Even as the Formula One series races from the Far East to Bahrain in West Asia this weekend, Tata Communications’ new remote operations centre is poised to provide live remote connectivity to feeds from the trackside.

Rather than the usual person manning the pit lane video camera on the track to capture the race, it can now be managed remotely from the UK headquarters. This technician handling the video camera remotely uses a device like a gaming dongle stick which he can manoeuvre to catch the different angles. The F1 remote centre makes it possible to produce aspects of the race as if the person is at the trackside, said Mehul Kapadia, Managing Director, Formula 1 Business, Tata Communications, when speaking to Business Line .

“In every F1 race,” he said, “they have to ship massive equipment to the race tracks, and do whatever is needed at the track itself, for the duration of the race. They would then need to go back to the UK technical headquarters in Biggin Hill. The remote centre takes this function to the backend now. No doubt, this reduces costs as well. During the season, Formula One races move across the world almost weekly, sometimes to very distant and demanding locations. In one season, the Tata Communications team covered over 62,000 miles to ensure there was a data centre up and running at each circuit in just two days, which had to be dismantled within three hours of the chequered flag coming down.

John Morrison, Formula One Management’s Chief Technical Officer, noted, “Reliable connectivity and continuous support from the Tata Communications service team has made it possible to further our business goal of transferring media content from race locations worldwide.”

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