One quote from an IBM executive stands out in the post that Chris Cameron wrote today about IBM’s augmented reality app for the U.S. Open.
Rick Singer, IBM’s VP of sports technology partnerships said it all comes down to the information generated with every tennis stroke, volley and serve.
“This is all about data. It’s about how you take data, aggregate it and make it simpler to use,” says Singer. “This is like having your best friend with you that knows everything about the Open right by your side because you can take all of that data and you can make better decisions.”
IBM is using the U.S. Open to demonstrate its commitment to cloud computing.
For example, according to eWeek, IBM implemented its analytics platform to use real-time and historical information to deploy services to “media organizations, tournament officials, the public, tennis players on different platforms such as broadcast, the Web, mobile devices and social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.”
At the U.S. Open, IBM has sensors on the radar guns, the umpire chairs and throughout the tennis grounds to collect data that will be analyzed and visualized.
It has partnered with the U.S. Tennis Association to provide its PointStream technology, which pulls intelligence from scores and match statistics data. It is supposed to then present that information in real-time.
According to MediaPost, online viewers may also use IBM’s Momentum Meter to see which player has a statistical edge. That provides a range of possibilities for viewers. They can watch the matches on television and get stats from their smartphone, iPad or laptop. They can see actual images, which makes sense as following only charts and graphs can be a bit cumbersome.
Analytics provide a different viewing experience for people watching the U.S. Open. The experience also provides a view of what we can expect as TV interacts with what’s online. For example, Google TV will be offering its own ways to analyze data to provide contextual information.
What we are seeing really is the start of a technology match that will last far longer than the last smash and volley at the U.S. Open.
