Official 2000 US Open Web Site Brings Tennis Fans Worldwide Courtside; Anywhere, Anytime Access to Tournament Info and Stats Via Handheld Devices -- www.usopen.org.Technology/Online, Business and Sports Editors ARMONK, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 16, 2000 Tennis fans from around the world once again can experience the action and excitement of the 2000 US Open, from wherever they are, at any time, as www.usopen.org, the official Web site, goes live today. Designed, developed and hosted by IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) in partnership with the United States Tennis Association “USTA” redirects here. For other uses, see USTA (disambiguation). The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the United States. (USTA USTA United States Tennis Association USTA United States Telecom Association USTA United States Trotting Association USTA United States Telephone Association USTA United States Twirling Association USTA United States Trademark Association ), several new elements have been added to the site to further enhance fans' experience of every point, game, set and match via the Web. The USTA is further embracing e-business this year by having scores, player profiles, events and statistics available via handheld devices from www.usopen.org. The US Open is one of the first major sporting event in the U.S. to offer this type of real-time information, wirelessly, to fans around the world. Fans in North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. , Europe and Asia Pacific can sign up for this service (based on cellular service provider) beginning August 28 via a link on the US Open Web site, allowing them to receive the service on a variety of devices, including Personal Digital Assistants and web-enabled phones. "As we enter a new century of US Open tennis championships, we are happy to be teaming with IBM to bring www.usopen.org to fans all over the world," said USTA Chief Marketing Officer Pierce O'Neil. "The official Web site of the US Open will capture all the action both on and off the court at the USTA National Tennis Center The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is located in Flushing, in the New York City borough of Queens and has been the home of the US Open Grand Slam tennis tournament played every year in August and September. and bring it right to the fingertips "Fingertips" is a 1963 number-one hit single recorded live by "Little" Stevie Wonder for Motown's Tamla label. Wonder's first hit single, "Fingertips" was the first live, non-studio recording to reach number-one on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in the United States. of sports fans around the world like never before." This year, US Open Daily, a live program streamed exclusively on www.usopen.org, will capture the excitement of the US Open "experience" every night. The half-hour, magazine-style show will originate from various locations around the grounds of the USTA National Tennis Center and give Web site visitors a true feel for being there with video features, interviews with players, celebrities and fans, and a behind-the-scenes look at the US Open. Fans will have a chance to send e-mail to the show for questions and comments each day. The interactive show will be aired daily at 7:00 p.m. EDT EDT abbr. Eastern Daylight Time EDT Eastern Daylight Time EDT n abbr (US) (= Eastern Daylight Time) → hora de verano de Nueva York EDT during the tournament and, for fans who can't catch it live, archives of previous Webcasts, as well as individual features produced for the show, will be downloadable from the site. US Open Daily is the centerpiece of an enhanced multimedia area -- "Live at the Open" -- which also features live audio and play-by-play of select matches. Fans who want to personalize their US Open experience can register on the site to receive a daily update via e-mail. These newsletter-style updates will include a wrap-up of the day's action and a preview of the next day's top matches. "The official US Open Web site provides fans with the experiences to virtually transport them to the USTA National Tennis Center," said Eli Primrose-Smith, vice president, IBM Worldwide Olympic and Sports Sponsorships. "From robotic cameras to real-time results and event stats, the Web site will showcase the power of e-business solutions that IBM can provide." Another new feature on www.usopen.org is "GroundsCam," which allows users to view a 180 degree panorama of the action at the USTA National Tennis Center. The image will be updated frequently each day throughout the tournament. Visitors to the site also will be eligible to participate in a US Open trivia contest. Being fully interactive, fans can test their tennis knowledge of the sport's hottest stars, tennis history and interesting statistics. In addition, the official USTA online store will offer a wider assortment of US Open merchandise than ever before. Tennis fans will be able to sign up for a temporary USTA membership that entitles them to 10 percent off all purchases in the USTA online store. New and current members also can take advantage of separate discount offers available in a Members Only area.
Additional highlights of www.usopen.org include:
Match Stats - Presents real-time stats on tie breaks, 1st points
won, server points and return games won, aces and double faults
from all main match courts (Courts 1, 2, 3, 10 and 13);
IBM Real-Time Scoreboard - Features point-by-point score updates
from every match and for every player, plus updated news, netcam
views from the showcourts, match stats and views of some of the
top-selling merchandise in the shop;
SlamCam - Fans direct the action! Users can control four robotic
cameras from their PCs. Pan, zoom and take a snapshot;
Virtual Tour - Explore the USTA National Tennis Center and Arthur
Ashe Stadium;
Printable Draws - Follow the progress of top seeds or favorite
players;
News and Photos - Get all the latest news, photos, results, match
summaries and statistics, feature stories and complete interview
transcripts.
For six years, IBM and the USTA have combined the best in tennis and technology to transform the US Open into a prominent e-business. www.usopen.org was designed and developed by IBM in conjunction with the USTA communications and marketing departments. The Web site is powered by an IBM RS/6000 SP See IBM SP. using the AIX (Advanced Interactive eXecutive) IBM's Unix-based operating system which runs on its Intellistation workstations and pSeries, p5, iSeries and i5 server families. operating system operating system (OS) Software that controls the operation of a computer, directs the input and output of data, keeps track of files, and controls the processing of computer programs. , Lotus Notes Messaging and groupware software from IBM Lotus that was introduced in 1989 for OS/2 and later expanded to Windows, Mac, Unix, NetWare, AS/400 and S/390. Notes provides e-mail, document sharing, workflow, group discussions and calendaring and scheduling. client and Lotus Domino server software. In addition to the official tournament Web site, IBM will also use integrated services In computer networking, IntServ or integrated services is an architecture that specifies the elements to guarantee quality of service (QoS) on networks. IntServ can for example be used to allow video and sound to reach the receiver without interruption. and products to collect match results and statistics and to distribute the information to the media and display boards on the grounds at the USTA National Tennis Center. Editor's Note Editor's Note (foaled in 1993 in Kentucky) is an American thoroughbred Stallion racehorse. He was sired by 1992 U.S. Champion 2 YO Colt Forty Niner, who in turn was a son of Champion sire Mr. Prospector and out of the mare, Beware Of The Cat. Trained by D. : The United States Tennis Association owns and stages the US Open and selects the teams that compete in Davis Cup, Fed Cup and the Olympic Games. The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in America and is a non-profit organization with more than 600,000 members. It invests all its resources to promote and develop the growth of tennis, from the grass roots to the professional levels. IBM, as official Information Technology and Internet supplier of the 2000 US Open, provides the equipment and services for results and statistics collection; supplies information and graphics to television broadcasters and media; and distributes tournament data through information stations located around the USTA National Tennis Center. As an extension of this information processing system, IBM has installed the programming interface, equipment and networking infrastructure to allow this and other information to be transferred to the official 2000 US Open Web site, making it accessible to the world through the Internet. Products and Services Involved in IBM's US Open solution: Systems integration, Web design and Web hosting from IBM Global Services IBM Global Services is the world's largest business and technology services provider. It is the fastest growing part of IBM, with over 190,000 professionals serving customers in more than 160 countries. ; IBM PCs, ThinkPads, IntelliStations, Aptivas, RS/6000 workstations, RS/6000 SPs using AIX operating system, IBM 2216 routers to balance traffic among Web servers and provide Web caching, Netfinity servers, DB2 Universal Database for Linux, Lotus Notes, Lotus Domino, Net.Commerce, Network Dispatcher Software that determines what pending tasks should be done next and assigns the available resources to accomplish it. It may execute other programs or generate a list for human operators to follow. See scheduler. , Tivoli software, IBM SurfAid Analytics, LAN Network Manager IBM Token Ring network management software. LAN Station Manager is the workstation counterpart that collects data for LAN Network Manager. and RAMAC (Random Access Method of Accounting and Control) The first hard disk computer, introduced by IBM in 1956. All 50 of its 24" platters held a total of five million characters! RAMAC was half computer, half tabulator. Array storage units. * IBM, RS/6000 SP and AIX are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. ** Lotus, Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino are registered trademarks of Lotus Development Corporation (company) Lotus Development Corporation - A software company who produced Lotus 1-2-3, the Symphony spreadsheet and Lotus Notes for the IBM PC. Disliked by the League for Programming Freedom on account of their lawsuits. Quarterly sales $224M, profits $10M (Aug 1994). . |
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