Now that the Sochi Winter games have closed, it’s interesting to note how Microsoft was involved behind the scenes.
More than 2.1 million people tuned in to watch NBC Sports Digital’s record-setting stream of Team USA versus Canada in the semifinal hockey game, powered by Windows Azure. During the 18 days of one of the biggest sporting events in the world Windows Azure provided information on the Games to more than 100 million fans and guests through sochi2014.com and delivered more than 6,000 hours of high-definition streaming from Windows Azure Media Services, to 5 broadcasters across 22 countries in 4 continents. This included 204 live streaming channels, more than 100 TB of storage and around 500 billion storage transactions. None of this would have been feasible without a globally distributed public cloud platform like Windows Azure.
Fans using Windows Phone devices were also able to get instant information on the Winter Games through two mobile apps: Sochi 2014 Guide and Sochi 2014 Results. These apps made the Top 20 free applications at the Windows Phone Store in Russia, with more than 1 million people installing them.
Microsoft technologies, including Dynamics and SharePoint, powered the infrastructure, systems, information management and communications for the games. In fact you could say that Microsoft Dynamics won an honorary gold medal from the International Olympic Committee. The “Dynamics for Olympics” system managed 800,000 units of equipment, 36,000 square meters of warehouse space, 1,200,000 litters of diesel fuel, and 18,500 truck deliveries in the last 3 months.
Microsoft Enterprise Services drove the entire project serving as a trusted technology advisor to the Olympic Committee, and had a team of 23 people standing by to assist 24/7 on site.
Last but not least, the Microsoft Technology Hall in the Olympic Park featured a wide array of the latest Windows 8.1 devices for anyone to try. Guests also explored events automated through Microsoft Dynamics solutions that provided simple and clear examples of how complicated business solutions work. Around 100,000 people visited Microsoft hall during the Games.