Have you ever wondered how the live scores are brought directly to your desktop? Whether you're at the desk in your office or sitting in the comfort of your own home, now you can follow all the action as it happens quicker than ever on line this week, as the Kroger St. Jude in Memphis and the ATP have been working hard behind the scenes to implement the latest technology to bring you up-to-the-minute scores and statistics.

For the first time, the Kroger St. Jude Tennis Championships and the ATP have implemented a wireless network on-site that enables the scores to be delivered directly from the chair umpires to the scoreboards and the internet. From the first ball in the morning to the last ball at night, all men's and women's main draw singles, doubles and qualifying matches are shown live on the web.

Recommendation

It all started when staff at The Racquet Club of Memphis, site of the Kroger St. Jude since 1976, wanted to provide live scores and statistics on their web site (Krogerstjude.com or ATPtennis.com/Memphis) using their existing computer network but without the use of outside vendors.

At the recommendation of the ATP, the tournament bought two Cisco Aironet 350 Series access points in order to capture scores from two locations. Because the tournament is played on three courts - a stadium and an area with two adjacent courts - the access points were positioned in a way to capture the signal from the chair umpires from all three courts.

"We bought our own equipment and the ATP showed us how to use their scoring system," says Ron Bagwell, owner of EMS, a long time technology partner of the tournament. "Everything went smoothly since we already had a wired network already in place at the club."

Wireless Network

All chair umpires use iPAQ handheld devices, equipped with an Orinoco Gold wireless card to score every match. The access points were connected to the site's local area network (LAN) and the data was ultimately delivered to the ATP web site hosting facility located in Jacksonville, Florida.

By capturing the data feed directly from the chair umpires, every point is recorded and displayed live on the internet and on the scoreboards wirelessly, therefore saving on the number of volunteers needed to manually control the scoreboards.

"It's great to see that our tournaments are becoming more independent and can implement this technology themselves," says Philippe Dore, IT Project Manager for the ATP.