Atos Origin, the Worldwide Information technology (IT) partner for the Olympic Games, is rolling-out the first online accreditation system in co-operation with the International Sports Federations, Vancouver Organising Committee (VANOC), immigration agencies, and several law enforcement agencies. Over 90,000 people will require privileged access to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. This marks the first time the system has been launched completely online and demonstrates the critical role that technology now plays in enabling sustainable Games.

The accreditation system for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games identifies the accredited participants for events, manages registration processes and assigns access and other rights to individuals. In addition to IT capabilities provided by Atos Origin, the accreditation process includes extensive security and immigration verification, as the 2010 Olympic Winter Games accreditation badge also serves as an entry visa for Olympic family members for the duration of the Games. The system will generate approximately 90,000 accreditation badges for approved 2010 Olympic Winter Games participants a few weeks before the games begin. The deadline for applications for accreditation is October 1, 2009.

Previously, applications for accreditation were printed and sent from around the world. The online accreditation system is one of Atos Origin’s many initiatives to deploy technological solutions that help the organising committee deliver more sustainable games and significantly reduce the amount of paper used during the games. Another sustainable initiative introduced for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games is hosting the Volunteer Portal completely online.

“Atos Origin continues to demonstrate a great deal of initiative and imagination in coming up with tailor-made solutions to meet our needs for IT systems and infrastructure for hosting the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games,” says Ward Chapin, VANOC’s chief information officer. “Through great initiatives like the online accreditation system, Atos Origin is also significantly contributing to our goal to make the Games as environmentally responsible as possible.”

The Atos Origin contract with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the largest sports related IT contract covering: Salt Lake City in 2002, Athens in 2004, Torino in 2006, Beijing in 2008, Vancouver in 2010, London in 2012, Sochi in 2014 and the 2016 Olympic Games. Atos Origin has primary responsibility for Information Technology, which is related to consulting, systems integration, operations management, information security and software applications development for the Olympic Games.