BEIJING, – 2 August, 2007 – With the shipment of more than 3,500 pieces of computing equipment, including servers, desktops, monitors and notebook computers, Lenovo completed its third and final hardware delivery to the Integration Test Center of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG).
The next phase in preparing for the Olympic Games will be the critical test events, known as the “Good Luck Beijing” sport events, which begin in earnest around the one-year countdown on August 8, 2007. These 42 sporting competitions will be used to test all aspects of the computing hardware during actual competition, an arduous year-long process that ensures the systems are ready for the actual Olympic Games. The tests will end only weeks before the Opening Ceremony on August 8, 2008.
“The upcoming tests are, in effect, a full rehearsal for the 2008 Games, ensuring the reliability of the hardware that forms the Games’ computing backbone,” said BOCOG Technology Director Yang Yichun. “Based on the high-performance equipment and technical expertise Lenovo contributed to the Torino Games, we have trust in the company’s ability to support us next year at the Games.”
In its final delivery, Lenovo provided BOCOG with 242 servers, 140 server racks, 2,375 desktop computers and 141 notebook computers for a total of more than 8,200 pieces of computing equipment powering 56 Olympic venues (39 competition venues and 17 data centers and BOCOG centers) in seven cities. In total, Lenovo will be providing approximately 14,000 pieces of computing equipment for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
The computing systems supporting the Games will be tested at 42 separate events, including World Cup qualifying matches, the Beijing International Marathon and international tennis events. One hundred and fifty Lenovo engineers and support staff will work in concert with various partners to ensure complete preparedness for the test events.
“After years of preparation and planning, the testing phase is vital because implementation of the Games’ computer infrastructure will take place literally overnight,” said Alice Li, Lenovo’s vice president of Olympic marketing. “We have worked with BOCOG to put together Lenovo systems that meet the specific requirements of this complex system, and we are ready to see them in action.”
The two primary personal computers that make up the Olympic Games IT infrastructure will be the ThinkPad T60 notebook PC and ThinkCentre M55e. The ThinkCentre M55e is the first integrated worldwide desktop PC platform from Lenovo. Developed jointly by Lenovo’s worldwide development teams in Beijing, China, Yamato, Japan and Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, the desktop PC is marketed worldwide. In July 2007, the ThinkCentre M55e desktop PC was named “Editor’s Choice” by PC Magazine for its reliability, size and easy to service features. The compact, quiet operation made the desktop well suited for the large quantities required by BOCOG.
The ThinkPad T60 – the flagship thin-and-light model of Lenovo’s premier ThinkPad line – provides the performance of a cutting-edge desktop computer with the portability of a notebook. With the reliability and high performance traditional for ThinkPad notebooks and the new roll cage design introduced by Lenovo’s engineers, BOCOG’s adoption of the ThinkPad T60 means that the world’s greatest sporting event will be served by the world’s best-engineered notebooks.
The sheer physical scale of the Olympic Games is rivaled only by their ‘virtual’ scale. To ensure the smooth and seamless systems operation demanded by the Games, Lenovo chose the SureServer R520, T350 and R630 servers. Lenovo’s SureServers will be responsible for handling hundreds of thousands of requests per second for everything from athlete biographical information to the latest scores to organizing BOCOG activities. The power and reliability of the SureServer line make it a natural choice for the computationally intensive applications that will power next year’s Games.
During the 2008 Games, a large number of applications will be running on Lenovo equipment, including Games Management Systems; staffing and scheduling; accreditation; transportation; sports entries and qualifications; timing and scoring; ticketing; Lenovo Internet lounges in the athlete villages and more. Many of these systems will need to be duplicated in seven different cities – Beijing, Hong Kong, Dalian, Qingdao, Tianjin, Qinhuangdao and Shanghai – with systems in place to control all venues remotely.
The scale of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games is unrivalled by any other Games in history. At the same point in the lead-up to the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games, Lenovo only needed to commit about one-third the number of products and technicians. By the beginning of the Games next year, the number of Lenovo technicians and engineers working on-site at BOCOG will reach nearly 400, including a core team of more than 10 staff members with experience from the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games.
As a worldwide Olympic Partner and the exclusive computing equipment supplier for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the company recently launched the first Lenovo PCs to be distributed worldwide displaying Lenovo’s Olympic Games composite logo, which features the brand name and the Olympic rings. Six Lenovo 3000 desktop PCs, the redesigned silver and black Lenovo 3000 J200/J200p/J205 tower and S200/S200p/S205, and the ThinkCentre A61 desktop are all now available worldwide with the logo.
About Lenovo Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is dedicated to building the world’s best engineered personal computers. Lenovo’s business model is built on innovation, operational efficiency and customer satisfaction as well as a focus on investment in emerging markets. Formed by Lenovo Group’s acquisition of the former IBM Personal Computing Division, the company develops, manufactures and markets reliable high-quality, secure and easy-to-use technology products and services worldwide. Lenovo has major research centers in Yamato, Japan; Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China; and Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. For more information, see www.lenovo.com .