Watson went to Wimbledon

Tennis may not be as entertaining as football (although you can argue with that), but this sport has millions of fans. Competitions professionals in tennis have always attracted fans. Well, the best of the best can measure their strength in the Grand Slam tournament - a two-week championship that has already begun.



Despite the fact that the general rules for holding the championship are tradition and do not change, many modern technologies are now involved in the game: clouds, analytics, mobile and social technologies, as well as information security. In this case, someone must keep and record the results, as well as analyze everything that happens on the courts. This is what the Watson cognitive system and the InfoSphere Streams platform do.



Statistics are provided by the system in real time, so that tennis fans, who are directly on the court or on another continent, get results simultaneously. To achieve this result, an enormous, although not always noticeable, work was done.

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For example, the wimbledon.com Web site has been upgraded by IBM Interactive Experience experts to provide usability on any device. During the tournament in 2014, the number of visits to this site from around the world reached 63 million. The advanced technologies of IBM, which are used on the site, greatly expanded the capabilities of Wimbledon fans.



On the website, the fan can not only get statistics in real time, but also watch the video broadcast, get acquainted with exclusive information and graphic materials. The site is adapted for mobile devices, so that the fan can see everything you need, both from a laptop or PC, and from your mobile phone.



The IBM InfoSphere Streams platform provides online output of the most important match statistics, while the Watson Engagement Advisor solution provides related information and historical context. Wimbledon employees can formulate questions in a natural language, plus sharing their knowledge with fans through social networks and Wimbledon’s digital platforms. The combination of Streams and Watson technologies will allow for effective levels of analysis and awareness in the Wimbledon digital environment. Plus, Wimbledon employees will be able to quickly receive information about records and interesting statistics on players and matches - for example, quickly comparing the percentage of second innings of Andy Murray in his winning matches in the 2013 tournament with his actions during the current championship games.



The service for tournament participants based on the IBM Bluemix platform provides athletes with all the necessary information about the competition. For example, a participant in a tournament sees his schedule, statistics on other players, plus competition statistics in real time.



Social component . It uses technologies developed in the IBM Customer Experience Labs. Thus, professionals are involved in the discussions on tournaments, and the most authoritative participants of the existing discussions, which are devoted to everything that happens in the tournament, are determined.



Information Security . Without this, now can not do any competition, championship or tournament. At the same time, the work has been carried out for several months already, since the beginning of the year IBM has already processed 94% more events in the infrastructure security system of the wimbledon.com site than in the first 5 months of 2014.



It is worth noting that IBM has been working with the All England Lawn Tennis Club tennis club, the organizer of the tournament, since 1990. Since that time, the company conducts analytics of competitions, introduces new technologies, which allow to keep detailed records of everything that happens in the tournament.



Data is transmitted around the world, and this is not only video or statistics for viewers, but also information for broadcasters, media and advertising agencies. At the very end of the tournament, IBM provides detailed statistics in the form of reports.

Last year, the tournament site attracted more than 17 million unique visitors, who provided 473 million page views.



It now remains only to wish the strongest to win. And the champion winning factors will be able to analyze Watson, after which both fans and athletes can get detailed information.