Midway through Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Lenovo Issues Technology Scorecard

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(Business Wire)

BEIJING--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lenovo, the computing equipment sponsor of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, announced that it has delivered error-free support for all competition events completed to-date, helping provide scores and results instantly to media and fans around the world.

"Four years of preparations and extensive testing has paid off,” said Alice Li, vice president, Olympic Marketing, Lenovo. “Lenovo computing support is going smoothly for the most complex sporting event in the world, and we are proud of the role our equipment plays in powering the world's greatest idea. We look forward to a successful conclusion to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games."

On the first Sunday of the Olympic Games, Beijing experienced heavy thunderstorms that shut down roads and brought traffic to a halt. Still, the Games’ outdoor competitions moved ahead, enabled by the Lenovo ThinkPad T60s used in the field for score-keeping and timing. Outdoor events held during the storm included tennis, beach volleyball and field hockey. The ThinkPad T60s had been tested in advance for inclement weather. Prior to the Games, Lenovo and BOCOG developed a contingency plan and were prepared when the storms began. They quickly set up special roofing to protect the desktop printers and PCs, which were unaffected by the rain.

In addition, more than 20 ThinkPad T60s have been working at outdoor competitions for extended periods of time, with highest surface temperatures reaching 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit). Humidity is also a challenge in Beijing’s steaming August weather, and Lenovo’s desktop printers, designed specifically to cope with such challenges, performed without a hitch.

"The IT system for these Olympic Games is the largest, in terms of both size and complexity, in Olympic history and the Lenovo equipment has performed without any problems in extremely demanding conditions," said Jean-Benoît Gauthier, chief technology officer of the International Olympic Committee.

The most intense day to date was August 12, when more than 21,000 pieces of Lenovo equipment were used for 19 competitions and hundreds of non-competition applications.

Venues with the most computing equipment are the National Stadium (“Bird’s Nest”), with 725 pieces and the National Aquatic Center (“Water Cube”) with 487 pieces.

On-site broadcasters from around the world are now using Lenovo equipment, including touch-screen flat panel displays, to access the Commentator Information System, which includes athlete biographies, news and statistics. Results are available four times faster than they were during the 2006 Torino Olympic Winter Games thanks to a new Windows-based server solution developed by Lenovo, Atos Origin and BOCOG.

Lenovo has seven Internet lounges (i.lounges) for the Olympic Games, offering 260 PCs with broadband Internet access to athletes, coaches and the media. Six are in the Olympic Villages in Beijing, Hong Kong and Qingdao and one is in the Beijing Main Press Center. On average, more than 400 journalists visit the MPC i.lounge each day, and daily visits by athletes to Lenovo’s Olympic Village i.lounges has exceeded an average of 3,000. Video messaging is among the most popular applications, helping athletes and media stay in touch with friends and family.

Lenovo is the first computing equipment sponsor to offer support to any brand of PC for journalists at the Games. The company set up special service centers in the MPC and BIMC manned with Lenovo engineers. The first week of the Olympic Games saw approximately 30 inquiries each day and an average of 15 service requests handled by the engineers each day. The most frequent requests are wireless set-up, software adjustments and data transfer assistance.

Lenovo is providing more than 30,000 pieces of equipment that manage virtually every aspect of the Olympic Games, from gathering and storing participant data to displaying the scores, at 56 venues across seven cities. This includes 24,000 desktop computers, 2,000 desktop printers, 800 notebook computers, 700 servers and 5,000 showcase models for i.lounges and sponsor partner programs.

The hardware is used in nearly every aspect of the Beijing information technology infrastructure, working together with applications and software from other technology sponsors for accurate and fast collection, distribution and storage of competition results and related information.

About Lenovo

Lenovo (992) (ADR: LNVGY) is dedicated to building the world's most innovative 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.

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