Just a week ago, after hosting 16 days of much anticipated and closely followed Olympic competition, Beijing passed the baton to London in a dazzling closing ceremony at its National Stadium. The Games of this 29th Olympiad commenced with the dizzying precision and coordination of 14,000 performers and 29,000 fireworks in the now famed Bird's Nest stadium. And in the weeks that followed the world's finest athletes competed head to head for podium spots in 28 sports. From my own living room I watched Michael Phelps swim his way to an unprecedented eight gold medals, Jamaica's Usain Bolt far outpace the competition to secure the title of world's fastest man, and countless other memorable performances.

It's only natural to wonder how they -- the athletes -- do it. Is it just pure genetics? Lots of gym time? New stretching techniques? Performance-enhancing substances? But if you're a telecommunications aficionado you might wonder how did they –- Beijing –- pull off non-stop coverage throughout the games, and seemingly without a hitch? After all, had Beijing been unable to deliver uninterrupted comprehensive telecom service at crucial moments, an entire world could have missed out on so many of the historic moments made this summer.