Vocus supports Emirates Team NZ with cutting edge technology

10 September 2013

Vocus supports Emirates Team New Zealand with high performing, cutting edge technology off the water

The America’s Cup might be regarded as the oldest trophy in international sport yet ironically it creates one of the most dramatic displays of cutting edge technology in action.

While much of the excitement and pressure takes place on the water, off the water there’s immense pressure to ensure the smooth management of the team’s heavy-duty data processing needs.

This critically-important responsibility falls to Vocus Communications who was selected as an official supplier back in 2011. Emirates Team New Zealand was seeking a partner to provide data centre colocation services. The brief was to provide a safe and secure Auckland-based environment where uptime, power density and availability could be fully relied upon.

Nick Holroyd, Technical Director – Emirates Team New Zealand, explains:
“We had a number of essential requirements when housing our Dell HPC solution. This included an unusually high power and cooling density at around 30kW per rack; we could not afford downtime in either installation delay or operational outages; and we needed a high bandwidth, secure connection from our site [at The Shed in the Viaduct Basin] to the cluster.”

Emirates Team New Zealand regularly draws 11kW - which is up to three times more than most clients - to feed its power-hungry servers. These servers are busy crunching huge amounts of data variables – such as wind speed and on-board activity - which help apply the right analytics to improve boat performance.

Two years on, the partnership has been nothing short of smooth sailing. Vocus NZ Sales Manager, Steven Stanford, comments: “We’re genuinely thrilled to play an integral part in supporting the team’s intensive data processing needs.

“We like to think our solution matches the same qualities as the boat itself: delivering consistent performance under intense pressure in the most efficient manner possible.”

Nick Holroyd concludes: “Not only did Vocus meet all our requirements, they did so with outstanding levels of pre-install design support and follow-up service.”

The team at Vocus Communications, based in Albany, North Auckland, would like to wish the Emirates Team New Zealand the very best of luck as they continue the 34th America’s Cup challenge.

About Vocus Communications
Vocus Communications is a leading provider of international networks and data centres throughout New Zealand and Australia. It has a reputation for reliability and superior performance throughout its business operations. It is listed on the ASX.

www.vocus.co.nz

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