Seiko Epson Corporation

Epson to Sponsor Osaka World Championships in Athletics as IAAF Official IT Partner

– TOKYO, Japan, July 5, 2007 –

Epson today announced its sponsorship of the 11th IAAF* World Championships in Athletics, to be held in Osaka, Japan, from August 25 to September 2, 2007. This will be the sixth time that the company has sponsored the Championships as an official IT Partner since its initial involvement in the Athens Games of 1997.

This year's Championships will involve more than two thousand of the world's finest athletes from over two hundred countries and territories. With an estimated total of more than six billion viewers worldwide, the event ranks not only as the world's leading tournament for track and field events, but also as the largest sporting event to be held in 2007, and the biggest ever to be held in Osaka.

Coordinating a global event on the scale of the IAAF World Championships poses an immense IT challenge. But with speed, accuracy and reliability essential prerequisites for any system, this is a challenge that provides the perfect stage for Epson to showcase its technological prowess. With the original Epson Performance Evaluation (EPE) System, for example, TV viewers will be able to enjoy field events as never before, thanks to three-dimensional analysis of the long jump and triple jump shown immediately after the jump. Moreover, this analysis enables athletes to better understand and thus improve their performances. And with its unique Commentator Information System (CIS), Epson is able to collate and transmit results from the track and field in real time, in addition to a host of information about both the athletes and previous events. This up-to-the-minute information forms the basis for the data provided to enthusiastic athletics fans worldwide by TV and Internet media, including the official IAAF website.

These systems will be backed by an international team of approximately 50 Epson technical staff, with other support to include high-speed, high-performance laser printers for the pressroom and for all the printing needs of the local organizing committee. In a world where fractions of a second or a millimeter can mean the difference between success and failure, Epson's high precision systems play an integral role in ensuring that the Championships run smoothly.

"Epson believes that the spirit of challenge and the desire to exceed shown by the athletes matches perfectly with its corporate ethos of creativity and challenge," said Seiji Hanaoka, President, Seiko Epson Corporation. "And just as the athletes drive themselves to exceed ever higher targets, we are dedicated to providing products and services that exceed the expectations of our customers. This is embodied in our global tagline - Exceed Your Vision."

Please access the dedicated Epson IAAF Championships site to find out more information about the Epson technology supporting the Championships.

* International Association of Athletics Federations.

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Outline of the services Epson will provide at the 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics

1. EPE System
   The EPE system - developed by Epson engineers - will be used for the long jump and triple jump in Osaka. The system analyzes field events from new angles, giving television viewers information they did not have access to in the past. Immediately following each jump, three-dimensional analyses will be made to reveal previously unmeasured data (unofficial figures), such as the placement of athletes' feet on the takeoff board for the long jump, and the length of the hop, step, and jump phases of the triple jump. In the future, the system may be used to display the trajectory of thrown objects and the flight of jumps to make watching field events even more exciting.
2. Compilation of Start Lists, Computation and Transmission of Competition Results
   Pre-race start lists will be compiled by accessing the IAAF database in Monaco and retrieving necessary information. With the end of each race or event, timing data provided by Seiko Corp. will be used to either create a new start list or tabulate the final results. This information will be transmitted to printing points inside the Nagai stadium and output using Epson printers. The documents will be distributed to tournament officials and members of the media and used to wire news stories around the world. The competition results will also be made available on the official IAAF website, where the latest results can be obtained on a real-time basis.
3. Commentator Information System (CIS)
   Competition information essential for television commentators will be provided through 550 Epson multimedia data terminals placed in the broadcasting and press seating area in the main stand. The touch-screen panels operate on an intranet-based system, enabling broadcasters and other media personnel to access the main server in the computer room to obtain not only start lists and results on a real-time basis but also competition schedules, past records, and the backgrounds of individual athletes.
4. Media Information System
   Epson provides data to the newspaper and magazine journalists in the press center at the Nagai Stadium. Necessary data may be printed out on high-speed Epson laser printers to support the activities of media representatives from around the world.