Imagine being tasked with the development and integration of the largest security system ever created for a nonmilitary operation. That’s exactly what faced blueturn as part of a consortium led by San Diego-based Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) to protect the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens.

As the first post-9/11 summer games, terrorism concerns were high – and for good reason. Greece’s vulnerable location with nearly 14,000 kilometers of coastline and eleven major seaports made it crucial for police, armed forces, and other security personnel to be able to share information efficiently and respond to incidents in a coordinated and cohesive manner. Adding to the challenge was a looming one-year deadline to create the computer security system and train its nearly 10,000 users.

blueturn worked closely with SAIC to integrate several new surveillance technologies with a collaborative emergency response and mapping software called ETeam. The technology allows Greek authorities to access and utilize the same data and to communicate with one another from scores of different security command centers spread throughout the region. At the core is a web-based Command and Control application for monitoring and responding to emergencies.

The system gathers images and audio from a sensor network of over 1,000 high-resolution and infrared cameras, 12 patrol boats, 4,000 ground vehicles, nine helicopters, a sensor-laden blimp, and four mobile command centers. The location of every marked vehicle is displayed on laptop computers and large screens at each command center which then feed into the central command post to monitor security at the events.

Not only did this web-based system provide greater security at the summer games, but it also upgraded the Greek government's ability to effectively manage their response to emergency events for years to come.