How Microsoft's Surface Tablet is Changing the NFL
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/08/03/how-microsofts-surface-tablet-is-changing-the-nfl
If you're a football fan, you might have heard tonight's Hall of Fame game marks the official opening of the NFL preseason, signaling the end of a bitter, forsaken, football-less half-year known as the offseason.
But it isn't just the first game of the season -- it's the first game of what Microsoft hopes is a new era in football
When ex-Microsoft executive Don Mattrick and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced their lucrative multi-year partnership during the 2013 Xbox One reveal event, we were told both sides stood to benefit. The NFL would come to Microsoft in ways unique to its platforms -- which we've seen with the NFL app on Xbox One -- and Microsoft's technology would change the game of football and the NFL.
Today's game marks the beginning of that initiative as Microsoft and the NFL introduce the Sideline Viewing System.
But what is the Sideline Viewing System?
If you're familiar with an NFL sideline, imagine the quarterback comes off the field after a series. He takes off his helmet, sits on the bench, and someone walks over and hands him a sheet of paper, or a stack of papers. On those papers are black-and-white images of the field just before he snapped the ball each play. And it shows him where his team is lined up, where the defense is lined up, and what the coverage looks like.
This is the way NFL teams have reviewed plays on the fly for years. The Sideline Viewing System is taking the same practice and updating the technology with Microsoft's Surface tablet.
Each team will receive 13 Surface tablets on the field, and 12 in the coaches' box. Using a secure, private network created by Microsoft, images from each series are beamed to the tablets near-instantly. And with the upgrade in technology comes an improvement in quality and function. These images are in full color, and dynamic: they can be pinched and zoomed, they can be moved around, flagged for later reference, and they can be drawn on -- similar to John Madden's famous use of the telestrator.
Most importantly, the devices are completely secure, and safe from intrusion or tampering.
"These [Surfaces] are owned and operated by the NFL, meaning the teams don't have access to these," Microsoft public relations manager Ryan Luckin said. "They come out just before the game. They're put away in a specialized temperature controlled cart that we built with the NFL and they're locked up the entire week."
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/08/03/how-microsofts-surface-tablet-is-changing-the-nfl
If you're a football fan, you might have heard tonight's Hall of Fame game marks the official opening of the NFL preseason, signaling the end of a bitter, forsaken, football-less half-year known as the offseason.
But it isn't just the first game of the season -- it's the first game of what Microsoft hopes is a new era in football
When ex-Microsoft executive Don Mattrick and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced their lucrative multi-year partnership during the 2013 Xbox One reveal event, we were told both sides stood to benefit. The NFL would come to Microsoft in ways unique to its platforms -- which we've seen with the NFL app on Xbox One -- and Microsoft's technology would change the game of football and the NFL.
Today's game marks the beginning of that initiative as Microsoft and the NFL introduce the Sideline Viewing System.
But what is the Sideline Viewing System?
If you're familiar with an NFL sideline, imagine the quarterback comes off the field after a series. He takes off his helmet, sits on the bench, and someone walks over and hands him a sheet of paper, or a stack of papers. On those papers are black-and-white images of the field just before he snapped the ball each play. And it shows him where his team is lined up, where the defense is lined up, and what the coverage looks like.
This is the way NFL teams have reviewed plays on the fly for years. The Sideline Viewing System is taking the same practice and updating the technology with Microsoft's Surface tablet.
Each team will receive 13 Surface tablets on the field, and 12 in the coaches' box. Using a secure, private network created by Microsoft, images from each series are beamed to the tablets near-instantly. And with the upgrade in technology comes an improvement in quality and function. These images are in full color, and dynamic: they can be pinched and zoomed, they can be moved around, flagged for later reference, and they can be drawn on -- similar to John Madden's famous use of the telestrator.
Most importantly, the devices are completely secure, and safe from intrusion or tampering.
"These [Surfaces] are owned and operated by the NFL, meaning the teams don't have access to these," Microsoft public relations manager Ryan Luckin said. "They come out just before the game. They're put away in a specialized temperature controlled cart that we built with the NFL and they're locked up the entire week."