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Touch wood.

_Wednesday 23rd January 2008 13:20

We worked extremely hard at the start of the tournament, and it's really paying off now. Fingers crossed that everything keeps going well! Watch the video below to see what's coming up for me.

Chris

The smoothest Open ever.

_Wednesday 16th January 2008 12:50

I don't want to jinx myself, but everything is running smoothly. Everyone's having a great time and the website has had more traffic than ever before. Check out the video below for more.

Sorting out the two-ways and playing tour guide for Chinese fans

_Wednesday 16th January 2008 08:41

After Day 1, life should be much easier, shouldn't it? Just to make sure I keep on my toes, we had a few issues with the two way radios that had to be dealt with first thing. Not a technology problem though - more of a planning issue working out best how to set up channels so that the umpires and supervisors can keep in touch with each other without the two ways blaring in the middle of a game. A prudent reminder of regardless of how advanced the technology is if there isn't enough time spent of the implementation plan, you can very quickly be brought up short. However, after what felt like a billion meetings, everything was sorted out and the umpires headed out to the courts with a smile and a song.

Weather on Day 2 was fantastic with one of those special Melbourne summer days - brilliant blue skies (marketing obviously organised that to match the courts) and a pleasant temperature for sauntering around. Crowds were good again and, as I have mentioned before, there is a real party atmosphere. In terms of IT, we are mainly handling 'spot fires' and the amount of calls we are receiving has dropped significantly. It still keeps ticking over but not as flat out as we were.

We obtained our first web stats and found that for Day 1 that the web traffic was up. A great result and kudos to the AO Web guys and the IBM Web development team for putting together a great site. The favourite part of the web site for IT is the map of the AO site that colour codes which games are in progress. IT Staff on the night shift watch as each game slowly but surely completes which means they can go home!

My highlight yesterday was being approached by the elderly Chinese couple who didn't speak english yet kept wanting me to take their mobile phone. I eventually took it and discovered that they had called their daughter back in China who could speak english and they were hopelessly lost! A quick check of tickets found they were on the opposite side of where they should be so I took them over to Vodafone arena, passing the phone backwards and forwards with their daughter back in China being the interpreter. Made sure they were escorted to their seats so they didn't get lost again and finished off with lots of bows. A great moment.

Last of all, I promised a few friends that I would post what music I am listening to on my short but necessary breaks. Love my music and a quick relax listening to a few tunes gets me through the day. Day 2 album was "Raising Sand" by Robert Plant and Alison Kraus - great piece of work by two music greats.

Smooth sailing.

_Tuesday January 15th 2007 12:10

Lots of happy smiling faces around today - and not only the public. A new record was set for attendance on the first day of the Australian Open so everyone on the management team was very happy!

It was a spectacular day yesterday and there was a great atmosphere to the whole day. Melbourne is a spectacular sporting city and everyone here loves sport. My favourite fans were the two elderly women decked out in green and gold, wearing wigs with pigtails! They received a bit of TV coverage as well during the Alicia Molik game too. She's a big favourite of the Australian crowds here, especially as she's had to work her way back from a bad virus that stopped her playing for a year.

On the IT front, we've had a very smooth day and all of the work we did during qualifying has obviously paid off. I spent the morning checking out all our key areas and then took a couple of tours around - now I'm a tour guide! It was actually quite interesting to do as the technology we take for granted is pretty impressive to people who haven't seen what we use to make the Australian Open work.

Last of all, if you haven't checked out the Australian Open Website, www.australianopen.com, the team from IBM has done a great job and their interactive scoreboard is a beauty! My favourite is the map, which colour codes which courts still have games playing on them - I keep an eye on them so I know when I can go home!

Cool, calm and ready.

_Monday January 14th 2007 10:10

Here we are at the start of the first day of Australian Open. To be honest, all the real hard work for IT has been done over the previous two weeks, especially during qualifying. That's when everyone discovered things weren't quite the way they wanted. Areas hadn't been cabled or there were dangly bits hanging around. Regardless, the IT Team put in a spectacular effort to get everything sorted out for today. There were a couple of fourteen hour days for them so it was a very impressive piece of work carried out by the team. Of course, the IBM guys that have been great in supporting us with all the last minute issues.

After those tough days, we are now feeling cool, calm and ready for the onslaught. We hope we're prepared for everything - I'll let you know in a few days how we go!

So we have an absolutely spectacular day down here today and looks like we have a great crowd. As I've said, this is my first Australian Open, so it has been a huge learning curve, but I had a surreal moment this morning - standing outside my office taking phone calls while watching Venus and Serena Williams have a warm up next door!

When you have a great team, almost anything is possible

_Thursday 10th January 2008 17:50

In any other circumstance, joining a project like this barely weeks out from D-Day would be fraught with danger. But the work that my team here at Tennis Australia has put in, along with the support from the various IBM teams, means that we are in very good shape on the eve of the tournament. Here's a quick snapshot of what we've faced in the last few weeks...

Is that the date already?

_Wednesday January 2nd 2008

It's a brand New Year at that, of course, brings a brand new Australian Open. Of course, seeing '2008' at the end of dates does have me reaching for the Mylanta bottle as it is driven home that time is inexorably marching on.

From the IT point of view, the Open really began for us in November and we have been slowly but surely gearing up by ensuring that everything is ready. Of course, this week is the week that everything kicks in and despite our best plans, there are always little surprises that pop up and usually cause a blood vessel to pop as well. However, I shouldn't have picked a career in IT if I couldn't cope with surprises.

While the coming couple of weeks are daunting, we are keen to see some of the serious technology starting to ship in. As this is my first Open it is great to see all of the IBM guys arrive and see all that hi-tech equipment put into play. Feels like we have just upgraded from a small jet to starship!

From my point of view, the main thing that we are working on is checking with other Tennis Australia departments that we have not missed anything, that they got that thing we sent them and making sure that we are ready for anything that crops up. Two sick staff members today meant a call to some old IT associates to fill the gaps - so much for their holidays! I knew being nice to those guys would pay off one day... Regardless, things are ticking over nicely and all we can do is keep slaving away.

Double-checking.

_Wednesday December 19th 2007 14:10

Hi Guys,

The main big thing for this week is the crane that will come in and lift everything into Rod Laver Arena. Watch me speak about it below.

Live from Rod Laver Arena

_Wednesday December 5th 2007 11:11

Hey guys,

It's been two hectic weeks since I joined Tennis Australia. Watch me speak about getting everything ready for Australian Open 2008 below.

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