Alibaba Innovation Turns Tokyo Olympics Into The Digital Age, What Are The Changes?

Some of Alibaba's digital innovations have won praise from IOC President Thomas Bach. (photo credit: ioc/gregmartin),

JAKARTA – As one of the official partners, Alibaba introduced several innovations for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, through digital technology transformation. As a “Cloud Services” partner, Alibaba provides best-in-class technology to enhance the experience for event organizers, fans, athletes and broadcasters. While as an “E-Commerce Platform Services” Partner, Alibaba also helps the IOC engage and connect with fans looking for official Olympic branded merchandise.

"Alibaba's partnership with the IOC goes beyond traditional sponsorship," said Alibaba Group Chief Marketing Officer Chris Tung, as quoted by the Olympics.com website.

“We have been working on various cloud-based and e-commerce initiatives as part of our commitment to transforming gaming into the digital age. In more than four years, we have made a strong start," he added.

Alibaba's cloud infrastructure and services will play an important role during Tokyo 2020. Most notably, the company has collaborated with Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) on the development of OBS Cloud.

This innovative broadcasting platform, operating entirely in the cloud, allows Rightsholder Broadcasters to perform most of their roles remotely. With less staff and equipment needed on site, broadcasters can dramatically reduce costs and efficiently capture, create and distribute Olympic coverage in real time. As a result, the International Broadcasting Center (IBC) in Tokyo is expected to be 30 percent smaller than in Rio 2016, with 27 percent fewer broadcasters in attendance.

“By leveraging Alibaba Cloud's best-in-class technology, OBS Cloud will help transform the media experience by introducing a more powerful and efficient way for Rights-Holding Broadcasters to create and distribute content around Games – with less staff and equipment needed on site. , said Tung.

"I want to thank Alibaba for their great contribution to the magic of the Olympics," said IOC President Thomas Bach, attending the opening of the Alibaba exhibition. “Since the beginning of our partnership in 2017, the Olympics and the IOC have greatly benefited from all the innovations Alibaba provides in many areas. From cloud systems to e-commerce, to 3DAT technology, Alibaba has provided the IOC, Olympic fans around the world and athletes with new opportunities to experience the Olympics and competition.”

In addition, media professionals working at IBC and Main Press Center (MPC) can also make social media connections with like-minded broadcasters and media using Alibaba's first Cloud Pin. The digital wearable device (which can be worn as a badge or attached to a lanyard) is designed to enable media professionals to engage with one another and exchange social media contact information in a secure and interactive way during the upcoming Olympics.

Press Conferences in the Cloud is a media service for working journalists from around the world who want to remotely watch and download videos of press conferences during the Olympics. This service includes video processing, audio/video editing and live streaming/VOD distribution, and video downloading functions.