Exercise Game Readiness Test Torino



With less than 60 days to go, Atos Origin, the Worldwide Information Technology (IT) Partner for the Olympic Games, announced successful completion of the largest technical rehearsal prior to the start of the 2010 Winter Games. The objective of this key final IT testing phase, that was held together with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC), is to confirm the operational readiness – people, technology and procedures - before starting the countdown to the Games which begin on February 12th.


The second Technical Rehearsals - a large-scale simulation based exercises involving the Olympic venues and the Technology Operations Centre (TOC) – were led by VANOC and Atos Origin. These are part of Atos Origin massive testing program and are designed to ensure that staff, technology and procedures are fully ready to respond to any situation at Games time. Six hundred scenarios were created to challenge the responses of the Technology team, the infrastructure system and its back-up capabilities.

Pre-defined technical testing scenarios were executed, detected, analyzed and rectified in real-time conditions, replicating those that could exist during competition time. The IT systems that are responsible for bringing results to a global audience in fractions of a second must all perform flawlessly and error-free. Representatives of various customers such as media participated in the test, using the Atos Origin applications as they would do during the Games.

Testing took place across all Olympic venues, both in the city and in the mountains, and involved all the sports. All the competitions were simulated from the real venues, enabling us to exercise on the Games infrastructure, and in real Games environmental conditions.

“This series of complex technical rehearsals provided the technology partners with the opportunity to perform together as one team under the management of Atos Origin together with VANOC. Lessons learnt from the first technical rehearsal last October really helped the team perform successfully.” said Jean-Benoît Gauthier, Director of Technology for the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

“Atos Origin’s tailor-made solutions for IT systems and infrastructure are critical for us to be able to deliver the 2010 Winter Games,” says Ward Chapin, chief information officer of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC). “We are pleased with all of the testing results so far and believe Atos Origin’s solutions will ensure Games time success.”

“The successful completion of this widespread testing rehearsal marks an important milestone in the road to the Games,” said Patrick Adiba, Executive Vice President, Olympic Games and Major Events, at Atos Origin. “After more than 4 years of preparation and hundred thousands of hours of testing, we are proud of having reached the level of readiness expected. We are confident that we are ready to deliver IT excellence to enable the athletes to compete in front of the world at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games."

Atos Origin designs, integrates, manages and secures the multiple IT systems needed to manage the Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as the systems that communicate the results to the world. Atos Origin holds the largest sports-related IT contract in the world. The contract with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has provided IT services for Salt Lake City in 2002, Athens in 2004, Torino in 2006 and Beijing in 2008. Atos Origin will provide similar services for Vancouver in 2010 and London in 2012. The contract was renewed in 2009 for Sochi in 2014 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

For further information on the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games

About Atos Origin
Atos Origin is a leading international information technology (IT) services company, providing hi-tech transactional services, consulting, systems integration and managed operations to deliver business outcomes globally. The company’s annual revenues are EUR 5.5 billion and it employs 50,000 people. Atos Origin is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic Games and has a client base of international companies across all sectors. Atos Origin is quoted on the Paris Eurolist Market and trades as Atos Origin, Atos Worldline and Atos Consulting.

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Making a name for Ethiopia in the winter sports arena ・Mens Cross Country Skiing: Robel Teklemariam (Ethiopia) Born in 1974 in Ethiopia. Age 35 Robel first made his debut as an athlete representing Ethiopia in the 2006 Torino Winter Olympic Games. He moved to the United States when he was 9 yrs old due to his mother job at the United Nations. While he had trouble adjusting to the city life, he fell in love with skiing at his school in Lake Placid when he was 12 and ever since, skiing has had a profound impact on his life. Robel met many people through skiing and he came to envision a dream. That dream was to represent his mother country at the Olympic Games. He later gained the support of his family and many supporters who came to share his dream and established the first Ethiopian National Skiing Federation. Robel became the chairman of this Federation and although he did get his ticket to the 2006 Torino Winter Olympic Games, his first attempt finished in 108th place. Still, Robel believes nothing is impossible. I continue telling myself to strive until my dreams come true. No matter how long it may take. His journey to his dream still continues.