Vitrual Spectator - cashing in on a dream

By ADAM GIFFORD

One of the biggest winners from the America's Cup campaign was in Sydney yesterday, catching up with the result over the internet.

Ian Taylor, of Dunedin company Animation Research, had a vision 10 years ago that digital data coming off racing yachts could form the basis for computer-generated animation to spice up television broadcasts.

That technology, transferred to the internet through a partnership with Auckland multimedia firm Terabyte Interactive, has made Virtual Spectator the branding success of the regatta.

"The America's Cup has put Animation Research and Virtual Spectator on the map," said Mr Taylor. "Every bit of television graphic imagery work used around the world was done by us."

It is also an example of the opportunities the Cup opened for New Zealand business.

"As I travelled around the country, I found many people thought of it as being Auckland's Cup, but for a company like us in Dunedin the opportunities of having this held in Auckland were fantastic."

He said that if Team New Zealand had not won in San Diego, there would not have been the impetus to take the animation technology to the internet.

Mr Taylor said the support of challenger sponsor Louis Vuitton and the challenging teams was a big factor in its success.

"With 41/2 months of racing and initially no television cover, it made sense.

"Plus, there is just no other event which enables you to do development live on the fly for as long as we have."

Getting Virtual Spectator coverage of the America's Cup required a last-minute deal with Quokka Sports, which owned the internet rights. Having a live product helped Virtual Spectator win the venture capital it needs for further expansion.

Mr Taylor is in Sydney to discuss putting golf tournaments on the internet.

"I'd like to get the team away for a holiday, but they're working on a prototype for Formula One racing, which I hope to demonstrate in Melbourne next week."

A major sponsor of Team New Zealand was computer firm Compaq, which put several million dollars into the event, along with Fuji Xerox, Ericsson and Telecom New Zealand.

Compaq New Zealand marketing and communications director Peter Wogan said there had been benefits for the global company and its local subsidiary.

"The returns on sponsorship are difficult to measure, but in the past few weeks we've seen people making a real association with Compaq and the technology behind the Cup.

"In the IT space and our customer base there has always been strong recognition, but this has taken that to a range of audiences which didn't know Compaq."

Compaq fitted out the media centre and other spots in the cup village, and also provided the servers used by Quokka to power its website.