Huge IT input contributed to Special Olympics success

Pro

1 April 2005

Costing a cool EUR34m to stage, the 2003 Special Olympics benefited from substantial support from some 15 multinational and local technology companies.

Hardware, software, printers, networks, cabling, and a variety of websites, medical databases, and enterprise applications all formed part of the tech support mix for the biggest sporting event to be held this year. Aside from the EUR34m running costs, EUR23m of in-kind products and services was also needed.

2003 Special Olympics IT manager, Geraldine Minogue and applications manager, Gerry Canavan told ComputerScope that much of the support for the games would not have been possible without the various technology company sponsors and suppliers. The organisers used all the support that had been offered to them, Canavan said.

For a start, there were 750 new desktop Dell PCs pressed into service in 72 sites throughout the country specifically for the games. The new PCs were very kindly loaned to the games by an Irish firm (who wishes to remain anonymous) who had ordered the PCs as part of a major office upgrade, but who is only taking delivery of them now that the games are over.

Although Dell was not an official sponsor, it provided technical support for the PCs and the accompanying 20 client servers. Microsoft, an official sponsor, provided all the server and desktop software, and 100 employees of the company donated their free time and assistance during the games period itself.

The cabling infrastructure that linked the 20 sporting venues in the Greater Dublin area was provided by network firm, Avaya. Its SYSTIMAX SCS network was used to support the critical system applications required for the efficient running of the event, including the Games Management System, the Medical Management System, and the Main Press Centre.

Software firm Citrix provided the PC software licences for the Games Management System, which was designed specifically for the Special Olympics by Bespoke Software.

Eircom, an official sponsor, played an extensive role, not least with the rollout of a comprehensive BIP (Business IP) Virtual Private Network. This is said to have been the second largest rollout of this system, after the one used to support e-government services.

Eircom also hosted the official website, which was developed by Irish Internet company, MediaOne. Appropriately enough, the site meets the highest Web Content Accessibility guidelines of W3C, the World Wide Web Consortium. It is also multilingual for the first time, courtesy of Bowne Global Solutions.

The Medical Management System was supplied by the Irish subsidiaries of Better Health Partners and contains the medical records of the 7,000 athletes who took part, and was also used to record any medical interaction that took place during the games.

Some 30,000 volunteers helped out at the games, so a fair bit of organisation was needed. Recruitment website, Monster.ie provided the online application form for games volunteers, while Kodak looked after the production of accreditation passes for the volunteers as well as the 10,000+ official delegation.

Software firm, SAS supplied a website application that provided access to the profiles of all the athletes as well as their progress during the games, which will be used by the many sponsors and supporters of individual athletes.

www.specialolympics.ie

01/08/2003

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