Each June the tennis world’s attention shifts to the grass courts of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC), home of The Championships, Wimbledon. The strains of an enormous increase of usage on their IT infrastructure would overwhelm most organizations. In the case of the AELTC, though, it hasn’t since 1990, the first year IBM provided on demand business solutions, and since 1999 these IBM solutions have been running on Linux®.
Wimbledon has come a long way since the year The Championships were first contested. Only 22 players served and volleyed in front of just 200 spectators in 1877. Today, Wimbledon plays host to an audience from around the world.
Previous tournament statistics:
Almost 470,000 spectators
Approximately 2 billion television viewers from 159 countries
Nearly 4 million unique users, from 166 different countries, accessed the official Web site
Partnering to deliver on demand
As the official supplier of information technology IBM has forged a partnership with the AELTC. Working with the AELTC to identify their goals IBM has leveraged the experience IBM has gained pro-actively assisting organizations within such diverse industries as retailing, manufacturing and communications. IBM’s leadership and innovation with Linux and best in class middleware software solutions brings it altogether into a comprehensive business building solution for the AELTC.
Today IBM provides consulting and technology that plays a major role in virtually every AELTC and Championships activity. It's a challenging assignment: the rigorous demands of The Championships leave no room for error - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week of accurate and timely information is critical.
Combine this with a tight installation window, a non-negotiable live date, an ever increasing number of users and a number of diverse platforms underscores the need that each solution deliver at the highest level of service and scalability. IBM has developed solutions for The Championships to support mission critical objectives:
Commentator support systems
On-site information displays
Web site hosting
Secure online shopping
IBM On Demand Scoreboard
Linux helps enable the site
Launched in 1995, www.wimbledon.org has grown to be one of Wimbledon's primary channels for delivering information to fans, complementing television and radio broadcast coverage. The Web site provides a rich and comprehensive online experience including:
IBM real-time scoring, match results and statistics, Draw and Order of Play
news, features, player information, interviews, photos
archives in audio and video
views with robotic cameras
online shopping
virtual tours of the AELTC
At the core of the technology used to serve the Web site are eServer™ servers running Linux and eServer pSeries® servers running AIX. The combination provides the flexibility, reliability and scalability required to meet the challenge of hosting and maintaining the highly active site.
Keeping score with Linux
On demand solutions developed and implemented specifically for the Wimbledon Championship are most visible in the IBM On Demand Scoreboard. Over 1000 statistics are collected simultaneously for every match on the AELTC’s 18 courts. This information is automatically loaded into an IBM DB2® Universal Database (UDB) for Linux that feeds the IBM On Demand Scoreboard. Visitors to the Wimbledon site download the standalone application which delivers information directly to the users' desktop scoreboard as the scores change - every point, for every match.
Robust Linux at IBM based solutions are hosted on IBM eServer xSeries® servers. A DB2 Universal Database (UDB) for Linux acts as a repository for all the data on matches and competitors. The UDB for Linux acts as a robust central hub for data that provides information used by millions of fans over the Internet. It is also integral to operations at AELTC, enabling the IBM On Demand Scoreboard, and the systems that support the broadcasters, for on-site scoreboards, and displays. As scores change, IBM WebSphere® Business Integration Event Broker middleware immediately "pushes" the data to the IBM On Demand Scoreboard and the HTML pages on a fan's computer. It's a responsive and efficient way to deliver real-time match results and it gives the official tournament Web site a competitive advantage.
The full scope of the system IBM has implemented at AELTC reflects the breadth of IBM’s capabilities. The IBM Business Consulting Services division provides project management, Web site design and system administration. In addition to IBM eServer xSeries servers running Linux additional eServer pSeries servers running AIX are also in use. In addition to the DB2® UDB and WebSphere components Tivoli® Management Software provides extensive application and hardware platform monitoring for the entire event infrastructure.
On demand delivers
The solutions IBM has developed for the Wimbledon Championship represent a comprehensive way for the AELTC to be an On Demand Business with less financial, technical and management pain. With the help of IBM, the AELTC delivers outstanding service to an audience of hundreds of millions around the globe. On schedule, on budget and on demand.
On schedule, on budget and on demand… learn how IBM can put the experience of the Wimbledon Championship to work for your organization.
