IBM serves up real-time winner with the Official Australian Open Program iPad™ Application 

Live, integrated tournament data & social media streams drive richer fan experience 

Melbourne, Australia – 10 Jan 2011: In a Grand Slam first, IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the release of the Official Australian Open Program iPad Application, allowing fans to get even more involved with the action on court, off court and online.

The IBM-powered application has been created in partnership with Tennis Australia to give fans real-time access to match, tournament and venue information, as well as an electronic version of the Official Australian Open Program.

The application, built in conjunction with jTribe and Flink Labs, provides content and data related to the event such as the latest news, scores, player tweets, schedules, weather updates, ticket information and video highlights, taking fan engagement to new levels, and enhancing the brand of the Australian Open around the world.

Fans can follow the comments of the world’s biggest tennis stars via social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook and photostreams, and take advantage of features such as Autograph, where players and other celebrities are able to sign the iPad with their fingertips, which can then be saved to Scrapbook and emailed to friends.

Scrapbook allows tennis fans to personalise their Australian Open 2011 experience by capturing specific information being streamed through the application on a particular day. Items which can be stored include attendance numbers, autographs, scores, weather, time, tweets, top players by continent and countdown clocks.

“Tennis Australia and IBM built a solution that combined the power of social media with the wealth of content produced throughout the tournament to provide a richer, multi-layered tournament experience to tennis fans around the world,” said Tennis Australia CEO Steve Wood,” said Tennis Australia CEO Steve Wood.

Sarah Cole, IBM’s Australian Open project lead, said tennis fans expect richer, more current information be made available to them whenever they want, wherever they are.

“Using the new IBM dashboard, tennis fans from all over the world can now bring together information important to them from a range of sources, and design their Australian Open experience exactly as they want,” she said.

“By integrating user-generated content from social media such as Facebook and Twitter with live data streams from both on and off the tennis courts, IBM has helped Tennis Australia build greater fan engagement, and significantly enhance the Australian Open brand in front of a global audience,” said Ms Cole.

The Official Australian Open Program iPad™ Application is now available for download from the iTunes store.

IBM AND THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN

IBM has been the official Technology Partner of the Australian Open since 1993. Key IBM solutions at the 2011 tournament include:

australianopen.com

In conjunction with Tennis Australia, IBM designs, develops and hosts the Australian Open website, which allows fans to listen to live radio, review highlights of the day’s play, read blogs and follow the scores from every court. During the two week tournament in 2010, the site attracted over 9.7 million unique users.

Smart phone solutions

The Official Australian Open iPhone application, built and powered by IBM, provides real-time scores, radio, Twitter feeds about the Australian Open as well as completed matches, schedules and draws. This application also includes AO View, an augmented reality feature that uses the phone’s camera and GPS to give fans at the event an enhanced view of the data that is all around them.

Scoring system

Vital scoring information is displayed via IBM’s integrated end-to-end scoring system, which makes live scores available around Melbourne Park and the world as they happen.

Speed serve and radar

The IBM courtside radar captures exact serve speeds, which are immediately transmitted to the IBM scoring database and displayed courtside.

Match statistics

On the seven broadcast courts, statisticians record vital information on every match. This information is then sent in real time to the IBM Scoring System.

Chair Umpire Solution (CHUMP)

Each umpire uses a PDA to calculate basic statistics and record match data during every game. This electronic scorecard automatically sends information to the scoring room.

Closed Circuit TV Feeds

IBM produces information feeds that are distributed in real time via the Australian Open CCTV system. This includes video feeds, scores, matches in progress, schedules and results for all courts.

Intranet

The onsite intranet features real-time scores, draws, press releases, player histories, match-ups, schedules and results, as well as live streaming of the match in progress and video highlights.

Cloud technology

Cloud computing allows Tennis Australia to dramatically scale its infrastructure to meet the demands of the Australian Open. This technology enables the rapid creation and provisioning of services that are critical to the tournament, while providing transparent access to real-time data across multiple platforms. Year on year, this enables the integration of new services and devices, manages traffic growth, and reduces energy, floor space and labour costs.

Leadership Data Centre

Used to support all four Grand Slams, the Leadership Data Centre has reduced energy demand by up to 40% and cooling demand by up to 48%.

XIV® Storage System

Tennis Australia has upgraded to the IBM XIV Storage System for all its disk storage needs, helping to reduce downtime, scale quickly, take up less space and position the organisation for the future.

For more information about IBM visit www.ibm.com/australianopen