Record-breaking performance Fellow Alibaba Group business unit Alibaba Cloud, provider of a complete suite of cloud services, is also actively involved in Paris 2024 as a key partner, with Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), in OBS Cloud 3.0. This AI-powered cloud infrastructure supports several critical functions, including OBS Live Cloud, which has become the main method of distributing live coverage to broadcasters for the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, taking over from satellite which was launched during the Olympics Games Tokyo 1964. OBS Live Cloud debuted at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the first Olympic Games to be broadcast via the cloud, and was offered as a standard service for the first time during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 as an alternative to the use of costly dedicated international telecommunication optical circuits for sending live footage back to broadcasters’ home countries. At Paris 2024, a record-breaking 11,000 hours of Olympic Games content will be available via the OBS Live Cloud Content+ delivery platform, fully hosted on Alibaba Cloud. This includes live sessions, athlete interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, social media material and framefreeze slow-motion replays. Alibaba Cloud’s infrastructure is also supporting OBS Olympic Video Player (OVP), a multi-platform video player service offering UHD live streaming for the first time. The OVP service provides broadcasters, especially small and medium-sized organisations, with a turnkey solution to deliver high-quality videos to audiences without the need for complex in-house development. www.alibabacloud.com 31 technologyreseller.co.uk E-COMMERCE IOC partnership Kuo Zhang, President of Alibaba.com, announced the launch of the AI Sourcing Agent at a special event on the Champs Elysées, Paris on July 31, where he also unveiled Alibaba.com’s exclusive partnership with the International Olympic Committee’s Athlete365 Business Accelerator programme. This partnership is in addition to Alibaba.com’s existing role as the Olympic and Paralympic Official E-commerce Services Partner. The fourth edition of the Athlete365 Business Accelerator aims to provide athletes with the skills needed to succeed in business and perhaps start their own e-commerce ventures after hanging up their spikes – typically at the age of 27 or 28. To date, the programme has helped 170,000 professional athletes embark on a new career path. As part of its partnership, Alibaba. com is creating a dedicated e-commerce training programme for more than 1,000 athletes covering the use of AI tools, global sourcing and B2B export through digital marketplaces. The 50 participants with the greatest entrepreneurial flair and most promising business plans will each receive a Business Accelerator package worth $10,000. Benefits include training in logistics and sourcing; credits to help unlock long-term growth; and mentorship opportunities with Alibaba.com executives and Global Ambassadors selected for their entrepreneurial achievements and familiarity with the Alibaba.com platform. These include basketball player Tony Parker, a two-time Olympian and four-time winner of the NBA who has since become a serial entrepreneur; Elias Schwärzler, a professional mountain biker and founder and owner of a specialist mountain biking clothing brand and mountain biking academy; and Simona Galik Moore, a former professional tennis player who in 2020 launched a professional pickleball brand, selling equipment for the fastest growing sport in the US. In a video shown at the launch, Galik Moore was seen interacting with the AI Sourcing Agent, asking for inspiration for a new line of pickleball trainers, responding to prompts from the Agent to refine her search and receiving information on the features, sales performance and profit margins of top-selling pickleball shoes. With this valuable market insight, Galik Moore was able to create her own product specification, with the AI engine providing a list of suppliers able to meet her requirements, summarising responses to her requests for quote and making recommendations on the best option. See next month’s issue for a full report including our interview with Kuo Zhang, President of Alibaba.com. www.alibaba.com
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