Winning a Formula 1 Championship, Fueled by the Right Mix of Hybrid Cloud

[ServicesExperts]

By Erik Vogel

Vice President, Hybrid IT, for HPE Pointnext, North America

Somebody once described race cars as “data factories on wheels,” and it’s not a bad description. Today’s competition vehicles throw off vast amounts of data that needs to be analyzed with incredible speed and precision, using massive compute muscle, and processed at the right venue – whether it’s right there at the race track, back at the factory, or in the cloud. On that score, we at HPE can claim a supporting role in Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s victory in the 2018 Formula 1 Championship in November. We had announced our partnership with the team in June. Our contributions included an Apollo high-performance computing system to run complex race simulations, as well as edge-to-cloud solutions and advisory services from HPE Pointnext.

Winning a championship in the world’s most prestigious motor sport is all about engineering and operational excellence, of course, as well as IT infrastructure and data optimization. But it struck me that the challenges are in many ways a microcosm of what companies are confronting as they accelerate into hybrid cloud. Not every business is faced with the need to crunch massive amounts of data at a remote location, like a race car team (then again, the number of organizations that do need that Edge capability is rising fast). But, for sure, every company needs to find the right balance of on-prem infrastructure and public cloud resources to generate the most value from their data. That’s the real checkered flag, after all – more dramatic, more rewarding business outcomes.

Finding that high-octane mix of resources is not a trivial task. It involves people and processes as well as tools and technologies. At a pit stop, you might see a dozen or more crew members pounce on the car to swap out the wheels and tires. If one component of the car falters, the performance of all the others may be compromised. Similarly, in a hybrid cloud setup, there’s a huge number of dependencies among the people, processes and technologies that drive performance. The right mix ensures that everyone and everything is working in harmony.

HPE can help you build your hybrid cloud from the chassis up, and we can help you streamline it for maximum performance, just like an F1 team running simulations to define superior aerodynamics. Our overall goal, always, is to take the burden of dealing with the technology off your shoulders so you can focus on the innovations, strategies and maneuvers that will get you to your business objectives.

Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, put it like this: “With the support of HPE we can better process and analyze our data, enabling our team members to do what they do best - from the early stages of conceiving a competitive car to the final moment of the car setup on a race weekend.” By working with you to find your right mix, we can help your company do what it does best and win in today’s accelerating markets.

Learn more about how HPE Pointnext can help you fast-track your transformational outcomes here.

About the Author: 

Erik Vogel is Vice President, Hybrid IT, for HPE Pointnext, North America. Erik has spent most of his career in the enterprise data center and cloud marketplaces in a number of professional services leadership positions. Over the last ten years he has focused primarily on working with clients to define and deliver cloud and hybrid IT strategies and services. 

Erik currently leads the Global Hybrid IT Center of Excellence for HPE Pointnext. In this role, he is responsible for incubating, selling and delivering compelling, high-value hybrid IT services. Development areas include containerization services, public and private cloud services, next-generation SAP services, and new process and governance models and methods for hybrid IT.