Anyone for a game of high technology?
Strawberries, Pimms and perhaps the odd rain shower are what one normally associates with Wimbledon tennis. But behind the scenes, high-tech gadgets and wireless technology help to keep the premier event top of its class.
For 50 weeks of the year, the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) is a private tennis club in SW19. During a fortnight in June, the small-to-medium-sized business is turned into a world-class sporting event with the help of IBM.
Big Blue is in its 16th year, and 15th championship, as the official supplier of IT and consultancy to the AELTC.
“A core team of eight people and I are at Wimbledon all year round. For 50 weeks of the year we become ingrained within the club infrastructure. We have an open and honest partnership with AELTC and work extremely closely,” said Chris Lee, IBM’s Wimbledon project director.
“It is a small-to-medium business one minute and then we bring it up to a global stage the next,” he added.
Rob McCowen, marketing director of AELTC, added: “IBM’s involvement as technology and consulting partner to the Club is integral to the on-going transformation of the Wimbledon experience and to maintaining the Championships’ position as the world’s premier tennis event.”
A vital ingredient for the suite of services IBM provides at Wimbledon is a group of hardworking youngsters known as data collectors. Every year, IBM employs around 60 students – all county tennis players – for the duration of the Championships to collect data from courtside using a customised keyboard.
“We started using data collectors in 1990 and they are a very important part of the team,” said Keith Sohl, IBM’s tennis consultant.
“They track matchplay data, from how the point was won, was it a forehand, did the serve go in, was it a volley and so on, which is why we hire people who know about tennis. This data is then fed into our systems that are used by the broadcasters, as well as fuelling the Wimbledon web site and intranet.”
IBM’s statistics are responsible for making BBC commentators such as John McEnroe sound knowledgeable, jokes Sohl.
“Through our data collectors, the commentators have a vast array of statistics at their fingertips. They often don’t have time to analyse it all, but we’ve got the ability to prompt the commentator via the computer, with a graphic that is most relevant to the matchplay.
“We have trained graphics operators that are listening to what the commentators are talking about and can feed them the most relevant images,” explained Sohl.
“This year we’re working with technology supplier Hawkeye to chart play as it happens, and provide a shot tracker feature on the Wimbledon web site. The technology is also used by a Hawkeye analyser, who works very closely with the BBC to provide the most interesting camera shots for the TV viewers,” said Sohl.
Chris Gorringe, chief executive of the AELTC, said: “IBM’s involvement started with the integration of broadcast systems and continues to offer potentially the richest set of statistics, analysis and extra features provided by a Grand Slam tournament.”
Sohl added: “Without the data capture service, the broadcasters, the Wimbledon web site and intranet, and the fans, would all fail to have the information they require.”
This year, IBM has redesigned the main Wimbledon web site, www.wimbledon.org, to include an on-demand scoreboard that provides point-by-point updates on all the matches.
“The scoreboard on courtside is not updated by the umpire until the applause has died down, which means our on-demand score system provides the score quicker to web users than TV viewers,” said Lee.
IBM has this year also extended coverage of the club’s existing Wi-Fi network capability, provided by Cisco Aironet, to 53 wireless access points, enabling press and photographers to work wirelessly throughout the grounds, as well as enabling fans to get match reports in real time.
Anyone for a game of high technology?
Strawberries, Pimms and perhaps the odd rain shower are what one normally associates with Wimbledon tennis. But behind the scenes, high-tech gadgets and wireless technology help to keep the premier event top of its class.
Alex Phillips, IBM’s wireless and intranet team leader at Wimbledon, said: “We have around 70 kiosks in the grounds, with access to the Wimbledon Information System, which is basically our intranet, so fans can get the latest scores.
“We also have Pocket Wimbledon devices, which are hand-held PDAs that we give to VIPs, press and club executives, which can receive live feeds from Centre and Number One Court.”
IBM is also piloting this year at Wimbledon a Voice over Wi-Fi (VoFi) system that enables hands-free wireless connectivity. Provided by IBM Business Partner Vocera, the system incorporates voice-activated calling and can be used to locate members of staff.
“With 53 wireless access points around the club we can use it as a location tool to find a colleague as well as a communication device. It’s better than a walkie talkie as no one else can overhear your conversation.
“If the AELTC thinks the pilot is successful then it will be rolled out to other people at the tournament, such as security, stewards, umpires and the like, next year,” said Phillips.
During the fortnight, the Wimbledon web site experiences a surge in the number of users. Last year it received 22 million hits from 3.6 million unique users. On the first day of the Championships this year, IBM reported 800,000 users, and 600,000 users the following day.
The web site can handle these peaks in network traffic thanks to an enhanced on-demand web infrastructure, which runs on Linux and uses IBM Tivoli Orchestrator software.