God forbid they turn red. Surrounding the big screen is a collection of wall-mounted television screens. On Friday, they carried commercially broadcast soap operas as the heady platoon of computer jockeys appeared to be largely fiddling away the time. At this point, IBM can only guess at the amount of Web traffic it will have to handle over the duration of the games. Now, IBM officials say they are expecting more like 6 to 6.5 billion hits to the Sydney site, and are prepared to handle many more.
Hits are a somewhat archaic measure of traffic on a site, counting every request for data.
As such, any single page view may incorporate text, graphics, and advertisements, amounting to several hits. IBM still uses this means to measure traffic. After these Games end, IBM plans to bow out of its long-held role as chief technology provider to the Olympics. Rising costs and the questionable promotional benefits of its association with the Games led to the decision. Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved.