Olympics 'to bring online challenges'

Category: Sports and internet

July 30th 08, 08:38

The forthcoming Olympic Games in Beijing will provide a "fascinating" insight into the challenges and achievements of the online medium today, according to one BBC columnist.

Bill Thompson, a contributor to the BBC's Digital Planet programme, said that the event will highlight some of the most pressing issues faced by the internet at present.

He noted that the 2000 Sydney Olympics saw an "astonishing" number of visitors flock to websites relating to the Games, raising potential concerns over how well the official sites will cope with the boom in traffic this time round.

Furthermore, Microsoft's Silverlight platform - an alternative to Macromedia's Flash - will also come under the spotlight as broadcaster NBC is to make extensive use of the technology to underpin its online coverage of the Olympics on its own sports website, Mr Thompson said.

"There have been a number of criticisms of Silverlight's video capabilities and if the servers don't keep up then this could be a PR disaster for Microsoft at a critical point in its attempt to build its online business," he commented.

Other companies making use of the internet to capitalise on the Olympics include Yahoo!, which recently announced plans to launch a new website dedicated to the Games, as well as a mobile version.

This news story was brought to you by Bluhalo, a leading UK digital agency.

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