back to article Yes, yes, the Olympics are near. But what'll happen to its IT afterwards?

British schoolchildren will be among those receiving computer networking gear liberated from London's Olympic park once the competition is over, said Cisco. The company provided 2,200 network switches to create a BT-designed topology that can carry the results of the men's 100m to the world and link 22,000 on-site journalists …

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  1. Mr Young
    Go

    I smell some sport!

    First leaky hard drive on ebay wins a cake

    1. bdam
      Holmes

      Re: I smell some sport!

      What's gonna happen to the Londoners Olympic IT kit after the Londoners have had their Londoners Olympics? Well Sherlock, the same as is gonna happen to the Londoners buildings - they get to keep the lot.

      The Londoners Olympics 2012. For Londoners. Decided to be held in London by Londoners. The buildings get to be used after by Londoners. The rest of the country get to gawp at the Londoners torch as makes its condescending token-gesture way through their town, and the rest on telly (MP's and, err, Londoners get all the tickets, natch).

      1. Gordon 10

        Re: I smell some sport!

        Ooohhh bitter much?

        I could point out that the sailing is in Weymouth, the rowing in Erin and there are events in Manchester and Brum.

        But no doubt your choking on so much bile it's making you blind and deaf as well as dumb.

        1. Ellis Birt 1

          Re: I smell some sport!

          Not quite - no events in Brum!

      2. Anonymous Coward
        FAIL

        For Londoners?

        Not for the vast majority who will only suffer from it

        1. This Side Up
          Stop

          Re: For Londoners?

          If "London Olympics" footie can be held in Manchester and Glasgow, why can't equestrian sports be at Hickstead instead of messing up Greenwich?

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: For Londoners?

            Ah, Manchester, the Londoners favourite token 'northern' city. Located right on the border apparently and not pretty much in the midlands as most maps show.

            What's that? Middlesbrough? Newcastle? They're imaginary places surely?

      3. Matt_payne666

        Re: I smell some sport!

        The educational sector has benefited from the IT already - the laptops have already all been sold off, fair spec equipment at an ok cost with decent warranties... The servers were still up for grabs about a month ago though.

      4. Mike Flex

        Re: I smell some sport!

        "The rest of the country get to gawp at the Londoners torch as makes its condescending token-gesture way through their town..."

        Lest we forget, the streetlamps 100 miles from the Smoke are still littered with "London 2012" banners weeks after the self-toasting cheese graters have been and gone.

      5. Sooty

        Re: I smell some sport!

        I'm glad the damn thing is staying in London, it means I can ignore it. It was bad enough having whole towns grind to a halt so some fool can carry a torch through them.

        1. bdam
          Gimp

          Re: I smell some sport!

          And its certainly worth the few dozen schools and hospitals that could have been built otherwise? Coca-cola/Samsung/McDonalds etc think so - and the government is their bitch, as usual.

      6. TonyHoyle

        Re: I smell some sport!

        You even bothered gawping at the torch?

        Complete irrelevant yawnfest start to finish.. the only entertainment has been watching how surprised people are the only people making money out of this are the corporate 'sponsors'.

        OTOH if any politician claims there isn't enough money after blowing 10billion on some berk running around with an 99 cornet that someone has set on fire then they're going to get two fingers and a belly laugh.

      7. fixit_f
        Thumb Down

        Re: I smell some sport!

        ODFO. You'll find that the overwhelming majority of us Londoners (well I commute in every day anyway) don't want it either, it's going to make getting around a real pain in the arse for three weeks.

        1. Paul Westerman
          Thumb Up

          ODFO

          Nice to see 'ODFO' back, thought it had died out. More please!

      8. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
        Meh

        Re: I smell some sport!

        @bdam

        It is, after all, the "London" Olympics. I think that might have something do with the IOC awarding the Olympics to a city, not a country.

        Naturally, it becomes a national event with some crumbs handed out to the "the provinces" and the whole country gets to pay for the whole shebang, but nobody talks about the China Olympics (Beijng), the Greek Olympics (Athens) or the Australia Olympics (Sydney).

        Personally, I'll be avoiding it as much as possible.

      9. David Hicks
        Thumb Down

        Re: I smell some sport! - @bdam

        Err, as an ex-Londoner I'd like to mention here that the majority of Londoners didn't want the cost or the extra people crowding the city, neither did we want the extra taxes. The whole 'sell' for the 2012 olympics was a tapestry of lies and half-truths about it being the best way to regenerate parts of the city, when in fact it's pretty obvious it would have been cheaper and easier just to invest the money directly.

        Make no mistakes, this is a political pride/legacy play, nothing to do with the people, be they Londoners or otherwise.

      10. Tom 38
        Stop

        Re: I smell some sport!

        Oh, some bitter non Londoner. Have you been paying extra council tax for 5 years to have these games? No? Then pipe out.

  2. Steve Knox
    Meh

    Hmmm...

    I'm a little disappointed with all of the "could be"s. You'd think that with an undertaking this huge, there'd have been some long-term planning involved.

    Something like "These switches have been earmarked for educational use after the Games" or "We have a tenant lined up for this building next year."

