The London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG), the body behind putting together the London Olympic Games, has changed its infrastructure partner from Nortel to Cisco. According to LOCOG, the contract with Nortel has ended on good terms, following its decision in June to sell certain parts of its business.

The reason for the breakup was that that some parts of the business that were sold were integral to delivering on Nortel’s 2012 commitments.

In a statement LOCOG said, “Technology for the Games is a huge undertaking with a fixed deadline, relying on finalising the design and building of systems now. In order to deliver 'the most connected Games possible', LOCOG felt it was vital to work with a single business to cover the entire network infrastructure. As a result, LOCOG and Nortel amicably decided to bring the current agreement to an end.”

LOCOG invited Cisco to bid for the infrastructure contract which it won. The company will now immediately start working on the project.

London 2012 CEO Paul Deighton commented, “We continue on a path to deliver the most connected Games possible. We part with Nortel on good terms.

“Nortel acknowledges our fixed deadlines and our desire to have a single supplier for our entire network infrastructure have been impacted by Nortel’s decision to move towards standalone businesses. This is in no way a reflection of their capabilities – this is all about meeting our fixed deadlines.”