By industry standards, Johnston means Intel's x86 industry standard servers, as opposed to using larger (and often proprietary) Symmetrical Multiprocessing Systems (SMPs).

Dell is supplying most of the hardware and some services to the Games.

Housed within the Games Technology Operations Center is a combination of 68 tower and rack Dell PowerEdge servers which are hosting a broad array of business-critical systems, ranging from results and scoring information to recruitment and rostering systems for the 15,000-strong volunteer workforce.

Close to 70 Dell/EMC AX100 storage devices, which the vendor claims to be the largest single deployment in the Asia-Pacific region, have been implemented to record, store and manage all security surveillance footage from a multitude of sites across Melbourne city and Games facilities.

Other Dell systems in use across the Games' sites include 1300 OptiPlex desktops, 150 Latitude notebooks, 1350 flat panel monitors and 50 Axim handhelds. Included among the many venues using Dell technology is the Commonwealth Games Village, where athletes from 71 nations will communicate via an Internet Center to family, friends and fans across the globe.