As Chicago crosses its collective fingers for a chance to host the 2016 Olympics, city government has been more aware than ever of its emergency communications networks and operations. That was the focus of a panel at an enterprise conference the city held Wednesday, co-located with NXTcomm, which highlighted Chicago’s Olympic preparation.

“You have thousands of athletes from so many different countries in this particular location,” said Hardy Bhatt, chief information officer for the city. “You have to be prepared for anything that goes wrong.”

Chicago underwent formal scrutiny by the International Olympic Committee of its security and disaster preparedness before it was named the U.S. bid city for the 2016 games in April. But according to Aric Roush, assistant director of information services for the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications, many of the city’s upgrades and advancements were put in place prior to the Olympic bid in the interest of improving public safety.

“We didn’t just start doing this stuff because of Chicago’s bid for the Olympics,” Roush said “We did this stuff because it’s the right thing to do.”

The city currently has 700 miles of fiber and 1000 miles of copper connecting police, fire and key government facilities. The OEMC also operates a surveillance camera system that integrates city and utility company monitoring systems.

Consolidation has been a big part of the city’s emergency communications plan in the last five years. The OEMC operates the 911 Center on the city’s near-West Side—a kind of emergency management brain, which can simultaneously dispatch police, fire and paramedic units to the same site. Roush said the center currently processes 17,000-21,000 calls a day. If need be, the OEMC’s new city incident center can widen the response net, bringing in bulldozers, tow trucks and snowplows from other city offices to respond to a situation.

Roush said the OEMC has also worked to develop its intelligence and response on the ground, including developing a one-touch application that provides incident analysis and area information for responders on-site. The office also operates a unified communications vehicle, which has wireless access points, redundant satellite network access and voice-over-IP service for 96 phone lines.

In the short-term future, Roush said the OEMC is developing a digital radio system for the Chicago Fire Department, and it is working with AT&T to upgrade its citywide E911 system.

With many security and emergency response advancements already deployed, Roush said he liked the city’s chances of being able to handle the Olympics.

“When it comes to public safety and homeland security,” he said, “there is no city better in the world than Chicago.”