Baseball, apple pie and faster WiFi?
Thanks to a souped-up wireless network, San Francisco Giants fans can now sit at SBC Park and watch both the play on the field and other games at the same time on their laptop computers.
SBC Park, one of the more techno-savvy ballparks around, has added live, streaming video capabilities to its wireless Internet network for fans.
Last year on opening day, the Giants said SBC Park was the first ballpark in the world to offer continuous free WiFi access to its fans via 123 Nortel wireless access points placed around the park, creating a huge wireless hotspot stretching from the gates of Willie Mays Plaza to the waters of McCovey Cove. The broadband service is provided by telecommunications giant and park sponsor SBC.
Recently, the Giants spent $1.25 million to upgrade the Nortel equipment. Now fans will have access to an even higher speed wireless fidelity network, over 802.11b/g, where they can watch live video streams of other baseball games, over MLB TV, on their laptops. Fans also can use the Internet to watch local games that are blacked out on TV.
``It's about enhancing the experience in the park,'' said Bill Schlough, vice president and chief information officer of the Giants.
The video is streamed to the Giants from Major League Baseball's servers. The Giants then stream it to their fans via Hewlett-Packard servers at the park.
The Giants are only offering baseball games from the MLB over the park's network.
For now, the streaming video is best watched on a laptop. But handhelds will be the next target device, with more and more business people using BlackBerries and Treos for their e-mail and other functions.
SBC had a reason to offer a WiFi service at the park in 2004. It wanted to get customers familiar with wireless and promote its own FreedomLink WiFi service. Intel, another big promoter of wireless, also associated itself with the buzz over a wireless baseball park. The Santa Clara chip giant, whose Centrino chips turn laptops into a ready-made wireless PC, used the newly wireless venue to launch one of its Centrino products at SBC Park in May 2004.
``These companies want to showcase this,'' Schlough said.
Schlough acknowledged there was a lot of hype about WiFi in the early days. ``People said there would be all these revenues. That was all vaporware,'' Schlough said.
Indeed, he noted that there are relatively few fans who actually get on the Internet while watching a game. ``On a busy day, we have 150-200 users.''
A few drawbacks
While WiFi use is growing rapidly, computers in a ballpark seems at odds with avid sports viewing. When the WiFi service was first launched in March 2004, the Mercury News interviewed one fan at SBC Park who was checking his e-mail and missed Giants slugger Barry Bonds hitting the 660th homer of his career to tie Willie Mays' mark.
``I don't know if I would want to bring my computer to a game and get someone's beer spilled on it,'' said Debbie Dean, information systems manager for the Oakland A's. ``You could get hit by a flyball looking at your computer screen.''
Schlough said that in a statistics-obsessed sport such as baseball, many hard-core fans want to be able to check facts on the Internet while watching a live game. Or they want to watch a few important games simultaneously, something fans in the park typically cannot do.
``If we were in a pennant race, you could watch all the other games at the same time,'' he said. ``Ultimately, replay on demand will be the next killer app,'' he added.
New venues
Many who work for Silicon Valley companies like to be plugged in all the time, or make sure they are not missing anything important at the office. By staying somewhat in touch through WiFi, they can play hooky from work without feeling totally guilty.
Dean added that WiFi is mostly installed in newer ballparks. The A's current home, now called McAfee Coliseum, was built in the 1960s and does not have WiFi.
The Arizona Cardinals' new $450 million stadium in Glendale, Ariz., will offer WiFi in the press box, suites and on its event floor during events unrelated to football. It has not yet determined whether it will charge for the service. Arizona's stadium is expected to be completed in August 2006.
The St. Louis Cardinals' new baseball stadium, set to open in 2006, also is expected to have some form of WiFi. HP Pavillion, home of the San Jose Sharks, has been equipped with more than 75 WiFi access points, providing free Internet access to fans, once hockey resumes.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/sv/20050906/tc_siliconvalley/_www12571791
Thanks to a souped-up wireless network, San Francisco Giants fans can now sit at SBC Park and watch both the play on the field and other games at the same time on their laptop computers.