    1. Will Godfrey Silver badge

      Re: Hmmm...

      What!

      Government forward planning. Really! The very idea.

      Now go and wash your mouth out with soap.

      1. Fatman

        Re: Government forward planning.

        Is strictly not possible due to the fact that most bureaucrats suffer from Extreme Terminal Stupidity[1].

        Good idea with the soap, but, not the mouth, but ....(see below)

        [1]Extreme Terminal Stupidity (ETS) is a mental defect that is rare in the common man, but gets more and more common as the individual's employment station reaches higher and higher into the lofty towers of enterprise or government.

        Most people understand ETS by its street name: shit for brains.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Unhappy

          Re: Government forward planning.

          I actually think /most/ of them are VERY clever. Many of them are also self-serving, manipulative, acquisitive, arrogant, thieving scumbags who will stop at nothing - tell any lie, obfuscate their true intentions at every opportunity, play different groups in society off against one another, deliberately sow discontent, single out those least able to defend themselves; all the while with their smug, self satisfied, superior little smirk on their face (particularly Cambo and Osborne - I bet they had that same smirk when engaging in the old favourite pastime oftrashing the restaurants of Oxford (and Osborne definitely had it when he was pictured with the hooker coked off his face)). They exist only in order to advance their own agenda. If any policies benefit any of the people, it is almost certainly going to be those few people who live in the constituencies which ever change hands. The rest of us can forget about having any actual say in this country which is laughably termed a "democracy".

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Hmmm...

        This, like the dome, was another "put me down in history" idea from Tony (my wife milks the legal aid system) Blair

    2. Tim Almond
      Flame

      Re: Hmmm...

      Do you think anyone comes up with these justifications for the Olympics after detailed analysis and planning?

      The detailed analysis of the Olympics, carried out by economists repeatedly reports that it's not worth hosting them. The only benefit is that the nation gets a 3 week party and that's a pretty damned expensive party, especially as it's full of sports that people normally couldn't give a toss about.

  3. Andus McCoatover
    Windows

    Buy shares in eBay!!!!

    'nuff said!

  4. Ketlan
    WTF?

    Wacky? Oh, yes.

    'Coca-Cola's Beatbox Pavilion'

    Is that for real? I thought someone had dumped a load of deckchairs.

    1. Heathroi
      Coat

      Re: Wacky? Oh, yes.

      or the wreckage from last years riots.

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    this is a very unimpressive use of technology

    im glad im paying for it and will never get to see any benefit from it

    1. Chris Holt
      Facepalm

      Re: this is a very unimpressive use of technology

      That'll be the kit that is provided through sponsorship. as 70% of the games (*not* the infrastructure, the games) is provided by. Less than a third is taxpayers money and all the network is sponsored (hence Cisco get to publicise their involvement to the reg)

      If you read things from the mail, at least google them before putting it onto a proper forum

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "*not* the infrastructure, the games"

        how very Orwellian

  6. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    If they sell the kit ...

    ... will us the taxpayer (or at least the treasury) be refunded some of the 10 billion that's been spent on this 2 week ego fest? Somehow I doubt it. Its all very well pretending to be magnanimous about "donating" kit to schools when its already bought and paid for by the general public.

  7. jaywin

    They turned the Athens broadcast centre into a shopping centre... don't think that option's available here.

    1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge
      Coat

      You've never heard of online shopping?

  8. Sir Runcible Spoon

    Sir

    Just because the switches are 'only' 6500's doesn't mean you can't create some decent backbone topology with them.

    Just because lego* bricks are only basic little blocks doesn't mean you can't make something good** with them.

    * Other construction bricks are available, presumably

    ** Might not necessarily be useful

    1. Cliff

      Re: Sir

      Quite - and this is why they are being used for this job - you can architect a rather super system and they're proven. The fact they were chosen for this is proof positive you can create some decent backbone topology in fact.

      1. Morg

        Re: Sir

        I don't know I'm disappointed to read 60Gbps at the core, sounds like a ten year old network

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Sir

        Given that every Nexus based site I've seen has had major networking issues the decision to stick with 6500s seems a good one. The only customers I've seen with Nexus have too much money and too much time to read marketing carp.

    2. A Non e-mouse Silver badge

      Re: Sir

      Just because lego bricks are only basic little blocks doesn't mean you can't make something good with them.

      Like a Rolls Royce Trent engine, perhaps ?

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Actually they are are 6500 E chassis which have only been around for a couple of years...

    and have a roadmap up to at least 2020 - they are completely different beasts to the 6500 (non E) chassis which have an end of sale date this august.

    Apart from a much bigger backplane the E Series Chassis support the new Virtual Switching Supervisor 720-10GEs which give you a resislient pair of switches without having to rely on the painfully slow Spanning Tree Protocol for link resilience in the core - handy when you've got thousands of VLANs running through the buggers.

    - anonymous for obvious reasons.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Actually they are are 6500 E chassis which have only been around for a couple of years...

      @AC Posted Saturday 21st July 2012 17:14 GMT

      "- anonymous for obvious reasons."

