press agencies due to a greater than expected
number of Wi‑Fi terminals connected at the same time58

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One lesson for the future Organising Committee will bethat year It would be one of the indications that wethe high density Wi‑Fi solutions for Venue Media

provided a stable data network for the Tokyo 2020

Centres and Tribunes to meet the operational needs ofGames with few troubles and also provided appropriate

media should be studied in advance Please refer to 2‑4

telecom services to meet stakeholdersʼ requirementsof the special issue for more details

before they started to use

SR cases include specification changes and the
addition of Wi‑Fi APs (access points) which occurred

32

after the Games stakeholders arrived at the venue to

Figure 7 plots the number of clients connected to eachcheck the operation of their devices

Usage of the Data Network for the Games

These SRs

network from one week before the Olympic Games toaccounted for more than one‑third of the total number ofthe end of the Paralympic Games July 28 was theticketsheaviest day with a total of approximately 114 000

indicating that new requests and changes

occurred routinely during our operations

connections to the Back Office Network (BON) for the

According to the record of the Rio de Janeiro 2016business use of the Organising Committee staff theGames approximately 7 000 telecom‑related tickets had

Competition Network (CPN) for the competition

been issued the sum of between June and September ofsystem and the Olympic Technology Network (OTN)

Figure 7 Number of Devices Connected to the Data Network for the GamesOn July 28 97 384
devices connected to the OTN 2 672 to the CPN and 13 661 to the BON reaching the maximum number ofconnections throughout the Games followed by a rapid decline toward the closing ceremony

Figure 8 Internet Traffic during the Conference
The upper panel shows the uplink traffic and the lower panel
shows the downlink traffic In the latter half of the Olympic period the decrease in uplink traffic was smaller thanthat in downlink traffic

Special Issue : Technology and Innovation in the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 202059

Figure 9 Internet Access Congestion from July 28 to 31
The red area indicates the occurrence of packet drop
especially just before the menʼs 10 000 m final on July 30 though it did not affect the operation of the competitions

to provide the various services to the stakeholders

the wide variety of backgrounds of the users involved in

In the figure we can also see a rapid decline in the

the Tokyo 2020 Games and because the purpose timenumber of users from the peak compared to past Gamesand way of use will vary significantly from user to user

because many foreign athletes and stakeholders who

In 2‑7 of this special issue we analyze the trends ofused the data network returned home immediately after

communication ports and destinations based on thetheir competitions due to the coronavirus disease 2019traffic logs observed during the Games(the COVID‑19) countermeasures It is precisely acharacteristic of the Tokyo 2020 Games33

As shown in the graph in Figure 8 peak Internet

Operational Results from a Security Perspective

The stakeholders usually arrive at the venue justaccess traffic was 13 66 Gbit/s for downlink on July 27

before the Games and begin using the data network but

and 6 19 Gbit/s for uplink on July 28 After this peak thefor the Tokyo 2020 Games their arrival in Japan has

pitch of decrease in uplink was smaller than that incommonly been delayed until the very last minute due todownlink toward the closing ceremony

probably

the COVID‑19 countermeasures Therefore the secur-

because the remaining users were continuously upload-

ity sensors could not have enough time to learn network

ing data using something like SNS applications Thereusage trends and adjust their detection specifications

were two peaks in a day one during the daytime and thebefore the Games As a result we often observed someother at night And even during the late‑night period

false positives but proactively used flow information andthere constantly generated 3 to 4 Gbit/s of a sum ofvisualization tools to complement those and handled the

upstream and downstream traffic

status by the configuration of blocking or disconnecting

During the Olympic period We took a 20 Gbit/s

as appropriate

access line for the Internet access and we saw heavy

Table 2 lists the major security events detected andtraffic and downlink congested in a short time on July 30

handled during the Games with their detail and theas shown in Figure 9 We were ready to expand thenumber of eachbandwidth promptly but since there observed no user

As for vulnerabilities in response to starting to use

impacts on the operation of the Games we judged it was

the data network for the Games we established ano need for the expansion Consequently the Internet

scheme under which the unified expert team managed

access had the proper bandwidth estimated from thethe exploratory collection of vulnerability information

design phaserisk assessment and formulation of countermeasures

The Internet traffic on the entire data network for the
Games has signature traffic characteristics because of60

and actions to deal with them

By continuing thisscheme including the one‑year postponement period

THE JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF ELECTRONICS INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERS

Table 2

Security‑related Operation Performance (7/21/2021‑9/5/2021)

Security‑related operations on the data network for the Games
Detection

Actions Taken

Number of cases

Security‑related events (including false positives)

1 848

Detection of large number of connections to the web
authentication page

69

Rogue Wi‑Fi access points detected

11

Vulnerabilities found risk assessed and worked around7

Deployment of blocking

Internet backbone

38

PDC Router8

Firewall/UTM

7External IP addresses blocked

2 603

Isolated unauthorized devices

5

this team was able to respond to vulnerability threats on

So we supposed that we could detect problems acrosstime Seven cases of vulnerability information weresystems and teams at an early stage by grasping thereceived and responded to during the Gamesstatus of the overall picture both in a steady‑state and in

