In Formula One racing, microseconds can be the deciding factor of winning and losing. The critical component is speed: from precision aerodynamics of the vehicle build to the traction control and pressure of each tyre. But what about the speed of data? Data processing time is just as much a key factor in the fast-paced world of Formula One.
During a race, every Formula One car is monitored and managed at their HQ via an onsite a Track side mobile Data Centre. The decision of that data management is of utmost importance: the speed in which data is delivered to the racecar is parallel in importance to the speed of the car. Latency of 30mS from HQ to car is expected.
Whilst monitoring the car during the race, if the team in the control center at HQ needs to shift the settings in the car, a data lag time of 5 seconds can mean the difference between winning and losing. Which is why a top UK Formula One racing team relies on Oper8 to provide their mobile Data Centre’s at each and every race.
At the Formula One race headquarters in the UK, all of the engineers evaluate and maintain the operations of the on-track cars. It is critical that the control centre maintains the dynamic response in order to effectively manage real-time diagnostics and telemetry. This data travels to and from the prefabricated DC at the Track. Terabytes of data are transmitted during a race and hundreds of changes to the car in real time, simple things like changing the wing mirrors due to reduced fuel load each lap.
Typically, the racing team’s vendor contracts mandate that there can never be more than 30 millisecond lag at any time. This allows the race headquarters and mobile DC to monitor and change any aspect of the vehicle almost instantaneously: tyre pressure, oil pressure, aerodynamics, etc. Engineers are constantly changing the dynamics of the car for maximum efficiency.
Losing power or communication to the mobile DC is not an option. It would mean they’ve given a 5-second advantage to their racing competitors. That’s why Oper8 only trusts Enlogic iPDU’s to power their racing operations.
In 2013, Oper8 ran an independent evaluation of the top iPDU manufacturers to determine which iPDU could withstand the extreme conditions that were required for the success of Formula 1 Racing teams.
The test was just as extreme as Formula 1 Racing: the iPDU’s were run at 100% load, in temperatures between 44-55˚C, for 1-2 weeks per rack PDU. The results were unparalleled: “Raritan, Schneider Electric, Vertiv all failed the independent test. One of those brands literally started to melt. The only PDU that withstood the test, was the Enlogic iPDU.
Since that test, Oper8 has only used Enlogic iPDU’s; “In the past 6 years, we’ve put thousands of Enlogic iPDU’s into the market and have never had a single failure. That incredible success rate speaks for itself.”
With the Enlogic iPDU comes the speed and reliability that is synonymous with Formula One. To put a car on the track takes an incredible amount of compute, Teams are running high power HPC Clusters for Aerodynamics and CFD modeling they are pushing the boundaries in terms of power per rack, 45KW a rack upwards is the norm and is increasing year on year. Return air temperatures from the servers are now reaching 55C+ so maintaining reliability and giving a Warranty at these extremes is a must.
In addition to Enlogic iPDU’s maintaining operability in the most extreme conditions, it was the only iPDU one with a truly hot-swappable Network Management Card. In the world of high-performance racing, uptime is paramount. The last thing you want is to worry about is failure in a power source. Oper8 knows that always maintaining active power is essential. Which is why they only trust their power to come from Enlogic.
Not every Data Centre or business line demands the power and performance of a Formula One racing team as essential to daily operations. But with Enlogic iPDU’s, anyone can harness the power proven fast enough to win with the UK’s top Formula One racing team.
OPER8 Global Limited is part of OPER8 Group of companies with its Headquarters in Brisbane Australia. The business has been set up for OPER8 to look after Asia pacific and for OPER8 global to look after EMEA and LATAM. Oper8’s core business is to provide design, construction and maintenance of Data Centre’s Globally. We currently have over 30 years’ experience in this market and continue to successfully provide our clients with a professional service. Oper8 not only understand the autonomous systems implemented within a Data Centre but understand that these systems can have an effect on the Data Centre environment as a single entity and as such all aspects of a fault or repair should be investigated as a risk to the mission critical facilities.
Oper8 Global are located in Oxford, and currently employ staff dedicated to the aforementioned functions. Oper8 hold the ISO9001 accreditation for Quality Management ISO0991:2008 Quality Management certification. This certification ensures the processes and procedures detailed within this document are monitored and policed. We are also ISO14001 /45001accredited. We are TIA942 accredited designers and auditors and Uptime Institute Certified Designers
