Cisco expects network to handle 60GB a second during Olympic Games

Firm reveals huge scope of technology being deployed for event

Cisco has revealed that it expects the content sent over the network hardware it has provided for the Olympics will reach a whopping 60GB every second during the event.

The figures were shown during a presentation at the firm's annual Cisco Live event in London on Tuesday by its chief technology officer, Padmasree Warrior.

She also provided data on some of the hardware the firm is providing to help run the games, offering a fascinating insight into the scope of technology required for such a major event. This includes:

• 2,220 switches
• 1,800 access points
• 10,000 cable TV sockets
• 16,500 telephones
• 65,000 active networking ports

This will be used to create a network with 80,000 connections spanning 20 live sites, which will generate the huge volumes of data Cisco expects to see.

The firm's UK chief technology officer Ian Foddering also explained that Cisco is considering leaving behind a greater portion of this hardware than the 20 per cent that is contractually obliged to remain in place.

"We are in discussion with the Networking Academies we support in the six boroughs hosting the Games and surrounding it, so we are looking to expand this further," he said.

The scope of the rollout complements that of Acer, which revealed last October it had completed the delivery of a whopping 12,000 PCs, 900 servers and 1,000 notebooks to the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Locog).