The upcoming Olympic Games, 2018 in Pyeongchang County of South Korea and 2020 in Tokyo, have been shaping up into a large-scale and magnificent venue for showcases in tech advancement and innovations. For example, Korean car maker Hyundai is looking at unveiling its latest line of hydrogen-powered vehicles alongside other companies for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Tokyo is also looking to court some tech industry names to put up displays during the Summer Games just over three years from now. And who better to be a primary partner in this endeavor than one of the biggest names in computing hardware?
Intel has stepped up to the challenged and forged a landmark agreement with the International Olympic Committee to that effect.
High tech at the Olympics
An accord was duly signed in Manhattan on Wednesday, June 21 between Intel CEO Brian Krzanich and IOC President Thomas Bach. With this, Intel shall lead the way in showcasing new technologies during the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Displays will include 5G wireless, 3D visuals, virtual reality tech, artificial intelligence, a wide variety of remote drones, and much more. This is only one facet of cooperation between Intel and the Olympics. The other is the providing of content and tech support services to the Olympic Broadcasting Services, the IOC arm that provides live footage broadcasts of the games to media networks all over the world with broadcast rights.
In a way, each of the showcased technologies will be put to practical use in the conduct of the Olympics in Tokyo. One of these uses is the live broadcast in VR of sporting events by means of Intel’s True VR platform. This system has already been tested by the company in another partnership with Major League Baseball, where they broadcast a live game of the week in virtual reality.
One other tech to be put to work by Intel is 360 Replay, enabling viewers of Olympic events to see an action from multiple viewpoints.
Multi-games partnership
Intel has been on a roll with its hardware and tech applications lately, especially with the recent release of their ultra-thin and tiny Compute Card modules. Now they’ve secured a strong partnership with the Olympic Games in order to put their stuff through their paces for the benefit of live attendees and TV viewers.
The first outing of Intel for their hardware will actually be in the Korea Winter Olympics, which will begin in February of 2018. The Tokyo 2020 games will be the second outing between Intel and the IOC, with further plans to continue this tech alliance into the 2022 Beijing Winter Games and the 2024 Olympics, yet to be hosted.
