Telecom Lead India: Olympics, the biggest sporting
extravaganza of the world, is majorly relying on technology this year, as many
things have changed since the last Olympics held in 2008, including user
behavior, smartphone penetration and network advancements.
Technology will be playing a crucial role for the successful
execution of London Olympics 2012. With expected 4 billion global viewers to
watch the opening ceremony on their TV screens and smart devices, onus will be
on the technology providers.
From technology deals to several utility-based apps,
companies have tightened their belts to provide unmatched services through
these services.
To start with, networking major Cisco associated with NBC
Olympics, a unit of the NBC Sports Group, to deliver 17 days of coverage of the
London Games from July 27 to August 12, 2012.
Cisco has assisted NBC’s Olympics division to deploy
converged IP infrastructure for a range of services, from the video delivery to
data-intensive logistics applications.
NBC Olympics and Cisco are working with multiple telecom,
video, storage and editing vendors to deliver multi-screen coverage of the
London Games. Cisco is leveraging IP video production, content management and
distribution network technology. (Read this: Cisco selected by NBC Sports to cover London Olympics Games)
On the other hand, telecom major AT&T has partnered with
NBC Olympics to provide them with managed networking services during its HD
broadcast coverage of the 2012 London Olympic Games.
The solution is set to form a connection between NBC’s
Olympics division’s space in the International Broadcast Center (IBC)
production facilities at the London Olympics and NBC’s Olympics division’s
facilities in the U.S. (Read this: AT&T to provide managed networking services during 2012
London Olympic Games)
Video solutions are the most important components to
successfully broadcast any big event.
For the Olympics 2012, telecom equipment and solutions major
Ericsson has provided a range of video processing solutions and support
services to NBC Olympics, including MPEG-4 AVC encoders, professional
receivers, multiplexers and satellite modulators. (Read this: Ericsson provides video processing solutions for NBC Olympics
of the London Games)
This is the first Olympics where there is a robust shift in
consumers’ behaviors. User demand has moved on and expectations of technology
are higher than the previous Olympics. With increased smartphone penetration,
it is expected that operators will see a 211 percent increase in mobile traffic
worldwide during the Olympic Games in London.
According to a joint study conducted by Bytemobile and
Amethon Solutions, the volume of mobile video usage will double during the
games, accounting for 50 percent or more of total data traffic on 3G and 4G
networks.
In order to cater this coming data surge during the games,
BT has set up 500,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in the U.K. The company will be the sole
provider of public Wi-Fi on the Olympic Park. Furthemore, London Locog has
created a very large Wi-Fi zone around the Olympic Park in Newham.
Atos is supplying the Olympics with the central information
distribution system. London 2012 and Atos, the Worldwide IT Partner for the
Olympic and Paralympic Games, have also launched the Technology Operations
Centre.
In addition, SportsMark has selected WinMagic’s SecureDoc
data security and encryption software to protect sensitive corporate
hospitality program data for theLondon 2012 Olympic Games.
The technical solution consisted of 300 temporary licenses
of WinMagic SecureDoc and SecureDoc Enterprise Server to install the SecureDoc
packages and provide recovery.
In order to help customers plan train travel across Britain,
internet giant Google has associated with thetrainline.com to launch
information and timetables for mainland Britain on Google Maps.
Samsung, the world’s leading smartphone manufacturer, has
also associated with Visa to enable Samsung GALAXY S III smartphone with Visa’s
mobile payment application, Visa payWave.
This limited edition will be available for Samsung and Visa
sponsored athletes and trialists, allowing them to buy merchandise with a wave
of the device at thousands of retail locations throughout London. (Read
this: Samsung
partners with Visa to enable GALAXY S III with Visa payWave)
Sports Apps for the Olympics
NBC Olympics has also introduced free Mobile and Tablet
applications to provide comprehensive LIVE coverage of the 2012 London Games.
The NBC Olympics Live Extra application, will offer
live video streams and full replays for all 302 events across all 32 sports.
BBC Sports has launched a free application for Android, iOS
and BlackBerry operating system, which will offer live events coverage,
comprehensive schedule and results pages, and daily news stories which can be
saved for offline reading.
Samsung and PlayUp, the world’s first social network for
sport, launched the PlayUp Olympics 2012 Special app. Available for free on
Samsung smartphones the PlayUp Olympics 2012 Special app will enable users to
follow any Olympic event live. The app will relay real-time game updates on
over 300 events spread across 36 sports disciplines.
On the other hand, Actuate Corporation teamed with
KXEN, a provider of predictive analytics for business users, to
bring out Dash for Gold app, a free and interactive app for the Olympics. The
app includes predetermined dashboards and also allows users to perform their
own analytics.
Apart from the global technology deals and apps for the
Olympics, India-based Milagrow HumanTech, a provider of TabTop PCs, has
announced a unique encouragement program for the Indian Olympics Team, under
which the company will launch special TabTop PCs and Domestic Robots to honor
the Olympic medal winners.
The company said that 5 percent of the sales proceeds will
be given to the medal winners which will be a life time initiative for every
model that will sell. Furthermore, a cash award of Rs 1 lakh for each
individual Gold medal winner, Rs 75,000 for silver medal winner and Rs 50,000
for bronze medal winner will also be given to the Olympians.
With an 81 member strong team, India is expected to bring
back the largest medal haul in its Olympics history.
Danish Khan
