“NEC Karuizawa 72 Golf Tournament” showcases NEC's exclusive “Player Location Information System”

NEC leverages Scala's InfoChannel to deliver up-to-date positioning information to the gallery of the annually held NEC Karuizawa 72 Golf Tournament

On August,3rd 2004, NEC announced in Karuizawa (Japan) that it developed a new solution for the distributed display of players' location information using GPS receivers to be used for event organizations such as golf tournaments. The system smoothly integrates totally automatically and in real-time the location of the players on the green as reported by their GPS modules with the live video feed from the television network in charge of the event. The dynamic multimedia content is then presented on large screens and PCs installed throughout the tournament site. NEC, through this solution demonstrates the potential of broadband communications with a demanding example of how to harness it best.

NEC deployed the service for the first time at the "NEC Karuizawa 72" Golf Tournament held between the 13th and 15th August, in cooperation of Japan Ladies Professional Golf Association (JLPGA).

The system successfully used for this occasion benefited from the experience of NEC in building total solutions starting from the layout of fiber optics necessary for high-speed communications on a terrain as large as a golf green to the integration between the GPS hardware and the Scala InfoChannel network.

NEC integrated all of the components of its Univerge solution to provide a seamless experience to the Golf Tournament Gallery:

From the NEC Small Position Information Terminal "NESPITIII" attached to players caddy bags, the location of players is retrieved in real-time, using either the GPS(Global Positioning System ) or the Location Information System developed by NEC Software Chubu (Headquartered in Aichi Nisshin, Japan - President, Yoshinori Ejiri).
The location and score information, managed from the convention management center, is distributed along with live video of the players on the green to large screens and PCs throughout the convention site in real-time, using NEC Broadband Display Solution built on top of the US-based Scala's award-winning "InfoChannel 3" Digital Signage software suite.
The information is then continuously updated and displayed in real-time on two giant 100 inches screens, four 42-inches Plasma screens, as well as 30 NEC VersaPro business notebook computers installed in various places such as the Gallery Plaza, the Club House, the Press Room etc.
Having temporarily laid out optical fiber throughout the "NEC Karuizawa 72" site, and in order to use it at its maximum capacity, NEC selected the NEC Multi-layer switch "UNIVERGE IP 8800" and wireless LAN system "UNIVERGE WL Series" , providing the foundation for broadband networking needed for an efficient information distribution.

For the Golf Tournament organization committee, the system brings many benefits: A new integrated information system that can be entirely managed from a central location, increased efficiency in the management of the golf tournament convention as well as new content services to accompany the expansion of its digital broadband network.

NEC, based on the result of this experiment, is planning to propose this solution to various industries in Japan, such as event organization companies, advertising agencies or the broadcasting industry. Furthermore, NEC plans to continue strengthening the capabilities of its display terminals by providing further integration of its system with mobile terminals such as cellular phones and Personal Digital Assistants.

About NEC

NEC Corporation is one of the world's leading providers of Internet, broadband network and enterprise business solutions dedicated to meeting the specialised needs of its diverse and global base of customers. Ranked as one of the world's top patent-producing companies, NEC delivers tailored solutions in the key fields of computer, networking and electronic devices, by integrating its technical strengths in IT and Networks and by providing advanced semiconductor solutions through NEC Electronics Corporation. The NEC Group employs more than 140,000 people worldwide and had net sales of approximately $47 billion in the fiscal year ending March 2004. For additional information, please visit the NEC home page at: www.nec.com

About Scala

Founded in 1987, Scala pioneered the cable TV industry with software and services to allow users to create localized channels inexpensively. Today, Scala has grown to lead the corporate communications, retail dynamic signage, and interactive kiosk industries as well. With an unrivaled software suite to handle authoring, networking, monitoring, and logged playback, Scala has been the choice of tens of thousands of customers worldwide. Built on a reliable and flexible network architecture, Scala software can support nearly any existing infrastructure from dial-up to LAN to Wi-Fi to satellite and terrestrial-based multicast networks. Scala's powerful and efficient store-and-forward design allows the control of unique content for such applications as indoor and outdoor out-of-home advertising networks, in-store TV for retail, corporate communications networks, cable TV access/advertising channels, hotel information networks, cruise ship and casino entertainment networks, employee training, etc. Scala has operations in the USA, Europe and Japan supporting a large international installed base. For more information, see: www.scala.com

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Additional Information

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