Hardware vendor Dell and software giant Microsoft will be the technology names appearing on the IT systems and signage associated with the 2006 Commonwealth Games to be held in Melbourne next March.

Dell has been chosen as the official hardware technology provider for the Games - supplying desktops, notebooks, workstations, servers and storage technology across a number of competition and non-competition venues.

Dell hardware will be deployed in the lead up to and during the Games, for all Games Management Systems.

A combination of 68 tower and rack Dell PowerEdge servers will act as the backbone, hosting business critical administrative systems such as ticketing, content management and customised games management applications. Additionally, the Games' data network will be backed by Dell PowerVault storage systems.

The Dell OptiPlex GX280 has been awarded the official Games desktop of choice. 1250 Dell OptiPlex systems, coupled with over 130 Latitude D-series notebooks, will be installed across multiple sites to connect officials, athletes, media and volunteers to each other and around the globe.

Dell server and notebook hardware will also be deployed for use on route with the Queen's Baton Relay team which will see the baton cover 180,000 kilometres throughout all 71 nations of the Commonwealth.

The Games design team will also use Dell Precision workstations to create video graphics for display during the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and across competition venues.

Meanwhile, Microsoft Australia announced that the Victorian Government had secured Microsoft as the official technology partner for the Games and will contribute software and IT services.

Microsoft's server technology will be used by organisers to record and collate competition results from 20 different venues in real-time, covering 12 individual and four team sports, which will then become available for publication on the internet.

Journalists and the media will have access to a web-based authoring and publishing system, and will be provided with 24 hour access to results and information.

When not competing, athletes will be able to relax in a special Xbox game zone equipped with the latest games.

Joe Kremer, vice president and managing director for Dell Australia and New Zealand said: "At Dell we recognise the robust reliability that a sports event of this calibre demands, and we are confident our technology, service and support will exceed expectations."

Steve Vamos, Managing Director, Microsoft Australia, said: "We're honoured to be a part of this community wide-effort, and we look forward to helping the government and the community put on a great Commonwealth Games. The driving factors behind the creation of the Microsoft enabled Commonwealth Games IT systems are speed, value for money, reliability and scalability. The ability to integrate large amounts of data into a sophisticated results scoring system that can scale to service large numbers of users is paramount. The need for 100 per cent accuracy is critical."

Let's hope for the sake of the Games that Microsoft and Dell are able to deliver the goods when it counts.