IBM Technology for Tennis Fans at the Australian Open

RMN Digital | January 21, 2014 | Asia Pacific, Entertainment, Masses, Regions, Social, Social Media | No Comments

IBM (NYSE: IBM) is bringing tennis fans closer to the Australian Open 2014, with new ways to access and interact with the latest tournament news and courtside action from the Grand Slam as it happens.

Through the use of interactive technology, IBM is providing fans a rich, immersive experience during the international tennis tournament.

The official mobile apps for the Australian Open deliver easy functionality with real-time scores and schedules, comprehensive match and player analysis and Twitter feeds.

New this year is a free iPad app which is claimed to be the ultimate digital destination enabling fans to follow their favorite players, tweet messages of support from a player’s profile and track player popularity online using IBM social media analytics.

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Another new technology is IBM ReturnServe, which enables tennis fans to experience what it’s like to face the world’s top tennis players.

Based on live match data analyzed by IBM at Rod Laver Arena, fans can face each serve at home, using their computer or at virtual reality locations in Sydney and Melbourne.

The aim of the game is to return serves at the same speed as the world’s best players. IBM ReturnServe is hosted on IBM SoftLayer, the company’s cloud computing platform.

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Moreover, insights and visualisations provided by IBM SlamTracker on the Australian Open website analyse more than eight years of Grand Slam data to identify patterns in player style.

New features to SlamTracker for 2014 include streamlined analysis of more fan friendly key turning points in a match, such as aces and winning shots, and a social media sentiment feed that measures the percentage of positive tweets.

Photo courtesy: IBM