AURA SPORTS AND mOne ANNOUNCE UNIQUE COLLABOATION BETWEEN CISCO SYSTEMS, HAWK-EYE AND ECB.CO.UK
Thanks to a unique collaboration by Cisco Systems, Hawk-Eye Innovations and www.ECB.co.uk, cricket fans will have the opportunity to be at the heart of the action in the most eagerly awaited sporting event of the summer, the cricketing clash between England and Australia. In a unique agreement, led and managed by Aura Sports, Hawk-Eye Innovations, the company famed in cricket circles for providing their unique virtual imaging in televised matches, have created a groundbreaking online game, sponsored by Cisco Systems in a deal put together by mOne.
The game will be available to cricket fans on ECB.co.uk, the official website of the governing body of cricket in the UK. The game is the first to make use of the Hawk-Eye technology.
Beginning late June and running through to July 31, Cisco System and Hawk-Eye will bring every contentious appeal to cricket fans to view online in graphic form, usually within hours of the event happening live. Players will get a chance to see the incident from the umpire’s viewpoint, as the ball comes through and hits the batsman. Players then get three seconds to decide if the batsman is ‘Out’ or ‘Not Out’. Hawk-Eye then shows the full trajectory of the ball. Players score points for the correct decision and three wrong calls end the game.
Paul Wright, MD of Aura Sports says;
“Hawk-Eye has revolutionised the way that cricket is viewed and now thanks to Cisco Systems, cricket fans will get the chance to see how and what the umpire sees. Users will also have to make the decision themselves, in around the same time that an umpire in a live environment does. In an age when sporting officialdom is increasingly challenged, it will be interesting to see if fans really are better judges than officials. We have looked at working with Hawk-Eye for quite some time now but we needed a partner to work with and we are thrilled that Cisco Systems have stepped up to the crease, and we are sure that cricket fans will enjoy the game enormously.”
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Kate Man of mOne, who brokered the deal on behalf of Cisco Systems adds;
“This association with Hawkeye and the ECB fits perfectly with the Cisco Systems Ltd self defending networks promotion, with cricket providing the perfect vehicle to reach business decision makers. We are looking forward to a great feast of cricket this summer and Cisco Systems will be helping to bring added enjoyment to fans of the game.”
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For further information please contact Mark Thursfield at MTA Media on
07780 991 975 or mark.thursfield@mtamedia.co.uk
NOTES:
Aura Sports:
- Aura Sports was appointed by the ECB as exclusive third party Sales and Sponsorship agents for ECB.co.uk in June 2004
- Aura Sports recently announced an agreement with FLi, which sees the number of professional football clubs in the UK represented by Aura Sports reach 87.
- The Aura Sports UK network now has over 9 million unique users
- In 2004 BSkyB acquired a minority share in Aura Sports
- Aura Sports is a privately funded company based in Holland Park, London and Liverpool
- Aura Sports was recently ranked 4th in the Media Momentum Awards – Celebrating the top 50 fastest growing media companies in the country
