CASE STUDY
The impact of high-performance storage has also been felt in the frequent and widespread use of data collected from the cars during a race.
Each car is fitted with more than 200 physical sensors and the data gathered during a race is carefully scrutinised by team members across multiple design functions to glean all possible insights that could help improve performance, both for the next race and over the long term.
IT’ S SIMPLE, IT’ S COMPACT, IT’ S LIGHT, IT’ S TOLERANT TO THE DIFFERENT
ENVIRONMENTS WE’ RE TAKING IT TO.
Approximately 400GB of data is collected during each race, a total of 9TB for the entire season. Employees at team headquarters studying this data use a two-step process to extract the information they need.
First, metadata about the files is downloaded, resulting in a list of available files. Once a file is selected, it is then opened. If that file isn’ t the right one, the process must be repeated. This two-step process used to take around seven minutes. Now it now takes two and a half minutes, a reduction approaching 70 %. This means that team members spend much less time waiting to get access to the data.“ Every single minute is precious to us in the context of the limited amount of time we have to prepare between sessions, in particular between the three sessions in qualifying,” Harris noted.
Among the most data-intensive applications used by Mercedes- AMG Petronas Formula One Team is computational fluid dynamics( CFD), an essential tool in the design and test process. It’ s used to simulate the performance of a part or a design element of the car under race conditions. CFD applications require massive processing power and can take up to 20 hours to run. Initial testing has shown moving these applications onto Pure Storage has reduced some processing time by up to 15 % and“ this means that we can run more jobs a week just by changing storage,” Harris noted.“ The opportunity to run more design simulations in the same amount of time greatly enhances our ability to improve the car’ s performance. Pure Storage is our unfair advantage.”
Using Pure lowers operating costs
The impact of Pure Storage on the team’ s operations extends beyond the seven-building campus where design, manufacturing and office operations are carried out. IT equipment must be shipped to the site of each race. By moving to FlashArray from Pure Storage, the size and weight of storage equipment needed at the track has been sharply decreased.”
The reliability of Pure Storage arrays is highly prized by the team, as IT equipment at the track must be able to accommodate a wide range of weather conditions and must withstand multiple assembly and disassembly procedures during the course of the season.
As a veteran IT professional, Harris appreciates many aspects of Pure Storage products.“ The simplicity of the solution is brilliant. Our storage administrators used to spend in aggregate three days a week on storage issues. They now spend three hours per week, if that. Now, I don’ t need a storage admin, I need a guy that looks after VMware, the storage looks after itself.”
The small footprint of the Pure Storage arrays has meant a 68 % reduction in data centre rack space, resulting in a savings in operating costs. Harris said:“ The support we receive makes Pure Storage an extension of our team. They bring issues to our attention before we are even aware of them. We don’ t have to think about storage anymore.”
The ability of Pure Storage to perform non-disruptive upgrades has also impressed Harris:“ When we upgraded our FA-450 arrays to the // m20. and // m70. models, we did it on a weekday morning during full production runs. I never would have thought that was possible.”
Harris concluded:“ We’ re a small IT team and the amount of data we handle isn’ t that huge compared to a lot of big companies. However, the data we collect is extremely valuable and helps us maintain a competitive advantage in a short amount of time.
“ IT’ s pledge is to make that process as fast and reliable as possible. Pure Storage delivers on that promise, they’ ve really become an extension of our team. They care about the storage as much, if not more, than we do.” •
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