The deal – signed by Sochi 2014 President Dmitry Chernyshenko (pictured above, left) and Nikolay Pryanishnikov (pictured above, centre), President of Microsoft Russia – includes the use of the Microsoft Windows Azure cloud platform for the operation of official websites for the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Sochi 2014 signed a deal in June 2011 for Microsoft to be an official supplier of the Games.

According to Chernyshenko, use of the cloud platform means that "the quality of online services provided will not be affected by the level of traffic".

This platform should facilitate efficient management during peak traffic times when Windows Azure resources, located in Microsoft data processing centres across the world, will be activated.

According to Pryanishnikov, "In offering the best international practices and using the latest technologies, Microsoft provides the very best platform for the staging of an innovative Games in Sochi."

The move would "encourage the setting of new technological standards in the organisation of large sports events in Russia and internationally".

With just 20 months until the Sochi Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has still not sealed a deal with a computing equipment sponsor.


Gerhard Heiberg (pictured above), Chairman of the IOC's Marketing Commission, recently told insidethegames that there had been no "definitive conclusion" and that the situation remained "open".

Heiberg indicated that all options remained possible – from an extension by Acer, the present sponsor, to a broader partnership with one of the IOC's other technology sponsors, an agreement with a new sponsor or allowing Sochi to decide.

Interestingly, the Sochi announcement comes in the same week that Microsoft unveiled a tablet computer called Surface, its first major venture into computer hardware.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
June 2011: Sochi 2014 signs up Microsoft as official supplier