NetApp Joined Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team

NetApp, Inc. and Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One announced a multi-year partnership as the car company gears up for its return to Formula One competition.

After more than 60 years away, the British car brand returns to the F1 grid, supported by NetApp, with a new edge: an innovative approach to racing utilizing the power of data.

The partnership reinforces Formula One Team’s commitment to unlocking the best of cloud by outfitting the team with data and cloud services. It will focus on maximizing performance both on and off the track.

From trackside to factory to cloud, the data used to inform the user’s racing strategies will be available in real time on a global scale. With a data fabric powered by NetApp, the team will be able to extract more value from their data to better gauge car performance and address necessary refinements before, during, and after each race.

This data fabric will also help reduce operational complexities, while ensuring data compliance, security, and protection of the team’s IP. By standardizing on the storage manufacturer across all platforms, the racing team will be able to maximize resource utilization and remove inefficient data silos, enabling costly IT investments to be diverted back into car and team development.

“We are thrilled to partner with Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One as it embarks on a highly ambitious data journey in pursuit of greater speed, higher reliability and unmatched efficiency,” said James Whitemore, CMO, NetApp. “By tapping into our 28 years of data-centric innovation, we are proudly supporting the team as they push the boundaries of continuous performance improvement beyond the finish line.“

“Formula One teams have always been pioneers in analyzing data for a competitive advantage, especially when milliseconds mean the difference between pole position and starting somewhere in the middle of the pack,” said Otmar Szafnauer, CEO and team principal, Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One. “The team’s partnership with NetApp, along with title partner Cognizant, represents a new stage in our journey of continuous improvement. We are excited to introduce NetApp as we strive to make everything we do faster and smarter. By empowering our brilliant team of people with NetApp’s industry leading data solutions, we are ushering in a new era of racing where we can constantly evolve to be a faster, smarter and more exciting team.“