May 6, 2002 - Although they may seem worlds apart, Formula One racing and Web hosting are similar in many ways. Both, for example, are based on the principles of complex engineering, technical precision, high performance levels and speed.
As a result, when BMW WilliamsF1, the team behind superstar drivers Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya, needed a high-performance Web site, they chose Intel Online Services (IOS), the Internet services wing of chip giant Intel. The company offers a wide range of managed, co-located and extended value-added services, and supports virtually every popular hosting operating system and platform.
Steve Shakespeare, systems engineering manager for the European operations of IOS, says one of the biggest reasons Williams chose IOS to develop its online presence is because the company wasn't afraid to accept accountability for its managed services. "When we were introduced [to Williams], we were able to demonstrate a range of flexibility… and take away the burden of responsibility for running the site from Williams themselves," he says. "If we say 'managed', we mean we are accountable for delivery of that service."
IOS was put to the test quickly, as Williams was looking to bring its site online "very rapidly," Shakespeare says. "There were a number of idiosyncrasies about this... particularly, I think, some very demanding timelines that the customer was looking to meet." But so far, Shakespeare says Williams has been quite pleased with the performance of its site; the company gave IOS a 100% performance rating during its last evaluation.
Like many other sport-related Web sites, one of the big challenges IOS faced with Williams' site was dealing with surging amounts of traffic for limited periods of time. With over 350 million people watching most Formula One races on television worldwide, a mere fraction of those viewers visiting the F1 Williams site could produce a massive traffic load. And unlike hockey or baseball, where a significant percentage of visits to team and league sites likely originate in North America, F1 racing has a significant fan base that is spread across the globe.
Williams' Web site provides visitors with a wide range of team details, including race day notes, driver profiles and car information, with future plans for e-commerce functionality. Like many other of the larger projects it helps co-ordinate, IOS recruited the help of one of its alliance partners in the building of the site: Ciber, an IT and e-business firm, played an important role in developing the Web site. "Because of our extensive network of partners, we were able to pull one of our partners… in to the environment to help provide the sort of 'total solution' that Williams required," Shakespeare says.
"Underneath the hood", so to speak, the Williams Web site operates on an Intel architecture running Windows 2000. The site is based on a Compaq platform, which is an ideal solution for the site, as Compaq is one of Williams' sponsors. Williams also had a specific need for a high availability storage solution, which IOS provided in the way of its Scalable Data Storage (SDS), which is comprised of EMC storage frames that allow IOS to deploy "storage on demand" type services. "What was appealing about that to Williams was that we could hook that to the Compaq platforms that they wanted," Shakespeare says.
The Williams site is located in IOS' UK data center, one of eight the company maintains worldwide. Each data center is backed by industry-standard N+1 redundancy, and is fundamentally "very scalable," Shakespeare says, allowing the company to not have to worry about significant traffic spikes on race days. "We don't have to do anything special on a race day. The infrastructure that we put in place to operate our data centers... is very much driven by the paranoia view that [Intel co-founder and Chairman] Andy Grove introduced in to the organization some years ago," he says half-jokingly. And because of the Intel's famous reputation as a leading developer of computer technology, Shakespeare says IOS clients will continue to benefit not only from the company's current advanced solutions, but future ones that will likely be developed in tandem with Intel as well. "We've been evolving our skill set," he says, "because we have some great technology expertise... and are able to apply that creatively to meet the needs of our customers."
