SAP Becomes Official Technical Partner of Extreme Sailing Series

SAP AG today announced a three-year partnership with the Extreme Sailing Series, decease a world-class, professional Global Circuit that puts fans at the heart of the action through their “stadium racing” format.

As the “Official Technical Partner” of the series, SAP plans to deliver cutting-edge business software and analytics solutions to provide sailors, spectators and the media with an unprecedented sailing experience.

For the first time in the six-year history of Extreme Sailing Series, analytics solutions from SAP can offer fans and broadcasters insights to enable them to decipher exactly what is happening on the water through the use of live leaderboards and 3-D visualizations taking place in real time. Post-race data will also provide teams with tools to analyze their performance and optimize their strategy helping them sail better.

“Having SAP on board as our Official Technical Partner is a great step for the Extreme Sailing Series,” said Mark Turner, executive chairman of Organisers OC Sport. “This partnership will enable us to take the event to the next level of innovation, interaction and participation. The work SAP is doing in the world of sailing is exciting for the sport and we are thrilled to be working with them to develop this relationship further. The initial enhancements will already be visible in the next Act in Rio, but will continue to be developed step-by-step over the three-year partnership.”

SAP also plans to enhance the management and operational side of the Extreme Sailing Series through the development of a “Race Committee” app. This live application can enable the Extreme Sailing Series Race Management Team to co-ordinate race starts, communicate penalties and record accurate race results — making the job of executing and operating races quicker and easier than ever before. This solution is particularly important considering the demanding rhythm created by the 8 × 15 minute race a day format.

“The Extreme Sailing Series is a great example of how great technology and teamwork enable high performance and excitement. SAP is honored to deliver innovations that will improve the performance of the teams and create great experiences for the customers – the fans,” said Jim Hagemann Snabe, co-CEO, SAP. “Our real-time analytics combined with mobile and cloud makes the on-water battles more accessible, vivid and thrilling for a global audience.”

Turner also revealed to iSportconnect that they are looking to add top their commercial partnerships with announcements coming soon.

“SAP is a great addition to our family of Official Partners (which includes GAC Pindar on Logistics, MarinePool on Technical Clothing, and a new Official Timekeeper to be announced shortly), but we continue to discuss with various brands to take up the 2 x Series Main Partner slots – more news soon on this, it remains a priority for us to conclude this key remaining part of the commercial jigsaw,” he said.

Solutions from SAP have been developed and tailored for over 12 years of successful sailing partnerships. Through longstanding relationships with Audi Sailing Team Germany, Kieler Woche and the SAP 5O5 World Championship, SAP has provided performance-enhancing tools to some of the world’s best sailors and fans.