BEIJING, 26 August — Lenovo, worldwide partner and exclusive computing equipment provider to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, announced today that its multi-layered computing solution consisting of more than 30,000 pieces of equipment and nearly 600 engineers provided smooth, error-free performance at the Games, the largest sporting event in human history.
Despite heavy rains and multiple events taking place simultaneously across seven cities, Lenovo equipment performed without interruption throughout the 17-day event, supporting the delivery of results to fans and media around the world and keeping all aspects of the Games on track.
Torrential rains during field hockey, the 20-kilometer race walk, cycling and beach volleyball did not stop the athletes from pressing ahead – nor did the rain stop the Lenovo ThinkPad T60 notebooks used outdoors on the ground to measure results. The ThinkPad T60 was specifically selected in part for its innovative waterproof keyboard, which includes a proprietary drainage system and circuit-protection solution.
“Lenovo enjoyed a double victory on August 21,” said Deepak Advani, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Lenovo. “Despite heavy rains the beach volleyball competition that day went ahead and so did our ThinkPad notebooks on the ground. On top of that, the US gold medal-winning team of Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor, are Lenovo Champions. In every way it was a winning day for Lenovo. On a broader level, the Beijing Olympic Games were a huge success for Lenovo, telling the world we are a global technology company that can creatively meet any challenge we face.”
In terms of demand for computing power, the Beijing Games are without precedent. Lenovo provided computing solutions for 630 competitive events, 302 medal events, seven different event sites, 39 competition venues and 17 data centers. The solution included laptop and desktop PCs and monitors, touch screens, servers, desktop printers and the Lenovo engineering team that kept all system operational.
The headquarters for Lenovo’s core engineering team was the Technology Operations Center (TOC) inside the massive Digital Building on the Olympic Green. From within the TOC, Lenovo engineers monitored all venues to make sure equipment was in place and operating correctly. Lenovo also maintained hundreds of servers in the Digital Building responsible for handling hundreds of thousands of requests per second. During the Games, servers processed more than 23 million live queries. For an additional layer of redundancy Lenovo also had fleets of engineers stationed at each venue.
Lenovo also operated seven Internet lounges (i.lounges) for the Games, offering 260 PCs with broadband Internet access to athletes, coaches and the media. The i.lounges were hugely popular and together they enjoyed average daily traffic of about 3,000 visitors. Lenovo broke new ground by offering multi-brand PC Service Centers in the Main Press Center (MPC) and Beijing International Media Center (BIMC). Lenovo technicians handled 180 service requests in the MPC and 51 requests in the BIMC.
The i.lounges and service centers will be open and staffed by Lenovo during the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, which take place September 6 – 17 and for which Lenovo is also the exclusive equipment provider.
About Lenovo
Lenovo (992) (ADR: LNVGY) is dedicated to building exceptionally 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.