The 2011 SAP 505 World Sailing Championships are using new, innovative business intelligence and analytics technology to deliver spectators and competitors the most accurate way of tracking race conditions and results
SYDNEY — The 2011 SAP 505 World Sailing Championships, which started on the weekend at Hamilton Island, are using SAP technology to ensure spectators, coaches and competitors can access the most accurate, real-time data in the history of the championships. The 505 is one of the most challenging classes of sailing races across the globe. It is a “one-design” high-performance two-person mono-hull centerboard dinghy, with spinnaker, utilising a trapeze for the crew. It presents high-performance and is very challenging in the wind, thus sailors with the best strategy and skills win, not the owner of the most advanced boat.
Once the championships get underway, spectators will be able to follow the boats via a live tracker with SAP analysis and video content. SAP Business Objects business intelligence solutions will be used to help competing teams develop their strategy, evaluate results at the end of each racing day and use that insight to hone their strategy for the next leg of the race.
For the first time, spectators will be given an additional real-time experience with insight into the race directly from the spectator boat. Using a map or camera on their iPhone, and pointing it at a mark, spectators will be able to identify, understand race position and obtain a live results list of the 100 participating boats and 10 unmarked buoys that comprise the race area – truly hard-to-get and essential information.
SAP is also leveraging its BI solutions, enabling competitors to track race results in real time via reports delivered to their iPhone or iPad or through interactive, online maps. A series of dashboards from the SAP Crystal Solutions will provide a variety of reports and analytics to help the sailors strategise during the regatta. For competitors, these interactive dashboards and mapping systems will allow them to create a model of the best possible route for each day’s race. These analytics will be available on the event website, sitting alongside a live mash-up featuring GPS tracking, race video streaming and interactive social commentary, providing complete online coverage both during and after each race.
According to Carter Jackson, Chairman 2011 SAP 505 World Championship/Skipper AUS 8853, “SAP has been involved in three world championships now. Its key involvement is the technology it provides the fleet. SAP is taking live data tracking from the race track and using the business objects suites from SAP to give sailors information analytic on their race day. It’s critical information that the sailors will use at the end of each day.
“There has been a lot of innovation with the technology, the key difference being the mobility of bringing the actual software not only to the competitor’s but to the people watching the event live on the web or via their iPhone or their iPad.”
Further information:
Peter Sertori, SAP Australia and New Zealand, +61 2 9935 4845, peter.sertori@sap.com
Katie Dufficy, Burson-Marsteller, +61 2 9928 1519, katie.dufficy@bm.com
