Wimbledon and IBM Push Digital Boundaries to Enhance Fan and Player Engagement

LONDON, June 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) and The All England Club, Wimbledon, today revealed a combination of innovations for The Championships to mark the next step in the AELTC's award-winning digital strategy.

Making use of its latest technology advancements in cloud, analytics mobile, social and security, IBM and Wimbledon will bring tennis fans around the world closer to the prestigious Grand Slam event. This includes unparalleled access to real-time live scoring, courtside action and insights via the redesigned wimbledon.com and advancement of the mobile app experience.

According to Mick Desmond, Commercial & Media Director at the AELTC, "With help from IBM, we are providing a world class digital experience with the best real time content to fans of The Championships. This allows them to get closer to all the action across all of Wimbledon's 19 courts, no matter where they are, or what device they're using."

The new wimbledon.com was redesigned by digital agency IBM Interactive Experience to be responsive to any device. With 63 million visits to wimbledon.com from around the globe during The Championships 2014, the digital technologies provided in partnership with IBM greatly expand the Wimbledon fan experience.

"Serving up uninterrupted access to real-time Wimbledon match records and trends allows us to showcase the benefits of delivering insights at speed," said Sam Seddon, Wimbledon Client and Program Executive, IBM. "For Wimbledon, this capability will allow them to enrich the fan experience by providing a comprehensive and compelling digital platform featuring instant access to video, scores, articles, interviews and breaking tournament news."

The AELTC's digital strategy for The Championships 2015 is powered by the following IBM innovations:

Redesigned wimbledon.com and mobile apps: IBM continues to refine the web and mobile app to provide a fan experience that is 'the next best thing to being there."  The new wimbledon.com provides content in context, which encourages fans to dive deeper into the event. With real-time live scores integrated alongside live and on-demand video, infographics and exclusive insights, the redesign by IBM Interactive Experience breaks the mold of event websites and delivers a uniquely cohesive experience, whether on desktop, tablet or mobile. Available for Apple iPhone, iPad and Android devices, the apps provide instant access to scores, player information, match analysis and video, and now have an offline mode for fans to continue browsing when on-the-go.

Breaking match stats and insights: Advanced analytics via IBM InfoSphere Streams will identify breaking match facts in near real-time, and Watson Engagement Advisor provides related insights and historical context. Wimbledon staff will be able to pose questions in natural language as if they had the world's best tennis expert on-hand, and share these insights with fans via social media and the Wimbledon digital platforms. The combination of Streams and Watson will bring unprecedented analysis and awareness to the Wimbledon digital output. For example, Wimbledon staff will be able to quickly surface information and insights about interesting or record-breaking player and match statistics – such as rapidly comparing Andy Murray's 2^nd serve percentage from his Championships-winning matches in 2013 to his real-time performance in 2015.

Personalized player website: IBM has designed a website, built on IBM Bluemix, that will provide players with personalized information about their match schedules. Players will have reports and historical insights about other players, and real-time updates about the tournament information to enhance player engagement and experience throughout The Championships.

Social engagement: Using IBM's social media analytics and research from IBM's Customer Experience Labs, the Wimbledon Social Command Center identifies the most influential voices around Wimbledon and tennis, and highlights their social communications for maximum effect.

Cybersecurity:  During The Championships, IBM will detect and block thousands of suspicious events, providing AELTC with a unified view of all security events, and apply real time analytics to rapidly identify and address potential attacks. In the first five months of 2015, IBM observed a 94% increase in the number of cybersecurity events managed by IBM on the wimbledon.com infrastructure compared to the same period in 2014. IBM manages over 20 billion security events every day for 10,000 clients around the world.

Notes to editors 
IBM is the Official Supplier of Information Technology and Consultancy to The All England Lawn Tennis Club which stages The Championships. Since 1990, IBM has worked with the All England Club to introduce new technologies that help bring the wealth of real-time data captured during The Championships to life.

IBM sends the captured data around the world in an instant, keeping on-site broadcasters, media and tennis fans everywhere up to date with all the latest scores and statistics. Detailed analytical reports for the players are also available as soon as each match has been completed. During The Championships 2014 the tournament website received 17.1 million unique visitors and 473 (up 9% on 2013) million page views.

Contact Information  

Emma Bennett, IBM Media Relations - UK 
011 44 7976 839109 
[email protected] 

Chris Andrews, IBM Media Relations - US
914 499 4045 
[email protected]

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SOURCE IBM

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