A communications network for the Summer Olympics: Behind-the-scenes communicating at the Games in Los Angeles seemed a complicated and thankless task, yet AT&T took it on

The challenge was to create an easily operated communications network for the 50 000 administrators, athletes, coaches, trainers, members of support staffs, and journalists who will be in the Los Angeles basin for the Games of the XXIII Olympiad this month. The network would allow all of these individuals to communicate with each other from the many sites of the Los Angeles Games. Each of the groups, however, required a different set of functions to support its job at the Olympic Games. The only requirement common to all turned out to be a further challenge: people must be able to learn how to operate the terminal for the network in minutes - with little or no instruction. The network would have to cover an area of 4500 square miles and leave no trace when disassembled after the Olympics. Because most of the support functions at the Olympic Games would be dependent on its operation, it would have to be highly reliable.