This year’s Olympic Games in Rio outshine all the others with the most advanced and innovative technology ever seen. Rio’s adoption of cloud capabilities will forever change the dynamics of the Games.
The Olympics is an excellent fit for cloud computing, as it demands a massive computing infrastructure and produces massive amounts of data. Whether it’s improving the games for the fans, the judges, or the athletes, the cloud touches them all.
Visa’s partnership with Brazilian bank Bradesco will revolutionize the payment system. Rather than having fans wait in extremely long lines, these new bracelets allow for quick, contactless payment for goods and services at all venues. The ease of this new transaction system will be very appealing for attendees. Near Field Communications (NFC) technology will also be used for Visa payment rings for the Visa sponsored athletes.
The development of an electronic scoring system for Archery will increase accuracy and heighten the experience for spectators. The referee’s judgment is being replaced by a “new system that identifies the exact point of the arrow in the target within an accuracy of 0.2mm… [and] displayed on the screen just one second after the arrow hits the target.” Utilizing the power of the cloud, spectators are also able to track archer’s biometrics on their personal devices.
Now, take a look at this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR7kyIxQ000
IBM Watson is yet another high tech upgrade for the Olympics. This video shows Serena Williams interacting with Watson Analytics, a system that produces customized training programs for athletes. It “offers recommendations to coaches for how to create a more personalized training regimen for each athlete based on analysis of structured and unstructured data – from the latest scientific research to coaches’ notes and behavioral data and travel diaries” (Forbes).
With all of these technologies and many more, the viewing experience will be better than ever before. The use of cloud technologies to connect athletes to judges to fans will definitely make this year’s Olympics one of the best.
Lily Schenkel is AISN’s summer marketing and sales intern.