Let the Games begin!

It's a snow day, people! As I watch the snow literally blowing sideways, rapidly piling up in drifts outside my office window, my thoughts turn immediately to childhood memories of shooting down an icy, artificially created "mountain" in the Midwest (and, of course, to the big mug of steaming hot chocolate and roaring fireplace that always followed such runs). My vehicle of choice? By default, a rickety, old sled (I am the youngest child)—so this was by no means a competitive sport. But these memories do get me revved up for the Vancouver Olympic Games, which start in just a few short days.

Fortunately, I'm not the only one getting prepared. Atos Origin promises a smooth ride for the course of the Games, standing responsible for designing, integrating, managing and securing the IT systems behind the events, and delivering real-time coverage to an audience of over 3 billion people around the world. Its teams—consisting of around 3,000 best-in-class technology experts from partners and suppliers, including 1,000 IT volunteers and 400 Atos Origin employees from 32 countries—have been training almost as hard as any world-class athletes (but certainly with a lower calorie burn … so, more like mathletes). The company has deployed set up 800 servers and 6,000 PCs in 35 venues in cooperation with other partners, and its systems have gone through 100,000 hours of testing and crisis scenarios.

And if Atos Origin brings home the gold medal for its performance, as it has since the 2002 Games, it will make a repeat performance at London in 2012, Sochi in 2014 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

USA! USA! USA!