IOC Nears Four-Year Extension With Tech Partner Atos Origin

The IOC is "close to securing" a four-year extension through '16 with Atos Origin, the information technology company "behind all data transmitted during the Olympic Games," according to Tripp Mickle of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Atos, which has been an IOC partner since replacing IBM as technology system provider in '02, manages "everything from accreditation to distribution of competition results, and it offers those services worth more than $100[M] in exchange for Olympic marketing rights." Atos combined its own applications with the "software and hardware of other Olympic partners such as Microsoft and Lenovo during the Beijing Games." Mickle notes the IOC has sold "nine worldwide sponsorships for the 2009-12 cycle of its The Olympic Partners program." The organization has "generated more than $900[M] in sponsorship revenue and is looking for one or two more partners to push its total revenue beyond" $1B (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 3/23 issue).