ARMONK, NY - 18 May 1999: -- Few experiences rival visiting Paris in the spring. For those unable to make the trip this year, IBM and the Federation Francaise de Tennis offer the official Web site of the 1999 French Open tennis tournament. Now live at www.frenchopen.org, the official site captures all the action and excitement of the French Open and is the next best thing to being in the stands at the legendary clay courts of Roland Garros.
As information technology partner of the French Open, IBM has created the tournament's official Web site since 1996. This year's Web site, presented in both French and English, will deliver all the live scores and stats tennis fans expect, plus several innovative, interactive features to help bring fans around the world closer to the game than ever before. New to the official French Open site this year are a user-controlled "Slam Cam" Web camera and an enhanced Java scoreboard.
Highlights of www.frenchopen.org will include:
- News, scores and stats -- Traditionally the most popular features of the official site, these sections offer tennis fans the latest news, results, match summaries and statistics, feature stories and interview transcripts.
- Fan Cards -- Fans can send electronic postcards in several designs congratulating their favorite players or greeting their friends via the official French Open Web site. Players competing in the tournament will be able to read and respond to fan messages at the IBM Cyber Court in the players' lounge. In 1998, fans from around the globe sent over 36,000 messages to the French Open players.
- Chats -- During each day of the tournament, May 24 - June 6, fans can volley observations and opinions in the official site's chat room.
- "Slam Cam" and "Net Cam" -- The official French Open Web site gives fans a truly interactive experience. Site visitors can use their PCs to direct the robotic "Slam Cam" to pan, zoom and take snapshots of the Roland Garros grounds. IBM has also developed the Net Cam system, which continuously captures images from the live television signal on-site and posts them to the Web.
- The Shop -- There are only two places in the world to purchase merchandise with the exclusive Roland Garros label -- in France and on the official French Open Web site! Choosing among a broad range of items, from shirts, hats and tournament books to sunglasses, watches and perfume, fans can use their credit cards to buy their souvenirs over the Internet.
- Virtual Tour -- The Roland Garros stadium will undergo a major renovation in preparation for the 21st century. In the meantime, 'Net surfers can enjoy a virtual stroll along the famous paths of Roland Garros.
- Java Scoreboard -- This enhanced feature links point-by-point scores from every court to the latest news stories and action photographs from the tournament. Users can launch the Java Scoreboard on their desktops for quick access to continuously updated match scores and statistics without having to launch a full browser.
"Our goal for the French Open Web site is to provide not only the real-time results and statistics that fans want to see but also to offer an interactive experience which allows them to choose what they see and when they see it," said Tom Burke, senior sports marketing manager at IBM. "Our relationship with the Federation Francaise de Tennis is an excellent example of how IBM's e-business solutions are helping a client reach its customers -- in their case, tennis enthusiasts around the world."
In addition to the official tournament Web site, IBM also provides equipment and services to collect results and statistics from all the matches, distributes information to broadcasters and display boards around Roland Garros and provides the IBM Radar Gun to measure the serve speeds on the show courts. The IBM Internet Cafe at Roland Garros debuted last year and will be further improved for the 1999 tournament. Spectators at the French Open can visit this technology showcase to follow matches on the Web, surf the Internet, send electronic postcards and play interactive games.
The official French Open Web site is also accessible at: http://www.rolandgarros.org.
Products and Services involved in IBM's French Open solution: Systems integration, Web design and content hosting from IBM Global Services; IBM PCs, ThinkPads, IntelliStations, Aptivas, RS/6000 workstations, RS/6000 SPs using IBM's AIX operating system, Netfinity servers, Lotus Notes, Lotus Domino, Net.Commerce, eNetwork Dispatcher, Tivoli software, IBM SurfAid Analytics, LAN Network Manager and RAMAC Array storage units.
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IBM, ThinkPad, IntelliStation, Aptiva, RS/6000 SP, AIX, Netfinity, Net.Commerce, eNetwork Dispatcher and RAMAC are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation.
Lotus, Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino are registered trademarks of Lotus Development Corporation.
Tivoli is a registered trademark of Tivoli Systems Inc.
Java is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries.
Contact(s) information
Joyce Lagas
IBM
914-765-4599
jlagas@us.ibm.com
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