The following are actual examples of events that wean emergency state However it has great difficulty inhave blocked It had been occurring several cases thatdefining “an emergency” on a particular network that iscould result in security threats in the OTN in whichas large as the Olympic or Paralympic Games installedusers brought in a variety of devices

in such a short period and the usage conditions change
drastically every day Hence neither manually setting()

Attack from External to Internal

We found an illegal file (Trojan horse) injected into an

thresholds in advance nor tuning by machine learning
would be an effective way of detecting problems

IP address assigned to a specific user in the OTN via

In the Tokyo 2020 Games we captured the changes in

FTP transmission We identified the source IP address

network usage by monitoring the total amount of logs

and blocked that with a firewall

from each communication device Please refer to 2‑8 ofthis special issue for details()

External→Internal→External attack

An IP address assigned to a specific user in the OTN

35Dealing with the Postponement of the Gameswas relaying suspicious communications by opening a

In March 2019 that was when we implemented the

TCP port of an open proxy for the Internet We asked

data network for the Games and started to use andthe user to stop the service on the device while we

operate it we were planning to keep the operation byblocked the session by applying an anti‑virus/anti‑bot

absorbing various possible service requests reflecting

policy to that IP address in a firewall

the experience of the test event and considering that the
number of users (staff and contractors) would gradually()

Attack from Internal to External

increase toward the GamesAn external organization pointed out that they

However the plan was disrupted by the unforeseen

observed our global IP address which is the source of

postponement of the Games by one year due to theconnection from OTN to the Internet scanning for

COVID‑19 Firstly since the staff in the Organisingvulnerabilities in SMB communications toward theCommittee would have to keep working even during theInternet We identified the device blocked the connec-

postponed one year

tion port and asked to clean up that

additional resources (personnel and costs) to maintainit was necessary to secure

the data network for the Games
34

Analysis of Network Operations

Secondlythepossibility of discovering bugs and vulnerabilities in

As described in 2 2 the data network for the Games

implemented products and solutions would increase andcombined various technologies and solutions Therefore

those could reach the end of the product lifecycle (EOL)

it was principal not only to operate each segmented

as well we had to take some measures for those cases

telecom service but also to catch and analyze the overall

There had already been procured an enormous

trend of the network

number of L2/L3 switches (7 500 units) and Wi‑Fi APs

Special Issue : Technology and Innovation in the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 202061

(11 000 units) and it would have a significant impact onment plan of the data network for the Games had been

us if those needed firmware changes So we carefully

based on information from previous Games and it should

conducted technical verification version and security

not be clear whether it would be optimal until users

patch control

and continued to take appropriate

entered the venue and started using it We had to bemeasures Eventually we had no fatal impacts on the

prepared for more changes than anticipated because the

EOL issue and we were able to keep the operating level

IOC had advised us that “Too many changes but change

as initially planned until the Games with some productswith a smile” from the beginning and we know there

receiving special extended maintenance services fromshould be high expectations for the IT environment in

partner companies

Japan/Tokyo from the stakeholders

Another massive impact of the postponement was theIt was very effective to make the telecom teamsudden increase in the number of remote access VPN

members aware of this situation and building up theirusers due to the encouragement of telework at home

tolerance for sudden changes in requirements andSince we had already implemented the remote access

additional requests The postponement of the Games bysystem at the time we were able to keep up with theone year should also be one of the “changes” They could

sudden change in needs by adding licenses andhandle various SRs that occurred even at the last minuteredesigning the system to improve performance The

as quickly and flexibly as possible in response to eachusage trends of this remote access VPN are described inuser requirement without critical disruption

detail in 2‑9 of this special issue

The stable operation of the data network for the

However “the management network” was a com-

Games was made possible by diligent preparation andpletely closed network that could only be connected on‑high awareness of all members of the telecom team I

site and we could not perform the maintenance andwould like to express my sincere applause to all of theoperation work remotely The lack of consideration ofteam for their efforts

secure alternatives for operations during a pandemic
would be one of the points to be regretted

4．Conclusion
The data network for the Tokyo 2020 Games had been
supported by the dedication of many members of themaintenance and operation team
As well as considering operability at the Games timein designing the network we implemented the data
network more than one year before the Games so thatthe telecom team started their maintenance andoperation activities from then assuming their respective
positions in TOC and Venues in the future It enabled theteams to gain operational proficiency and improve theirskills through long‑term preparation As a result the(Received February 28 2022 ; Revised March 4 2022)

KUROMIYA Takayuki
Mr Kuromiya received his M S in Information Science and Technology from Tohoku
University in 1998 and joined Nippon Telegraphand Telephone Corporation (NTT) in the same
year Since then he has been engaged mainly in
the implementation and operation of a dedicated global network for manufacturing enterprises In January 2015 he was seconded to theTokyo 2020 Organising Committee as the
Director of Telecom Business Promotion
Technology Services Bureau
SAITO Wataru
Wataru SAITO received his masterʼs degree
in engineering from the University of Tokyo in
1993 He joined Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) in the same year andreceived an MBA from Carnegie Mellon
University in 2001

postponement of the Games gave us more than two
years to make it mature and we could refine theoperation document and improve the operation levelbased on various experiences
On the other hand the capacity design and deploy-

SHIGECHIKA Noriyuki
Ph D (Policy and Media) Telecom Advisor
Technology Services Bureau Tokyo 2020
Organising Committee from 2018 to the end of
the Games (Representative Director of RCA
Corporation)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

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