STL sales and pre-sales staff hosted the group on a two day trip to Jerez, home of one of the main Formula One testing circuits, in December. The trip was made possible thanks to STL’s relationship with Spyker F1,formerly known as Jordan F1, and have an impressive heritage in the sport. STL has been working with the company for some years and Spyker now have a Samsung OfficeServ 7200 at their Silverstone head office and an OfficeServ 7400 at their wind tunnel in Brackley.
The Formula One season involves not only the main races but also many testing sessions where the teams get together to test the cars and race in a realistic environment against each other. Spyker use the Samsung IP telephony at all of their races and at all of their testing sessions. In a recent interview, Spyker IT manager Adrian Collinson commented:
“When choosing a new phone system, a key requirement for us was the ability to use IP handsets during testing and also at race locations, something which we trialled initially in late 2005 at the Brazilian Grand Prix. We took two IP phones with us and were amazed when we plugged them in and they ran off the main switch immediately. Both our racing support team and our testing team have benefited from the IP phones and we were able to use them in all remote locations during the 2006 season. They have made a huge difference for us during this time. We are always looking to be better and to do things more efficiently – and it’s great to know that our communications technology is one thing that I don’t have to worry about.”
As well as chatting to drivers such as Jensen Button of Honda and Felipe Massa of Ferrari, the group were able to see IP telephony working trackside, in what has to be one of the harshest situations possible. This allowed them to understand exactly how F1 teams use IP telephony to save costs and make life easier when travelling abroad for testing and races - and in turn enabled potential clients to see how IP telephony could be used in their own business environments.