Last weekend, Alibaba officially launched their Olympic Games Showcase, the “The Olympic Games on the Cloud,” as a part of PyeongChang 2018, its first Olympic Games as a TOP partner. The showcase is an interactive experience that shows fans, athletes, organizing bodies and fellow partners Alibaba’s vision for a future Olympic Games—one that runs completely on the cloud.
Alibaba Cloud offer a suite of cloud computing services that covers elastic computing, object storage, relational database, big data analysis, and artificial intelligence around the world (Similar to AWS). Whilst the Olympics partnership is intended to raise the profile of Alibaba Cloud, it also fits with Alibaba’s long term goal to expand the reach of their commerce platforms to consumers and retailers outside China.
Alibaba partnered with the International Olympic Committee in January 2017, pledging to help transform the Olympic Games for the digital era. Alibaba will serve as the official “Cloud Services” and “E-Commerce Platform Services” partner, and a founding partner of the Olympic Channel through the LA 2028 Games.
Alibaba used Saturday’s kickoff to spotlight the “Alibaba Cloud ET Sports Brain for the Future Olympic Games.” It’s a suite of cloud-based and artificial-intelligence-powered solutions that the company said would drive the digital transformation of the Olympic Games to benefit fans, spectators, athletes, venues and organizers.
Enhancing the Games Experience: Cloud-driven big data can transform the way fans engage with the Games, creating a seamless, mobile experience moving between offline and online. Fans and athletes would be able to get around the city, find their way to the best events, be prepared for the weather, and experience the Games in new ways with the latest immersive technology.
Uses of Alibaba Cloud ET Sports Brain, which were on display at Alibaba’s Showcase, include:
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Smart City Planning for Host Cities
When future host cities start planning for Olympic Games venues, Alibaba Cloud can use AI to perform big-data geospatial analysis to pick the optimal locations.
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Safety and Security at the Games
Cloud-based biometric identification at sports venues that can improve access control, security and crowd management.
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Improving Training Efficiency for Athletes
Deep machine learning can help model relationships between sleep, nutrition and the intensity of training as well as changes in temperature, wind speed, and other natural conditions to support athlete performance.
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Expanding the Reach and Accessibility of Olympic Games Content
Cloud technology can improve storage, search and customization of content, making it easier for rights-holders to cover the Games and for fans to find and share their favourite moments anytime, anywhere.
