Where I didn't expect so much Windows
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An email message from Microsoft Dynamics Spain invites me to visit a place where it seemed obvious to me that they use Windows on many of their machines: the installations of Lotus F1 Team Formula 1, in Oxfordshire, Great Britain.
What I did not expect is that the use of Microsoft technology is not limited only to office applications such as Word, Excel or PowerPoint, but also Dynamics, the CRM of Microsoft, is the tip of the iceberg of the technology partner agreement that both companies have signed.
Brief history of a winning team
This is a team used to winning, and winning a lot
Both in its beginnings when it was Toleman, Ayrton Senna's launch team, and as Benetton with an emerging driver named Michael Schumacher, during the World Championships with Fernando Alonsowhen they were Renault, or this last stage with Kimi Räikkönen; where they are fighting for third place in the team championship.
And to this we must add that Renault is the engine that has won the most world championships in the last 30 years, being used in teams such as Renault itself, Williams, Benetton, BAR, Arrows or – currently – at Red Bull; in addition to Lotus.
All with a budget that is estimated to be the fifth or sixth among the most powerful teams on the grid.
A technology partner agreement
While I was flying to England I was looking at the press release about the technology partner agreement that Microsoft Dynamics has signed together with the team, and I had a first question about the causes that led the Lotus F1 Team to abandon SAP, a technology that is proven through more than two decades, across the globe.
Graeme Hackland, CEO of the Lotus F1 Team explains it in a summary way, indicating that the ERP system they previously had was made up of a SAGE solution, accompanied by SAP BusinessObjects for reporting and budgeting, and a myriad of vertical applications around it.
This produced difficulties in tracking and exploiting the information generated by the company – which reaches several Tb. daily -, and problems in the integration of the different systems and applications.
I must admit that I should not make much effort to imagine the growing spiral of complexity and difficulties in operating the system, which I have seen so many times reproduced in the most diverse companies.
Thus Lotus made the determination to open an evaluation process based on eight key criteria: experience, architecture, management of the business, production, support, reporting, integration and total cost of ownership.
Inviting 13 products to enter the fray to compete for a million-dollar contract, “and among them Microsoft Dynamics AX emerged as the clear leader”remember Graeme.
This has been due, as explained to us by the manager of relations with Technology Partners - Luca Mazzocco -, that the products have been satisfactorily adapted to the most of 800 real use cases that the team used to assess and select the future technology partner.
You have to take into account that it is not a question of money, although Microsoft also contributes as a sponsor of the team, but that the Technical Director of Lotus is the one who has chosen and decided the company and products that it considers most appropriate, according to the one that has best adjusted and added value to the present and future needs of the team.
Thus, Microsoft has not only established itself as a system provider with Microsoft Dynamics AX, but is also implementing its entire ecosystem and platform using products such as:
- Windows and SQL Server 2012
- Lync Server 2013
- System Center 2012
- SharePoint 2010
- Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8
- BizTak
- Team Foundation Server (which implies Visual Studio)
- Windows Azure
This is how four implementation phases have been defined, which Hackland described in detail in a very interesting presentation and which is made up of the following four stages.
1 Dynamic AX Core, Finance, HR, Warehouse, Travel & Expense. 1b Fixed Assets, Payroll, Cash Flows, Budgets, T&A, RTM 2 Design, Production, Manufacturing 3 Competition, Sales, Marketing and Legal 4 CSI, in preparation!
On Site, Everywhere
But there are many, many more places where the company uses software that runs on Windows, and I didn't know.
For example, the machining machines that cut, sand, drill and mill the metal parts (titanium or tungsten) that will go into single-seaters, use specific software that runs on Windows 7.
The CAD and data analysis programs the company uses, such as Catia, also run on Windows computers. Just like I saw parts modeling and analysis systems, being used to watch football matches on YouTube by an engineer on break, and with the unmistakable taskbar of Windows 7.
Among the most curious, a steering wheel simulator Where there was one located on a support that was connected to a system where it carried out a simulation of actions carried out by real pilots and that also ran on the Redmond operating system.
And to finish, in the following stages of implementation Azure will be used; emphasizing the CEO of the company, how important it is to be able to use the military-level security certified by the Microsoft Cloud.
Conclusions
In summary, Lotus F1 Team is a company that is continuously seeking a level of quality and excellence of the highest level, and who has decided to bet on the entire Microsoft ecosystem.
And where there is practically no place where Windows does not wait for me.
Editor's Note. Thank Microsoft Dynamics Spain for the invitation and the opportunity to get to know this F1 team up close, and especially Raquel, Fernando, and Luca.
Photos | Juan Quijano, Microsoft Dynamics Spain
