NTT's SDx Technologies to be Adopted by McLaren-Honda
High-speed SD-WAN will connect the Suzuka Circuit in Japan and McLaren-Honda's UK headquarters to transmit car data for in-race management
McLaren-Honda, a pioneer in Formula 1 motor racing for over 50 years, and NTT Communications have announced that NTT Communications' software-defined-everything (SDx) network technologies will be incorporated for the first time in a track-side network. It will connect the Suzuka Circuit in Japan and the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, UK during the 2017 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix.
By adopting NTT Communications' SDx technologies, McLaren-Honda plans to implement a series of tests during the Japanese Grand Prix to strengthen its remote management of race strategy using telemetry data provided at extra high speed.
NTT Communications' infrastructure is expected to control network bandwidth flexibly and efficiently in testing the speed and quality of the new software-defined wide-area network (SD-WAN)'s greatly increased bandwidth. Data will also be transmitted between Japan and the UK via an existing MPLS circuit.
The SD-WAN will offer expanded bandwidth and data transmission in response to data priority by combining the existing MPLS circuit and NTT Communications' complementary circuits, including internet, constructed at the circuit.
The solution is expected to shift traffic from internet circuits in the garage, engineers' workplace, and guest Wi-Fi to these complementary circuits alongside the existing MPLS network.
Large-capacity, high-resolution, video conferencing will be distributed over the NTT SD-WAN to enable the all-important collaboration between engineers working trackside and other locations. Network functions virtualisation (NFV) infrastructure will be used in the cloud to rapidly deploy both WAN acceleration for data transmission without latency and a unified threat management (UTM) Web proxy function for guaranteed network security.
SD-Exchange used for high-speed connection between Japan and UK
NTT Com's SD-Exchange service will enable high-volume data to be transmitted much faster than with a normal internet connection because the data will be routed from Japan to the UK through NTT Communications' high-bandwidth infrastructure.
Following deployment of this solution for the 2017 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, McLaren-Honda and NTT Communications plan to further test and enhance large-capacity data transmission security, speed and efficiency, with an eye on deployment for future races.
By transforming the way they collect and use racing data, NTT Communications and McLaren-Honda expect to transcend current Formula 1 methodologies. Further details about this initiative will be introduced at NTT Communications Forum 2017 in Tokyo on October 5 and 6.
NTT Communications, beginning from this year's racing season, is also providing McLaren-Honda with its Arcstar Universal One enterprise VPN network service.
Data is shared widely in real-time, including at track and the team's headquarters in a coordinated effort to plan and implement real-time racing strategies faster than the competition. In-race transmissions can reach as much as 100GB of data "” covering race-site weather, engine speeds, brake pressures, fuel levels, tire air pressure, on-board video, and more "” this data is collected from 200 sensors and cameras embedded in a race car.
