NTT takes Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift to edge of innovation with enhanced technology solutions
- Written by Telegraph Magazine
- For the past nine years, NTT has been the official technology partner to the Tour de France, working to deliver innovative experiences to fans, and digitally transform race operations.
- Last year, NTT extended its solution to support the inaugural women's race, the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach - 3 July 2023 - NTT Ltd., a leading global IT infrastructure and services company, today announced it is enhancing its technology offering for the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift to bring IoT, edge connectivity, and edge computing to the forefront of the famous sporting event.
In 2023, NTT will bring a greater focus on the combined value of these technologies for real-time analytics. NTT will integrate IoT and edge to create the world's largest "connected stadium" by setting up a digital twin of the race, which will connect layers of real-time information to replicate all aspects of the highly dynamic event digitally.
At the core of NTT's data-gathering are the bikes themselves. Using geolocation, they will transmit a constant stream of latitude, longitude, and speed data over radio networks to race motorcycles or a plane. A microwave signal will then carry the data to the end of the race, where a truck-based edge-computing device will run a containerized version of NTT's real-time analytics platform.
This year's race will also see the integration of ChatGPT in NTT's AI-driven Digital Human solution, which combines machine learning, speech recognition, natural language processing and conversational AI. The digital human platform has been specifically trained on relevant race information and can access detailed information to further enhance the fan experience.
"Combining IoT and edge unlocks a new level of operational excellence and one that can't be achieved in isolation. Capturing, processing, and analyzing data alongside the unity of these technologies is essential for making every bike a 'digital twin' which is the ultimate demonstration of edge computing in action," said Shahid Ahmed, Group EVP, New Ventures and Innovation at NTT Ltd.
"Having worked with NTT for the past nine years, we've seen data become an increasing asset to better explain the race to a mass audience, strongly engage our fans, improve their fan experience and support our race organization's challenges," added Julien Goupil, Head of Partnerships & Media at A.S.O.
Following the announcement last year of the integration of NTT Ltd. and NTT DATA to create a $30 billion IT services powerhouse, NTT's technology partnership with both the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift now falls under the NTT DATA brand. NTT's purpose is to transform businesses for success, disrupt industries for good and shape a better society for all.
To find out more about how NTT supports A.S.O., visit: https://services.global.ntt/tourdefrance
Follow @letourdata on Twitter and look for NTT's race predictions using #NTTPredictor.
You can also follow the race live with the official Race Center powered by NTT Data.
Hashtag: #NTT
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
About NTT Ltd.
As part of NTT DATA, a USD 30 billion IT services provider, NTT Ltd. is a leading IT infrastructure and services company serving 65% of the Fortune Global 500 and more than 75% of the Fortune Global 100. We lay the foundation for organizations' edge-to-cloud networking ecosystem, simplify the complexity of their workloads across multicloud environments, and innovate at the edge of their IT environments where networks, cloud and applications converge. We offer tailored infrastructure and ensure consistent best practices in design and operations across all of our secure, scalable and customizable data centers. On the journey towards a software-defined future, we support organizations with our platform-delivered infrastructure services. We enable a connected future. Visit us at services.global.ntt
About Amaury Sport Organisation
Amaury Sport Organisation is a company that owns, designs and organises top international sporting events. Specialised in the 'non-stadia' events, it has in-house knowledge of professions linked to organisation, media and sales of sports events. A.S.O. organises 250 days of competition per year, with 90 events in 30 countries. A.S.O. is involved in 5 major sports including cycling with the Tour de France, motor sports with the Dakar, mass events with the Schneider Electric Marathon de Paris, golf with the Lacoste Ladies Open de France and sailing with production and distribution of images for prestigious races. Amaury Sport Organisation is a subsidiary of the Amaury Group, media and sport group that owns the newspaper L'Équipe.