SBC Park, one of the more techno-savvy ballparks around, has added live, streaming video capabilities to its wireless Internet network for fans.
Last year on opening day, the Giants said SBC Park was the first ballpark in the world to offer continuous free WiFi access to its fans via 123 Nortel wireless access points placed around the park, creating a huge wireless hotspot stretching from the gates of Willie Mays Plaza to the waters of McCovey Cove. The broadband service is provided by telecommunications giant and park sponsor SBC.
Recently, the Giants spent $1.25 million to upgrade the Nortel equipment. Now fans will have access to an even higher speed wireless fidelity network, over 802.11b/g, where they can watch live video streams of other baseball games, over MLB TV, on their laptops. Fans also can use the Internet to watch local games that are blacked out on TV.
``It's about enhancing the experience in the park,'' said Bill Schlough, vice president and chief information officer of the Giants.
The video is streamed to the Giants from Major League Baseball's servers. The Giants then stream it to their fans via Hewlett-Packard servers at the park.
The Giants are only offering baseball games from the MLB over the park's network.
For now, the streaming video is best watched on a laptop. But handhelds will be the next target device, with more and more business people using BlackBerries and Treos for their e-mail and other functions.
SBC had a reason to offer a WiFi service at the park in 2004. It wanted to get customers familiar with wireless and promote its own FreedomLink WiFi service. Intel, another big promoter of wireless, also associated itself with the buzz over a wireless baseball park. The Santa Clara chip giant, whose Centrino chips turn laptops into a ready-made wireless PC, used the newly wireless venue to launch one of its Centrino products at SBC Park in May 2004.
``These companies want to showcase this,'' Schlough said.
Schlough acknowledged there was a lot of hype about WiFi in the early days. ``People said there would be all these revenues. That was all vaporware,'' Schlough said.
Indeed, he noted that there are relatively few fans who actually get on the Internet while watching a game. ``On a busy day, we have 150-200 users.''
A few drawbacks
While WiFi use is growing rapidly, computers in a ballpark seems at odds with avid sports viewing. When the WiFi service was first launched in March 2004, the Mercury News interviewed one fan at SBC Park who was checking his e-mail and missed Giants slugger Barry Bonds hitting the 660th homer of his career to tie Willie Mays' mark.
``I don't know if I would want to bring my computer to a game and get someone's beer spilled on it,'' said Debbie Dean, information systems manager for the Oakland A's. ``You could get hit by a flyball looking at your computer screen.''
Schlough said that in a statistics-obsessed sport such as baseball, many hard-core fans want to be able to check facts on the Internet while watching a live game. Or they want to watch a few important games simultaneously, something fans in the park typically cannot do.
``If we were in a pennant race, you could watch all the other games at the same time,'' he said. ``Ultimately, replay on demand will be the next killer app,'' he added.
New venues
Many who work for Silicon Valley companies like to be plugged in all the time, or make sure they are not missing anything important at the office. By staying somewhat in touch through WiFi, they can play hooky from work without feeling totally guilty.
Dean added that WiFi is mostly installed in newer ballparks. The A's current home, now called McAfee Coliseum, was built in the 1960s and does not have WiFi.
The Arizona Cardinals' new $450 million stadium in Glendale, Ariz., will offer WiFi in the press box, suites and on its event floor during events unrelated to football. It has not yet determined whether it will charge for the service. Arizona's stadium is expected to be completed in August 2006.
The St. Louis Cardinals' new baseball stadium, set to open in 2006, also is expected to have some form of WiFi. HP Pavillion, home of the San Jose Sharks, has been equipped with more than 75 WiFi access points, providing free Internet access to fans, once hockey resumes.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/sv/20050906/tc_siliconvalley/_www12571791
