Run and transform: Micro Focus set to accelerate Jaguar Racing ambitions

Micro Focus technology capabilities are set to undergo the ultimate test.

The enterprise software giant has partnered with UK-based Formula E team Jaguar Racing ahead of season seven of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. Micro Focus joins the Formula E team as the official digital transformation, business resiliency and analytics partner, providing technological support to Jaguar Racing’s quest for racing success.

Motor racing takes an incredible toll not just on the vehicles, but also on the systems behind the scenes. For teams and partners, racing acts as the ideal testing platform for cutting-edge technology.

The modern Formula E racing car is essentially an intelligent, connected data platform on wheels. Every aspect of the car is monitored by hundreds of sensors, measuring lap times, tyre and brake temperatures, airflow and engine performance. Behind the scenes are numerous technologists monitoring everything from tyre wear, engine health and power output to numerous other factors in real-time.

The benefits of such extreme operating conditions allow designers and engineers to improve upon existing technology, both in-car and the IT systems that keep an eye on the cars in the background.

Data analytics
A Formula E team captures gigabytes of telemetry data during the race, as well as terabytes more of engineering and test data at the factory. Increasingly, success or failure on the track has as much to do with the driver as data analytics.

With a broad portfolio underpinned by a deep inventory of advanced analytics, Micro Focus is the ideal partner for Jaguar.

Micro Focus already helps more than 40,000 customers around the world achieve strategic outcomes – accelerating delivery, simplifying transformation, strengthening resilience and analysing in time to act – essential qualities for winning both in the boardroom and on the track.

“Micro Focus joining forces with Jaguar Racing is a natural alignment of like-minded organisations that share a track record characterised by pragmatism, consistency, and innovation,” says Anas Jwaied, vice president and general manager for Emerging Markets at Micro Focus.

Initially, Micro Focus will provide technology from its product group, Vertica, which will deliver high-performance advanced analytics and machine learning to ensure the Jaguar team performs at the highest level.

Vertica is a unified analytics platform, based on a massively scalable architecture with a broad set of analytical functions spanning event and time series, pattern matching, geospatial, and end-to-end in-database machine learning. Independent from the underlying infrastructure, Vertica provides its technology across all major public clouds and on-premises data centres and integrates data in cloud object storage.

“Our ‘High Tech, Low Drama’ approach to delivering results will provide a number of synergies, including speed, agility, and insights that will translate to even-better performance all around,” Jwaied says.

Micro Focus will also conduct a cyber resilience assessment workshop to help the team identify any potential risks and gaps in their cybersecurity posture. Racing is a high-profile, big-budget business, making teams a potentially rich target for cybercriminals. In light of all the critical data generated by teams, data security is of paramount importance.

Micro Focus also plans to deliver tools and support to help accelerate the team’s software development.

Micro Focus is the latest partner announced by Jaguar Racing with a line- up that includes GKN Automotive, Dow, Viessmann, Castrol and Official Suppliers Alpinestars and DR1VA.

Jaguar Racing team director James Barclay said the team is excited to work with a company with specialist software knowledge, which will ultimately lead to better results on the track. Barclay will be a keynote presenter at the Micro Focus Universe, the company’s flagship customer event in March.

Racing for Success
Jaguar returned to racing in October 2016, becoming the first premium manufacturer to join the all-electric ABB FIA Formula E Championship street racing series. In 2019 the team won the Rome E-Prix – Jaguar’s first international motorsport victory since 1991.

As an official manufacturer team in Formula E, Jaguar Racing designs its own powertrain, which includes the motor, transmission, inverter and rear suspension.

The 2020/21 Formula E season is the first since the all-electric series was granted full world championship status by the FIA – the sport’s governing body. It will be the third year for the teams to be racing with the futuristic Gen2 race cars.

Beyond its all-electric concept, Formula E is unique in the world of motorsport for its choice of venues. The championship takes place on temporary street circuits in the centre of the world’s major cities including Santiago, Diriyah, Sanya, Rome, Paris, Monaco, New York and ending in a doubleheader race weekend in London.

Mitch Evans finished season six seventh in the Drivers’ Championship and Jaguar Racing finished seventh in the Teams’ Standings with a win in Mexico City, a podium in Santiago and one pole position. He is joined for season seven by British driver Sam Bird, who has won a race in every season of Formula E.

In season seven, the championship is officially recognised as a world championship by the governing body, FIA. It will be known as the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

Sustainability
The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship actively promotes electric mobility and renewable energy solutions to contribute to reducing air pollution and fighting against climate change around the world.

This green ethos ties to Micro Focus’ sustainability efforts, with company-wide strategies to adopt carbon-friendly IT practices such as enabling greater efficiency and longer life from technologies sold to customers.

In April of 2020, the company launched Micro Focus INSPIRE, a global corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme designed to cover key elements regarding how Micro Focus manages its relationships with employees, suppliers and customers and how the company can use its presence in the market to help positively impact the communities within which it serves.

Jaguar Racing returned to the streets of Diriyah in Saudi Arabia on February 26 and 27 for the first two rounds of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.