Atos Origin passes final gate in the run up to the Torino 2006 Paralympic Winter Games

March 10th to 19th, 2006
Torino, 6 March 2006 - Atos Origin, the Worldwide IT Partner for the Olympic Games, today announced that it has begun operating the IT systems for the Paralympic Winter Games in Torino, which start on March 10th 2006. This follows the company’s successful and secure IT operations for the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games, which ended on February 26th.

The IX Torino 2006 Paralympic Winter Games is a top-level sports event taking place from 10 to 19 March 2006. It will welcome 1,300 athletes, guides and technicians representing 40 different nations, 200,000 spectators, 1,000 journalists and media operators supported by 3,000 volunteers.

Atos Origin is responsible for all aspects of the smooth and secure operation of the Paralympic Games’ Information Technology: designing and building the systems, integrating and managing the technology consortium partners, and operating the critical IT infrastructure and networks, including the immediate distribution of Games results, events and athletes information to spectators and media around the world.

For the Paralympic Games, Atos Origin provides and adapts the Games software applications that powered the Olympic Winter Games in Torino, and ensures the same quality level for this unique event. These include:

* The Information Diffusion System that relays results and athlete information to media representatives and athletes during the Paralympic Games. It is based on the system used in the Olympic Games and has been modified to meet the specific Paralympic requirements.
* The Games Management System that provides accreditation, transportation, arrivals and departures, medical encounters reports, sports qualifications, workforce staffing and scheduling and protocol information. This is the same system used in the Olympic Games.

Since the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games ended on February 26th, the technology team led by Atos Origin under TOROC technology department, has decommissioned and rebuilt 1,200 PCs, re-installed 180 servers and Unix boxes, 650 printers and deployed 250 Intranet terminals across the four Paralympic Winter Games competition venues and seven non-competition venues (including Paralympic Villages, Media Centre, Accreditation Centre, Airport, etc).

Deploying these systems is a highly complex and large scale operation that is managed from the PC Factory and combined IT Warehouse, a 6,000m2 square metre facility where all the IT hardware, including servers and workstations, are received, stored, configured, allocated a barcode for identification, and quality checked before being deployed to the venues in advance of the Games.

Gomez Quim, Programme Director, Atos Origin for the Torino 2006 Paralympic Winter Games, said: “The Paralympic Games is a world-class sporting event and the systems to operate them are as complex as for the Olympic Games, though on a smaller scale. As for the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games, IT security will be a key priority for the IT team to ensure there is no disruption to the systems and that the results are relayed to the world and to the media accurately and on time.“

The Atos Origin contract with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the largest sports-related IT contract covering: Salt Lake City in 2002 (operating as SchlumbergerSema); Athens in 2004; Torino in 2006; Beijing in 2008; Vancouver in 2010; and London in 2012. Atos Origin has primary responsibility for Information Technology, relating to IT consulting, systems integration, operations management, information security and software applications development for the Olympic Games.

In addition to his commitment to the Olympic Movement as Worldwide IT Partner, Atos Origin supports the Paralympic Movement through its sponsorship of several Paralympic Games such as Salt Lake City in 2002, Athens in 2004 and Torino in 2006.


About Atos Origin
Atos Origin is an international information technology services company. Its business is turning client vision into results through the application of consulting, systems integration and managed operations. The company’s annual revenues are more than EUR 5 billion and it employs over 46,000 people in 40 countries. Atos Origin is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic Games and has a client base of international blue-chip companies across all sectors. Atos Origin is quoted on the Paris Eurolist Market and trades as Atos Origin, Atos Euronext Market Solutions, Atos Worldline and Atos Consulting.

Contact Information

Emilie Moreau

Atos Origin

Contact via E-mail