CASE STUDY
In the competitive, fast-paced world of
high-end motorcycle manufacturing,
rapid innovation is foundational to
success. Ducati knew that the data being
generated by its bikes around every turn
and straightaway – both on the track
and on the street – could be captured
and used to optimise racing performance
while helping elevate the full, 360-degree
experience that the company delivers to
loyal customers worldwide.
Ducati is defined by sleek Italian design,
MotoGP domination and curve-hugging (and
chequered flagged) motorcycles that are
iconic of high-end performance worldwide.
Since its founding in 1926, the company has
designed every one of its bikes in Bologna,
Italy. Ducati meticulously manufactured
just over 55,000 motorcycles in 2018. To
put that into perspective, one of its primary
competitors – both on and off the track –
sold approximately 19.5 million motorcycles
in the same year.
“Our biggest challenge is competing with
global companies that produce millions of
vehicles per year, while innovating faster
than our competitors,” said Stefano Rendina,
IT Manager, Ducati Corse.
Although Ducati might be an underdog
in marketing dollars spent, the company
more than makes up for it in the volume of
performance data gathered, both on and
off the track. The data is dynamic, diverse
and distributed, structured and unstructured,
streaming in real time around the world and
stored on servers, and Ducati needed a way
to tap into its full value.
Rendina commented: “Data was crucial
to accelerating our success, both on the
track and in the design and management
of our products and services. That’s why
we were looking for a partner like NetApp,
to accelerate our Digital Transformation
journey using a mix of solid technologies,
leaving us free to leverage any opportunity
in the cloud.”
Using race-day analytics as a
catalyst for consumer innovation
Starting on the racetrack and eventually
moving to the open road, Ducati tapped
into the data-generating opportunity
from every straightaway and s-curve. By
equipping its MotoGP racing bikes with more
than 60 physical sensors, Ducati captured
performance data from every possible angle.
BY THE END OF
2020, WE MIGHT
BE ABLE TO
COLLECT DATA
FROM OVER
150,000 BIKES,
ACCELERATING
KNOWLEDGE
TRANSFER
FROM THE ROAD
TO PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT.
Using NetApp HCI and high-performance
computing cluster, engineers conducted
telemetry processing directly inside the
box – on the track during tests, accelerating
the development and improving the
effectiveness of the private and official tests.
www.intelligentcio.com
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