Atos Origin Receives VANOC Sustainability Star Status to Make Olympic Games Greener

Atos Origin, the worldwide Information Technology partner for the Olympic Games, has reportedly earned “Sustainability Star” status from the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, or “VANOC,” in order to achieve carbon reduction at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic winter games.

 

Company officials with Atos said that the company designs, integrates, manages and secures the multiple IT systems that are required to manage the Olympic Games. It develops games-related sustainability technology innovations and is also commitment to creating greener games.

 

The company has also partnered with International Olympic Committee. As part of this collaboration, the company is incessantly taking steps and finding solutions to minimize the environmental impact of the Olympic Games by measuring the associated levels of carbon generation.

 

Ann Duffy, corporate sustainability officer for VANOC, said that the Sustainability Star program has been created to recognize partners who have demonstrated excellence in rising to the challenge of creating projects with positive and measurable social, economic and environmental benefits that are new to the Games or Host Region.

 

In an effort to make the big event greener, Atos Origin has developed technology solutions as well as embarked on specific measures, which will facilitate VANOC to reduce the 2010 Winter Games' carbon footprint - in terms of energy savings; reduction in carbon emissions; and enhanced access of information through online portals.

 

By making use of virtualization, Atos Origin implemented an environmentally-friendly infrastructure, due to the fact that efficient IT infrastructure helps in reducing electricity consumption by nearly 30 percent.

 

What’s more, Atos Origin has developed an online volunteer platform for the 2010 Winter Games that processes more than 50,000 applications from people in 100 countries. This in turn reduces paper consumption and the associated greenhouse gas, or “GHG,” emissions, company officials said.

 

Earlier, applications for accreditation were printed and sent around the world. So, an online accreditation system has been deployed by Atos Origin, for the first time in Vancouver. This online system helps in reducing the amount of paper used during the 2010 Winter Games.

 

Furthermore, Atos Origin has developed a remote Commentator Information System, which provides direct access to instantaneous competition results to media. The remote INFO System also provides media with access to Olympic Family intranet, including event information, schedules, athlete biographies, results and weather forecasts.

 

Officials with Atos Origin said that the contract between the International Olympic Committee and the company began with - Salt Lake City in 2002, Athens in 2004, Torino in 2006, Beijing in 2008, Vancouver in 2010 and London in 2012. Further, this contract was renewed in 2009 for Sochi in 2014 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

 

“The commitment by our partners, like Atos Origin, has been collaborative and innovative and this in turn has helped to significantly enhance the overall sustainability performance of the 2010 Games and provide markets world-wide with enhanced technology information solutions,” Duffy said.