Alibaba Cloud to support live broadcast of 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo

Alibaba Cloud, a unit of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, is teaming up with the host broadcaster of the Olympic Games to launch an advanced cloud computing-based system for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

The cloud system will form part of the infrastructure under Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) to step up the production and delivery of content amid the intense demand in terms of volume and speed in the live broadcast of the international multi-sport event, according to a joint statement by OBS and Alibaba Cloud on Wednesday.

Demand for content related to the Olympic Games has increased because of the expanded coverage from various digital and social media around the world, said Yiannis Exarchos, the chief executive of OBS, in a group media interview on the sidelines of the Alibaba Computing Conference in Hangzhou.

The OBS, a company established by the International Olympic Committee to produce and deliver content to a global audience, estimated that the amount of programming required by broadcasters around the world during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro grew to 10 times more than the volume required at the 2004 event in Athens.

“We started thinking of ways to address the issue,” Exarchos said. “And this is where our paths crossed with Alibaba to explore how we can leverage cloud technology to make the work of broadcasters easier and more efficient.”

He said a cloud broadcast solution would help broadcasters “work remotely and not have to bring so much equipment or so many people” to the Olympic Games site.