BEIJING — March 26, 2007 — Lenovo announced today it has completed the second of three massive hardware deliveries for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games with the shipment of nearly 700 pieces of hardware, including notebooks, desktops, desktop monitors and servers, to the Integration Test Center of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG). More than 30 Lenovo staffers are now working at the 800-square-meter Integration Lab in downtown Beijing with various partners, configuring the equipment for use in the upcoming test events that begin in July 2007 and end only weeks before the Games begin on August 8, 2008.
Lenovo, the world’s third-largest computer maker, is the exclusive computing equipment supplier for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Virtually every aspect of the management of the Games, from gathering and storing participant data to displaying the scores to organizing all BOCOG activities, depends on the hardware provided by Lenovo.
As of March 27, the start of the 500-day countdown to the Games, Lenovo will have provided BOCOG with approximately 300 servers, 800 desktop computers, 800 computer monitors and 70 notebook computers. By the time the Games commence Lenovo will have delivered more than 14,000 pieces of computing equipment to support 56 venues in seven cities, including 39 competition venues and 17 data centers and BOCOG centers.
“With the completion of the latest hardware delivery, Lenovo is now running tests at the Integration Lab and preparing for the long, arduous test phase, which at nearly a year in length far exceeds the test period allocated to your average project, sports or otherwise,” said Lenovo’s Olympic Technology & Sponsorship Director, Leon Xie. “The purpose of the 42 test events is not to find out how good we are but to look for problems. We will use our equipment in the test events to see what’s going right and wrong, and to see how our supporting team coordinates and cooperates with other sponsors’ support teams – how is the flow, what are the issues? Then we will take the equipment back and modify it and determine how long it takes for the problem to be solved.”
The testing phase is vital because implementation of the complex Games’ technology system will occur literally overnight. A large number of applications will be running on Lenovo equipment, including Game Management Systems; staffing and scheduling; accreditation; transportation; sports entries and qualifications; timing and scoring; ticketing; Lenovo Internet Lounges in the athlete villages and more. Many of these systems will need to be duplicated in seven different cities, Beijing, Qingdao, Tianjin, Qinhuangdao, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Dalian, with systems in place to control all venues remotely.
“We are delighted that Lenovo has been able to coordinate such a huge delivery of product to our Integration Test Center on time and with seamless efficiency,” said Mr. Yichun Yang, Director of the BOCOG Technology Department. “Many of the critical applications used to manage the Games and BOCOG administration depend on Lenovo hardware, and the importance of Lenovo computing equipment to all aspects of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games cannot be exaggerated. We are happy to be off to a smooth start as the Integration Lab prepares the equipment for the upcoming test events.”
The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games dwarf previous Games in terms of scale. At this same point before the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games, Lenovo only needed to commit about one-third the number of products and technicians. By August 2008, the number of on-site Lenovo technicians and support personnel will mushroom to above 400.
Lenovo Olympic Games Marketing Initiatives Underway As the 500-day countdown begins, Lenovo is launching an advertising and marketing campaign throughout China intended to further strengthen the emotional bond between the Olympic Games and the Lenovo brand.
Starting tonight and continuing every day until the Games begin, the company will bring viewers of China Central Television (CCTV) primetime news and sports programs a series of television commercials that underscore the company’s commitment to and involvement in the Olympic Games. Eight different sets of commercials will be tied to different phases of the Olympic Games, such as the preparation of the venues, Opening Ceremonies, test events, etc. A series of celebrations, the ads encourage viewers to develop their potential and explore new worlds, and tie in with the company’s “New World, New Thinking” marketing initiative.
Each night for the next 500 days, CCTV 1 will be presenting a nightly segment before its primetime evening news to remind viewers how many days remain before the start of the Games. Lenovo is the title sponsor of CCTV’s Olympic Games countdown segments, each of which will be followed by a Lenovo TV commercial. The spots will also appear at various times during the day on CCTV 5, the nation’s most-watched sports channel.
“These events will tell millions of Chinese citizens that the countdown to the Games has begun and that Lenovo will be with them along the way to provide a unique and memorable experience,” said Alice Li, Vice President, Olympic Marketing, Lenovo. “We have been working on the plans to roll out marketing campaigns globally when closer to the Games, and preparing the Olympic Games on-site projects such as Internet Lounges, showcasing, hospitality, etc. We are in full speed for preparations.”
With headquarters in the US and Beijing, Lenovo is the world’s third-largest computer maker and exclusive computing equipment provider for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Lenovo became a worldwide sponsor of the Olympic Games in 2004, becoming the first company with Chinese origins in the dozen-member Olympic TOP program.
“The sheer scope and sweep of Lenovo’s 500-day countdown speaks to the company’s commitment to closing the digital divide within China while at the same time generating strong national pride in China’s role as host to the 2008 Olympic Games,” said Greg Paull, founder of analyst firm R3 in Beijing. “In recent marketing efforts Lenovo showed it was quite willing to take on extremely challenging projects, and it’s doubtful that many companies in China could pull off something this ambitious.”
About Lenovo Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is dedicated to building the world’s best engineered personal computers. Lenovo’s business model is built on innovation, operational efficiency and customer satisfaction as well as a focus on investment in emerging markets. Formed by Lenovo Group’s acquisition of the former IBM Personal Computing Division, the company develops, manufactures and markets reliable high-quality, secure and easy-to-use technology products and services worldwide. Lenovo has major research centers in Yamato, Japan; Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China; and Raleigh, North Carolina. For more information, see www.lenovo.com .
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