VoIP is going to be put to a high speed test at the 89th Indianapolis 500, when Cisco Systems will power a system that will let Red Bull Cheever Racing drivers – Alex Barron and Patrick Carpentier – communicate with the pit crews and also give them access to real time race data and other stats.
Among the technologies being put to work by San Jose-based networking giant include Cisco Aironet 1100 and 1300 Series Access Points, the Cisco Mobile Access Router and Cisco 7920 Wireless IP Phones with VoIP capabilities. “Cisco is changing the way our team communicates and analyzes data,” said Eddie Cheever Jr., owner, Red Bull Cheever Racing. “For example, using the Cisco solution, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in a single-lap around the track, we get nearly double the amount of coverage, in the transmission of data from car to engineers, than any other team. This complete footprint of the track means we get crucial information when it happens, without delay. This is the wave of the future and we are extremely excited to partner with Cisco in this project.”
Om,
Hats off to cisco’s pr team, but that story is mostly bullshit.
The real technology is provided by L3, the defense contractor that makes missle guidance systems, video systems on CIA drones, etc.
Anybody in the racing world knows that the sanctioning body tightly controls the rules about telemetry, etc.
Secondly nobody would be FOOL enough to accept the risk of using WiFi, which can be interfered with legally.
L3’s Westcam subsidary has a little business called Broadcast Sports that handles all this stuff, and they use private legal channels.
Its the same technology used by news copters in every major market.
PS. If Eddy finds his “datastream polluted”, it didn’t come from the Rahal team.
Go Danica!!!
Charlie
i guess they might be using cisco gear for some specific function in addition to all that great stuff you were mentioning. i think l3 might be maintaining tight control on everything.
given the push on the press release, and the pr effort, i am pretty certain cisco and the drivers themselves might have tested the whole thing out.
anyway … we shall wait and watch.. watch most definitely
Om,
I don’t the presser is bullshit because its not happening, I mean it in the sense that this is typical marketing hyperbole. something out of nothing.
Heck even little ole saturday night shorttrackers and SCCA guys are using WiFi, BFD.
Secondly, racing is super competitive, and if anybody thinks that Eddy gets even the hint of a “real” (ie non-marketing crappola) advantage it will be shutdown.
Hmm, 33 cars spewing out data as fast as exhaust fumes, and poor ole WiFi becomes so bogged down it rolls over.
Nevertheless, hats off to the Cisco sports marketing team for getting some ink (er. financial justification…)
PS. If this Danica girl wins this race, wow!!! It will be a huge media zoo. And Tony George won’t look like a bum anymore.
I was talking to a Nascar sponsor, and she said Danica has already been approached about moving over, and said something to the effect of, “I don’t race rental cars…”
vbg.
Too bad Monaco was last weekend.