Testing of the IT infrastructure for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games begins in three months.

With less than 500 days until the opening ceremony, the Beijing Organising Committee is starting the integration of more than 700 desktop computers, monitors, laptops and servers from IT supplier Lenovo.

The Games’ main IT provider, Atos Origin is installing applications that will form the foundation of the event.

Atos is providing Games Management Systems (GMS), a suite of applications including accreditation and accommodation planning that help the organisers prepare and manage the Games, while its Information Diffusion Systems (IDS) will distribute results and data. Some elements of GMS and IDS are already live, says Atos Origin chief integrator Jeremy Hore.

‘GMS is very much the back office of the Olympic Games and we are in the process of testing these applications,’ he said.

The next major task will be to test the completed infrastructure in a live environment when test events for each venue and sport begin in July.

‘There are also 12 test events running concurrently in August that will allow us to monitor how the applications work and ensure the systems offer consistent service and real-time data across all venues,’ said Hore.

This week marks the beginning of intensive preparation, says Lenovo Olympic marketing vice president Alice Li.

‘Virtually every aspect of the management of the Games depends on the technology based on Lenovo equipment, including accreditation, staffing and scheduling, timing and gathering of participant data, ticketing and internet use,’ she said.

‘We must test extensively in an integration lab and live events because there will be no legacy systems to fall back on.’

The Games represents one of the largest one-off IT implementations in the world, says Butler Group analyst Mark Blowers.

‘It is a huge operation, complicated because all the technology has to be right on the day,’ he said. ‘There are no second chances, so you can never do too much testing, and the 500 days will disappear very quickly.’