IT Drives in Top Gear for F1 Race in India

In a sport where hundredths of a second count, innovative technology can drive a significant competitive advantage.
Companies like Dell,Tata Communications, AT&T,Renault, and service providers like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone are making that hundredth of a second count in such racing events.

Technology is the power behind Formula 1 racing. Huge supercomputers perform billions of calculations within hours to see which of a hundred front wingplates will work best. Servers are lugged to every race to provide a mobile office for over 60 people, 20 times per year. Gigabytes of data travel through virtually bulletproof laptops before being beamed back to a team's base, sometimes on the other side of the world.
"The second edition of the Indian F1 race in October is likely to generic a huge amount of viewers watching the races while at work, and often this can take bandwidth away from business critical applications", explains Jonathan Andresen, Vice President, Marketing, Blue Coat Asia Pacific.

Tata Communications is the official Technology Supplier for Formula 1 with the exclusive designation of Official Connectivity Provider and Official Web Hosting and Content Delivery Network Provider for Formula 1.

"In February 2012, we signed a multi-year technology and marketing agreement with Formula 1. As per the agreement, we provide connectivity to all 20 Formula 1 race locations and their offices over our global network and also provide hosting, content delivery network and security services to Formula1.com," confirms Mehul Kapadia, Vice President, Strategic Alliances and Sponsorships, Tata Communications.

They work in close collaboration with the Formula 1 team on research and development around connectivity, which has the potential to transform the way Formula 1 races can be broadcast.

"Working with a client like Formula 1 has put Tata Communications on the global map and this is a great example of combining business synergies as Formula 1 also is highly focused on moving to emerging markets," said Mehul,Tata Communications.

Many companies are working individually with racing teams and helping them meet technical upgradations and perform innovative and par excellent functions with latest technologies.

Dell is deploying a powerful infrastructure from the desktop to the datacenter - and on to the driver seat for Caterham F1 Team.

On the other hand, AT&T is the official technical supplier for Red Bull Racing.

In Formula One, most investment goes into the design, performance and reliability of the cars. But on race days, new challenges are presented by the need to make the car race-ready. Time is short, resources are stretched and rigorous F1 regulations cover timings for practices, tests, set up, team downtime and security.

CSC created a new way to manage people and their time targets. The Garage Information System (GIS) is based on a simple concept: providing a single location for all relevant information. The GIS is Cloud-based, developed using Microsoft's Azure platform and the skills of CSC's mobile apps development team and its Microsoft specialists. It supports the team in bringing the car to the grid on time, ensuring that the right person is in the right place at the right time.

"CSC is enabling the Marussia F1 Team to achieve results on track and in the pits that would have taken far longer and required far higher spending with conventional thinking and technology," Gitanjali Puri, Director, Marketing, CSC India explained Multipolar Technology.

Real time system is supported by CSC within the trackside IT solution, which they transport across the world, set up in temporary garages in harsh environments (up to 50ËšC), and manage for the Marussia F1 Team.
With CSC's technology and expertise, the Marussia F1 Team is achieving astonishing results. The Marussia F1 Team car is the most CFD-engineered car on the Formula One circuit.

Telecom giant Bharti Airtel has partnered with Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team for the forthcoming Indian Grand Prix.
The move is expected to help the operator strengthen its brand positioning among youth across India as well.
Bharti Airtel is also the title sponsor of the 2012 Formula One Airtel Indian Grand Prix.
Airtel will also offer its customers mobile content and instant race updates on race orders as well as team and driver standing information.
Vodafone also is not behind and is the ‘Title Sponsor' and 'Official Total Communications Partner' of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team since 2007.

This partnership is Vodafone's major global sponsorship and is part of an ongoing commitment to the Formula 1 World Championship, a sport which continues to deliver massive global television coverage and which has significant appeal for Vodafone's consumer and business customers and racing fans around the world.
On the hand, Renault is providing the RS27 V8 engine to the 2012 Red Bull Racing, Lotus F1 Team, Williams F1 Team and Caterham F1 Team.
Renault Sport F1, which is supporting four teams in this year's FIA Formula One World Championship, manages the multiple CAD systems and configurations found in the racecar industry with data interoperability tools from Elysium Inc.