Summer Centennial Olympics: So much more than a horse race; Panasonic VisionSeries 500 supports telemedical link to veterinary college.

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 17, 1996--Perhaps no athlete will compete in this month's Olympics Games with as much heart--and heft--as the equine athlete. From July 21 - August 4 at the Georgia International Horse Park (Conyers, GA), more than 250 of the world's most gifted horses will strut their stuff in the dressage, show jumping and three-day events, as well as in the modern five-event pentathalon (only in this last event is the rider, not the horse, considered the actual athlete). Providing for the horses' well-being, the only competitors who can't complain vociferously about infamous Atlanta's heat and humidity, has been a task of truly Olympic proportions.

Dr. A. Kent Allen, a noted equine sports medicine specialist and the veterinary coordinator for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG), explained, "The Olympic equestrian events are among the most highly monitored in the world, not the least reason being that horses are even more susceptible than humans to the demands of heat and humidity. ACOG has devoted the past four years--and upwards of $500,000--to ensure that our horses will stay cool and healthy."

A proactive step ACOG has taken is to invest in videoconferencing, with systems tying the International Horse Park with one of the nation's finest veterinary colleges.

Dr. Allen said the activities of the on-site Olympic veterinary clinic, staffed by some 90 team and individual doctors, will receive valuable support with a telemedicine link to the Veterinary College at the University of Georgia (Athens, GA), 40 miles distant from the International Horse Park. The videoconferencing installations result from an interesting collaboration among ACOG, the Southeastern Technology Center (Augusta, GA), and Olympic sponsors Panasonic and AT&T (with Panasonic supplying the VisionSeries 500 videoconferencing systems, AT&T the high-speed communications lines and major financial support).

The Southeastern Technology Center (STC) is a nonprofit corporation whose mandate is to leverage area resources such as the Medical College of Georgia and the University of Georgia's Veterinary College to transfer technologies to the business sector and, ultimately, create private sector jobs regionally and locally. Dr. John Church, STC's senior research scientist/program manager for telecommunications, saw potential in bringing the Medical College's expertise in telemedicine to bear on veterinary applications and, with the Olympics looming, made a proposal to AT&T and ACOG to create a videoconferencing link to the Veterinary College. (The College had already been designated as the facility for veterinary hospital referrals during the Games.)

"Through AT&T, we were introduced to Panasonic," said Dr. Church. "Apart from the company's extensive Olympic credentials, we were interested in the VisionSeries 500 system. This system offers RS449/V. 35 interface for easy connection to PRI/ISDN lines and data rates up to 1.54 Mbps, delivering superb picture quality and motion-handling--in short, we'll be getting beautifully clear shots of the horses at the Veterinary College."

Two VisionSeries 500 systems have been installed, one at the Veterinary College, the second at the Olympic clinic in the Horse Park. Radiological scanners, an electronic stethescope, an ECG and a telepathology unit from Andries Tek (Austin, TX) will support the telemedical diagnoses.

Dr. Allen said, "We're preparing cool micro-climates, cooling stops and cool water washes for the horses, so we expect we'll be on top of the weather. Of course, the horses are subject to any variety of stresses and injuries during the Games, and through videoconferencing, we'll be able to bring in the opinions of different specialists.

"Beyond involving more expertise more quickly in diagnoses, I expect we'll also be able to avoid unnecessary trips to Athens, both for the horses and the team vets."

Panasonic's VisionSeries 500 is distinguished by three videoconferencing breakthroughs--group conferencing with superb picture quality equaling that of television; the WG-AV120 codec with interface capability to the most sophisticated telephone networks, as well as to other manufacturers' videoconferencing equipment; and Multi-Location Conferencing (MLC), a feature permitting videoconference broadcasting to as many as six locations without the expense of any additional equipment.

Olympic partners AT&T and Panasonic are also collaborating to provide state-of-the art medical care for Olympic athletes, their families and visitors during the Centennial Games. A telecommunications link supporting full-motion video conferencing has been established between the International Medical and Educational Data Link, Inc. (Bethesda, MD) and the Olympic Village Polyclinic, at Georgia Institute of Technology.

Panasonic Broadcast & Television Systems Company is a division company of Matsushita Electric Corporation of America, the principal North America subsidiary of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (MC, NYSE) of Osaka, Japan.

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