A major technological first at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China (23 September to 8 October). The central systems of the multi-sport event will be entirely in the cloud to facilitate organisation and make them more sustainable and efficient. The organisers owe this to their partner Alibaba Cloud, the data intelligence and digital technology arm of Alibaba Group, which is also a member of the CIO’s TOP global programme. The innovation provided by the Chinese giant concerns the central systems, including the management and support of the Games and the distribution of results, as well as 24-hour operations at the 56 venues and other facilities – the IT management centre, the main media centre and the Asian Games villages. Broadcasters at the event will be able to receive live footage via a public cloud infrastructure. More than 5,000 hours of footage will be transmitted live via 68 high-definition (HD) and ultra-high-definition (UHD) streams. Alibaba Cloud’s intelligent operations platform will use real-time information to analyse traffic and crowd management. A warning will be displayed on a dashboard if a public area becomes too congested for public safety. Alerts for extreme weather conditions, power outages and fires are also available for organisers. An intelligent service robot will also provide online advisory services in English and Chinese to residents of the three Games villages – athletes, media and technical officials – via a web application service.
