Wednesday, June 29, 2005

There’s a chip in my ‘Strawberries and Cream’

People say that the Wimbledon Championships have not changed since 1877, not to the lay man anyways. Listed below are a set of technologies being used around the Wimbledon tennis courts this fortnight.
- Wired and wireless IP phones are used by the organizers that help keep walkie talkie radio waves free and the grounds clear of unnecessary cabling.
- Security personnel carry wireless internet enabled hand-held computers on which they can watch the games, helping with the exact timing at which they can usher in spectators.
- A shot tracker called Hawk-eye is used by broadcasters to replay critical umpire calls. This technology creates a 3-D image of every rally played.
- Along with the mountain of match data collected, shot tracker helps coaches and players study further into the players’ performance.
- The IBM website gives real-time scores of the matches in progress. There are 3 massive internet farms hosting the Wimbledon website.

Luckily, we did not have the Hawk-eye during John McEnroe’s career; he would really have had nothing to scream about and let’s face it, his tantrums were entertaining.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Fabulous article Ajay... who knew a simple game of tennis need be so high-tech.

June 29, 2005 7:25 PM  
Blogger Saur♥Kraut said...

Thanks so much! Another great post, too! I had no idea what was involved in Wimbledon. Wait'll I get a chance to talk tennis with my friend who's a tennis junkie. Now *I* know something that he doesn't.

June 30, 2005 9:01 AM  

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