Sun Microsystems Canada To Sponsor 2010 Vancouver Games

Ontario-based Sun Microsystems of Canada (SMC), a subsidiary of U.S.-based Sun Microsystems, will be the official computer server and data storage provider of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, according to Derrick Penner of the VANCOUVER SUN. SMC will provide about 550 server units "off which Games organizers will be expected to deliver event results, records and athlete information to audiences in real time." Financial terms were not disclosed, but VANOC's "criteria for supplier-sponsors require provisions of [C$3-15M] in cash or goods and services." Parent company Sun Microsystems was a "supplier to the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics, and is currently the official computer server for the NFL and CFL." Other Vancouver Games tech suppliers include Ricoh Canada, Nortel Networks and Bell Canada, as well as int'l Olympic sponsors Acer, Omega and Atos Origin, which are "respectively responsible for providing computers, timing systems, and technology integration" ( VANCOUVER SUN, 1/12 ). In Toronto, Cassandra Drudi notes SMC's servers are "small, sleekly designed" and "energy efficient." The servers will also "store data about weather" at the Games ( Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 1/12 ).