Untitled Document
FORMULA WON!
From STORAGE Magazine
Vol 4 No 06 - November/December 2004
From Super One Karting to Formula One, the Renault brand is synonymous with every level of motorsport, both nationally and internationally. Nowhere is the action hotter or more exciting than in Formula 1, where the Renault F1 motor racing team competes in the world championship—the pinnacle of motor racing.
The Renault F1 motor racing team employs more than 750 staff and
operates from two bases — the UK for the chassis and aerodynamics, and France
for engine development. Between March and October, Renault F1 Team travels to 17
race meetings around the globe.
Renault F1 Team is responsible for the design, manufacture and sourcing of all
parts, as well as the assembly, testing and running of its race cars. Over the
course of each season, the design of the high-performance car is continuously
improved, with as much as one-third of the car changed during the eight-month
race season. When the racing finishes in the winter, the team concentrates on
the following season's car, making this a year-round enterprise.
Managing Large Volumes of Data
More than 50 designers work full-time at Renault F1 Team on vehicle development,
using the CATIA CAD/CAM package from Dassault Systemes. During a single season,
these designers will produce in excess of 10,000 new technical drawings of the
race car, plus they require live access to thousands of drawings from the
previous three years. There are more than 80,000 components on a race car and
the team logs each individual part—down to the last nut, bolt and washer.
The sheer scale of this operation results in vast data requirements, and the
team had experienced considerable growth and infrastructure changes since an
initial deployment of NetApp storage systems in 1999.
"We were very aware that our incumbent system was three years’ old and wanted to
leverage the most up-to-date technology available," explains Graeme Hackland, IT
manager at Renault F1 Team.
Any solution considered by the team had to be one in which they could have 100%
confidence — reliability was paramount. The team is a 24x7 operation, working
under constant deadlines, and to take systems offline would potentially be very
damaging. As Hackland explains: "Deadlines are critical in this business. There
are times when a part is designed, approved, manufactured, inspected and shipped
to the race circuit within hours. We can't afford for our IT infrastructure to
negatively impact on our race effectiveness or strategy."
Reliable, Scalable NetApp Storage Systems
Renault F1 Team reviewed five proposed solutions to its storage challenges. Two
were not compatible with the CATIA design package and immediately eliminated.
The remaining solutions were subjected to a full evaluation and random
performance testing during a lengthy period.
"The final decision was to engage in an upgrade project with NetApp, utilising
the company's highly scalable FAS960 storage systems to store all our current
and historic design data and databases. This was the only solution which exactly
met our criteria," explains Hackland.
NetApp has given us the performance improvement we require and met a number of
technical necessities. In addition, our team was already familiar with NetApp
technology, so the company was a known quantity, and we were secure in the
knowledge that its support is very good. Although not a key deciding factor, the
NetApp solution was unique, as it provided 6Gb interfaces for a resilient and
secure connection to the network."
The Network Appliance storage solution enables Renault F1 Team to store all of
its design data safely, while providing rapid access to its Oracle®, MCAD/PDM,
IBM and CATIA databases. In addition to storing current design data, the NetApp
storage solution provides Renault F1 Team with instant access to more than three
years of live data.
High Data Availability for Maximum Productivity
The winter months are a critical time for the team, as the pressure is always on
to get the new car ready for testing prior to the season start. The new storage
solution was scheduled to go live in January 2003, so it was vital that the
installation go smoothly. The factory was still operating during the changeover
weekend, with employees producing parts in the machine shop. When the designers
returned to their desks on the Monday morning, the new system was live and they
were able to continue as normal.
"The system is working exactly as we expected it to, with no degradation or
failures causing downtime," says Hackland. "Our design team is now benefiting
from increased system performance — with some models showing a 60% improvement
in loading speed. This also allows our designers to more efficiently tackle a
wide range of automotive and aerodynamic design issues."
NetApp storage solutions utilise Data ONTAP™ technology, which includes the
highly sophisticated Snapshot™ technology. The NetApp Snapshot capability allows
fast, consistent and transparent backups of databases to be taken, without any
impact on service availability. This functionality has given Renault F1 Team the
reliable, highly available solution that is essential to support and accelerate
the development process.
Renault F1 Team engineers also benefit from the multi-protocol capability of
NetApp storage solutions, which eliminates interoperability problems resulting
from the use of different operating systems. NetApp multi-protocol storage
simplifies product development by providing uniform, one-copy access to data.
"Our CATIA design software is used on UNIX and Windows operating systems, so it
is absolutely critical for us to be able to seamlessly interoperate between
them," said Hackland. "The ability to share data across heterogeneous platforms
enables a seamless data flow from conception to production.
"As a race team, we want to concentrate our resources on the cars, so cost
savings on infrastructure are desirable, provided that performance is not
affected. Having deployed NetApp storage systems, Renault F1 Team’s
administrative costs have reduced by nearly 50%."
Hackland comments further: "We viewed future expansion as a critical factor in
making a data storage selection—NetApp storage solutions can be easily and
rapidly expanded on-the-fly, with just the addition of disks. The FAS960 storage
system can be upgraded to 24TB and will be able to scale in line with our
expected future requirements. We are now evaluating other areas of our storage
infrastructure, and plan to leverage NetApp capabilities to develop multi-site
working and enable remote collaboration between our teams.
“In addition, if we need SAN, then we are safe in the knowledge that the FAS
products are not only world-class NAS, but also Fibre Channel and iSCSI
SAN-capable as a unified storage platform.
In order that Renault F1 Team ensure it is competitive on the Formula 1 stage —
a sport renowned for cutting-edge technologies — it looks to partners who are
also recognised market leaders and are capable of providing the latest
technology.
“NetApp and Renault F1 Team have an excellent working relationship as both
companies constantly challenge technological boundaries,” adds Hackland. “This
mutual philosophy helps us both to continue to be leaders in our respective
fields."
|
