IBM opens Olympic Internet café

From...

by Luisa Bustos

SYDNEY (IDG) -- For the first time ever at an Olympic Games, members of the public will have access to an IBM-run "cyber café" linking them directly to athletes and real-time action of the Games.

Developed by IBM, the official technology partner and sponsor for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, the IBM Surf Shack was officially launched Thursday and is open to the public.

Located at Darling Harbour, the floating café houses more than 50 IBM PCs and ThinkPads. Fans who visit the Surf Shack will be able to send email messages to athletes using IBM's FanMail service, surf the official Olympics site or learn about the IBM technology implemented for the Games.

MORE COMPUTING INTELLIGENCE

IDG.net home page

The Standard.com

TechInformer: The Thinking Internaut's Guide to the Tech Industry

E-BusinessWorld

The Australian Industry Standard

Reviews & in-depth info at IDG.net

World coverage from TheStandard.com

Industry Standard email newsletters

Questions about computers? Let IDG.net's editors help you

Industry Standard daily Media Grok

Search IDG.net in 12 languages

News Radio

Fusion audio primers

Computerworld Minute

Eli Primrose-Smith, IBM's vice president of worldwide Olympic & sport sponsorship, said the Darling Harbour facility is the first time that IBM has made the Surf Shack available to the public. "It connects athletes and fans directly," she said.

The Surf Shack concept was successfully launched in the Olympic Village at the Atlanta Games in 1996 and was also used in the Nagano Olympic Village in Japan in 1998, Primrose-Smith said.

The Athletes Surf Shack at Sydney's Olympic Village was opened last Saturday. All athletes can visit the Shack to write and respond to FanMail, surf the web or play interactive games.

Close to 4000 athletes have already visited the Athletes Surf Shack since its opening and more than 500 have created personal websites for fans to access, Primrose-Smith said.

Athletes from Argentina, Canada, Yugoslavia, Nigeria and the US have been visiting the Shack regularly, she added, while the majority of the Australian team is yet to move into the village.

FanMail, launched in July, links fans to athletes competing at the Games. By visiting the site, fans can send messages to athletes or teams. Athletes can respond to messages and build their own homepages. Additionally, the site provides visitors with information and photos on what's happening in the Olympic Village and Athletes Surf.

The Darling Harbour Surf Shack will be open daily beginning from 10am to 11pm.

IBM prepares for Olympic online onslaught
May 22, 2000
CNNdotCOM cover story
September 8, 2000
Olympic officials ban athletes from online storytelling
September 6, 2000
IOC may allow Olympic Web coverage in 2002
August 21, 2000
Analysis: Internet media banned from the Olympics
August 15, 2000

Wired in Sydney: Olympian IT effort gets under way
(InfoWorld.com)
High-tech meets low-tech in Sydney
(Computerworld Australia)
Interview with the Sydney Olympiad CIO
(CIO.com)
IOC bans athletes from Net storytelling
(The Industry Standard)
Web will host Olympic crowd
(PCWorld.com)
Stage set for Olympic-sized piracy
(The Industry Standard)
Limbering up for Net Olympics
(PCWorld.com)

Official Olympic Web site
FanMail

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.