ANC Sports Enhances Venue Graphic Capabilities; Wachovia Center Adopts System

ANC Sports Enterprises today released new versions of two of the company’s state-of-the-art software applications, the Data Interface Solution (DIS) and VisionSOFT 3D interface, both of which are designed to enhance the in-venue fan experience by providing more sophisticated graphics.

The Wachovia Center, home to the Philadelphia 76ers and Flyers is the first venue to feature DIS 3.0 and VisionSOFT 6.5. The newest features of ANC’s revolutionary platforms include animated statistical imagery, automated font resizing, and an immediate, seamless transition to a backup server function.

“Philadelphia has very knowledgeable sports fans and ANC Sports’ new software capabilities meet the ever-growing demand of our fans for instant data in an entertaining fashion,” said Comcast-Spectacor President Peter Luukko.

The animated statistical imagery function adds dynamic action to previously motionless stat updates. Basic information can now be updated with a flashing highlight that turns, flips or even disintegrates into a new score on an out-of-town scoreboard; changes into updated real-time stats on the main video matrix; or even brings game operations to life with a blinking highlighted shot clock.

“Similar to watching a scrolling ticker on your home television screen, in-arena scores and stat updates will now become dynamic and more noticeable,” said Mark Stross, executive vice president of technology development, ANC Sports Enterprises. “Imagine during a playoff race, instead of thousands of fans focusing on the out-of-town scoreboard as their team pushes to the post season, we will now be able to easily highlight a scoring change with an animated update.”

ANC Sports’ DIS 3.0 and VisionSOFT 6.5 can also bring full-color animations to standard information such as pitch selection and speed or field goals made versus missed. Curveballs can be highlighted by a moving ball or line, while a fastball pitch speed might be emphasized with a flashing mile per hour graphic. Additionally, the new releases of ANC’s software systems include the ability to feature real-time fan-to-screen texting.

“As owners and operators of teams and arenas, we want to be on the cutting edge of technology,” added Luukko. “We continuously look for new and exciting opportunities for our fans. ANC continues to help us deliver results for our customers.”

In addition to dynamic motion, the new software applications also features advanced content display functions. The “Fit Tag” automatically formats font type and size to fit a longer name in the same defined area as a shorter name. Previously, longer names were either abbreviated or forced to ‘scroll’ into separate areas of a video board, distorting the information displayed in that area. Additional highlights of the new software applications include faster start-up time, automated file back-up and advanced switch functions to eliminate downtime should one server malfunction.