Lotus F1 Team Drives With EMC

Lotus F1 Team and EMC Corporation have
partnered to create the IT backbone necessary to underpin the Team’s
aspirations for a World Championship in 2015.

To achieve this goal, Lotus F1 Team must optimize its resources to face the
challenges presented by the new 2014 Formula 1 regulations; the most radical
design changes since the introduction of the composite monocoque.

Beginning next year, Formula 1’s constructors will be required to switch from
normally-aspirated V8 engines to a new breed of more efficient and more
powerful hybrid, turbocharged V6 power units, as well as integrating new Energy
Recovery System (ERS) technology. The changes will have a significant impact on
the cars’ design and engineering, and on engine power, aerodynamics and fuel
consumption in particular.

Lotus F1 Team determined that a complete overhaul of its IT infrastructure –
both trackside and at its Enstone, UK, HQs – would be necessary to meet this
challenge, while also generating new sources of competitive advantage. The
partnership with EMC is being implemented to spearhead the Team’s development
program for its 2014 car and will see Lotus F1 Team adopt a range of private
cloud technologies, enabling more agile and cost-efficient storage, management
and protection of information.

The 2014 redesign represents the most significant change in recent Formula 1
racing history. In addition to car design changes, a complex network of more
than 200 sensors can generate in excess of 25MBs of data per lap for each car.
In a sport where hundredths of a second mark the difference between a victor
and the rest of the pack, the ability to collect, make readily available in a
cloud-like manner and analyze these massive amounts of big data has
emerged as a competitive differentiator.

Refreshed IT Infrastructure
Lotus F1 Team will deploy a VCE Vblock System – integrating compute,
network, and storage technologies from Cisco, EMC and VMware – at its Enstone data
center to underpin the Team’s Computer-Aided Design (CAD) program and its
Microsoft Dynamics Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution.

EMC will also deploy its EMC Atmos object-based cloud storage platform to
store, archive and access Lotus F1 Team’s unstructured content at scale; EMC
Data Domain deduplication storage systems to 
enable fast backup and recovery of the factory’s information estate; and
its cloud tiering appliance to ensure the secure and efficient tiering of the
Team’s CAD files before they are moved to the cloud – key to reclaiming
valuable primary storage space, lower operating costs and reducing backup
requirements.

In order to facilitate secure CAD file-sharing and collaboration between the
Team and its partners, Lotus F1 Team will also be using EMC’s Syncplicity
enterprise file sync and share solution and Documentum Information Rights
Management (IRM) technology which tracks and protects documents, messages and
attachments while in transit, at rest and after delivery. At the trackside, a
second VCE Vblock System, incorporating VNX solution, will be deployed to
support the Team’s VDI as well as its on-track applications.

As part of a four-year deal, EMC will gain access to the GENII
Business Exchange platform -Lotus F1 Team’s elite group of IT and technical partners
– in addition to a range of hospitality and incentive packages.

Patrick Louis, CEO, Lotus F1 Team, said: "In today’s Formula 1, technology is critical to producing a winning
car. If we’re going to do that in 2014 – and ultimately challenge for the World
Championship – we need the best IT resources available, and that is why we have
chosen EMC. This is another step forwards for Lotus F1 Team as we transform how
we deliver our IT services at both Enstone and trackside locations throughout
the world. By providing converged infrastructure and cloud-ready technology,
EMC will help us accelerate our journey to the cloud – and to success on the
track.

"Today, Lotus F1 Team is a title
contender and our target is very clear: to be World Champions in 2015. We need
strong partners to reach that target, and EMC is one such partner. EMC provides
us with the best hardware, software, security, reliability and availability.
These will be key factors in us being successful in our venture to build a
winning car and to becoming world champions."

Jeremy Burton, executive VP, product operations and marketing, EMC, said: "The 2014 season will see a raft of rule
changes and a revolution in the way Formula 1 cars are designed and built. With
the emphasis on greater aerodynamic efficiency and a 35% reduction in fuel
consumption, the technical director’s challenge is greater than ever and EMC is
delighted to have joined Lotus F1 Team’s portfolio of Technical Partners. EMC
will work with the Team to enable secure and efficient management of its design
and development data, as well as the Team’s on-track applications."