If you were the official connectivity provider to Formula 1, you’d be keen to make hay out of it too. Tata Communications started working with Formula One Management (FOM) to deliver connectivity to all F1 race locations in 2013 and is still going strong.
It also provides hosting and content delivery services for Formula1.com, which is accessed by tens of millions of fans during the race season.
Since 2003, Tata claimed it has increased connectivity speeds at each race by a factor of 10. This is possible thanks to its own subsea cable network, the largest in the world, providing connectivity to more than 240 countries and territories.
Mehul Kapadia, Tata’s MD F1 Business, said, “For FOM, there is no such thing as service level agreement – coverage must be 100% at all times. A vast amount of realtime data is consumed by up to seven million fans simultaneously in 188 countries and the Formula1.com website typically sees as much as 100 times more traffic than normal over a race weekend, from a multitude of devices.”
This connectivity has also been used to the advantage of race teams. Tata has a deal with the Mercedes AMG Patronas F1 team to ensure track connectivity from the Silver Arrow cars to its UK headquarters. Kapadia said Tata is able to deliver this three times faster, which allows the engineers back at the factory to make data-led decisions much quicker.
“4K sports broadcasting will likely become increasingly prevalent in the near future,” he added. “Customer demand for high quality, live content across different platforms is now the norm. 4K broadcasting, increased network bandwidth and quick turnaround is making it possible to meet these demands and is changing the role that technology plays”.
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