      Is the obvious portion because you are clueless of what you are talking about? The E has only been around for a "few" years. They have been around for more than a "few" years.

      http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps5718/ps708/prod_end-of-life_notice0900aecd8035ece4.html

      EOS was November 2006. 2012 - 2006 = 6. That is MORE than a few years. The E series was released in 2004; so 8 years ago.

      Just so you know, you can run the Sup-720 on the non-E chassis. You still get the same fabric speed as the E chassis. The Sup determines the backplane speed, not the chassis. The E series allows for bigger power supplies than the non-E series. So if you are using high power draw cards or POE, you need the E-series chassis. The backplane connectors are compatible between the E and non-E chassis models. Many cards require the high speed fan which can be put into a non-E chassis.

      *The Sup-2T requires an E chassis.

  10. Christian Berger

    Hmm... will those be the beta test games?

    The CCC (Chaos Computer Club) regularly holds a conference the Chaos Communications Conference. For that they build up a network of similar orders of magnitude. (only about 20 gigabit Internet uplink though)

    A few years back they ran into an obscure bug I think in Cisco switches. Their next hop tables apparently only have 4096 entries. There might be other similarly exotic bugs hidden.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Aargh

    People writing "gonna" ( never heard even Americans pronounce it that way), the article printing, several times, "repurposing". This for a supposedly technical audience if the native language is so difficult to use and write, no

    wonder so much programming and the average user interface are so poor.

    I shall stay anonymous while the massed ignorance and wounded pride yell at me to

    prove the point.

  12. batfastad
    Megaphone

    Disgusting

    It's just such a shame to see so much money wasted on a 1 month binge when many parts of the rest of the UK are in such a depressed state. That could have been alot of schools, teachers, nurses, hospitals, infrastructure etc. nationwide... providing a real legacy.

    It was a disgusting decision to bid to host the 'lympics. Those who approved the decision should be ashamed of themselves. Especially when the bid was won through deliberate dodgy accounting and lies. The Olympics requires far too much development and construction by the host nation and is not sustainable in its current format.

    1. Chris 3

      Re: Disgusting

      Just to put this into context. Crossrail is costing £15bn.

      1. batfastad
        Megaphone

        Re: Disgusting

        Which I also think is disgusting!

        Upgrading the Underground should have been a priority and extending it into South London. Instead they've added to the horrible web of over ground train routes operated by different franchises... all charging different rates for the same journey distances. And not matching the Underground for frequency.

        But still a much better use of money than the 'lympics. At least it should still be around and in use in 20 years' time.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Disgusting

        Crossrail will last more than a month

        (whether it actually runs trains for more than a month between strikes is negligable)

  13. Rune Moberg
    Coat

    Legacy

    "When the competition is over, the equipment will be yanked out or repurposed, and the Olympic organisers' legacy team will decide who will get what."

    Hold on. Surely this falls under sustainability, not legacy?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Legacy

      It's a sustainability commitment to use legacy infrastructure to provide an inheritance for the lower Lea Valley and beyond. I really believe that.

  14. flying_walrus

    deliberate dodgy accounting and lies.

    as opposed to, what? accidentally dodgy accounting?

  15. Anonymous IV

    Lightbulb moment!

    The vast quantity of kit required for the London Olympics is probably the reason that the Cisco [charity] Donation Programme has been suspended.

    "[We] will not be processing new donation requests at this time because increased demand for Cisco products has exceeded the programmes inventory."

    There's always a reason!

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's sport

    I am a nerd.

    There is no interest.

  17. Alan Brown Silver badge
    IT Angle

    About those Nexus issues

    Please explain more. Enquiring gnomes wish to mine.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Devil

    Is it right to just give this kit away?

    ...When there are streams, rivers, valleys, yet to be filled?

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "BT-designed topology" - Oh God...

    Given that BT can't provide reliable broadband at any decent speed to 80% of the country, I can imagine what a complete mess a "BT-designed topology" is. Pixellated pictures of athletes delivered at dial-up modem speeds. I can't wait. Another Olympic (tm)(r)(c) partial success.

  20. Confuciousmobil
    Pint

    A bar?

    Was I the only one to notice that the press building, holding up to 22,000 journalists has 'a bar' and 800 coke machines?

    It had better be a very big bar, even then those coke machines will have to be crammed full of alcohol if they are typical journalists....

    1. TeeCee Gold badge

      Re: A bar?

      "...those coke machines will have to be crammed full of alcohol..."

      Ah, you appear to be suffering from advertising indoctrination. You see "coke machines" and "journalists" and think; "What would the hacks want with Coca-Cola?".

      I see "coke machines" and "journalists" and applaud the cunning exploitation of a marketing opportunity by the Bolivians.

  21. elderlybloke
    Unhappy

    Way down south

    in New Zealand I have no interest in the Olympics .

    If it was genuine sport I might be but these Games are now just Big Business.

    Someone is making big Bucks out of theme while you poor bloody Taxpayers have been given another burden to bear.

    Actually I think it was Adolf Hitler in 1936 who started the rot from the Olympics being a sporting event.

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