London - September 8th, 2020
- Airspeeder enters strategic partnership with leading cyber protection firm Acronis
- Acronis harnesses the power of data to drive performance in elite competition
- Announcement follows significant institutional backing for world's first electric flying car racing series
- Next generation motorsport tech to benefit the wider eVTOL transport revolution
LANDMARK STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP
Airspeeder, the world's first electric flying car racing series
is delighted to announce a landmark technical and strategic
partnership with Acronis,
the global leader in cyber protection.
The racing series, created by performance electric flying car
manufacturer, Alauda will receive technical and strategic support
from Acronis, the world's leading cyber protection company. The
significance of this partnership will be reflected in the placement
of the Acronis brand in a prominent position on Airspeeder's MK4
racing craft.
With first Airspeeder GPs planned for 2021, Acronis' cyber
protection solutions will ensure the data security for the
revolutionary LiDAR and Machine Vision technology that will deliver
close but safe racing through the creation of virtual force-fields
around each racing craft, named 'Speeders'. Part of this technology
will be delivered by Teknov8, a
global provider of cyber security solution that will support
Acronis' partnership with Airspeeder as an Official #CyberFit
Delivery Partner.
The accelerated development of this technology in the furnace of
close sporting competition will benefit the wider eVTOL (electrical
vertical take-off and landing) sector, an industry backed by giants
including Uber, Daimler, Toyota, Hyundai and Airbus. Widely dubbed
as 'flying electric taxis' and considered the next great mobility
revolution, eVTOL promises to liberate cities and cut journey times
with a sustainable flying transport solution. The sector is
predicted by Morgan Stanley to be worth $1.5 trillion dollars by
2040.
"At Airspeeder we are creating an aerial motorsport driven by
innovation. Backing from Acronis, a business with an extraordinary
culture of technological success in Formula One and Formula E
represents significant affirmation of our vision to accelerate the
next great mobility revolution through sporting competition."
Matt Pearson, Founder, Alauda & Airspeeder
Acronis' secure data analysis solutions currently enhance the
performance of some of the most celebrated sporting entities in the
world. Acronis' strategic and technical support represents further
affirmation of Airspeeder and Alauda's vision to accelerate the
next great mobility revolution through sporting competition. This
significant partnership follows the confirmation of major
institutional investment in the sport and follows existing support
from logistics giant DHL and global money management firm
Equals.
"Acronis' place at the leading edge of innovation in data
management perfectly aligns with Alauda and Airspeeder's vision to
accelerate a mobility revolution through close sporting
competition. Our proven, integrated approach to providing easy,
efficient, reliable and secure cyber protection for all data,
applications and systems, will help Airspeeder to enhance their
performance on the air track and in the back office. We look
forward to delivering on the promise of a true next generation
technical and sporting proposition."
Jan-Jaap Jager, the Board Advisor and Senior Vice President
at Acronis
Airspeeder is built on the philosophy that nothing accelerates
technical progress like sporting competition. The next generation
sport plays the same role the pioneers of Formula One did nearly a
century ago in driving technical development and building public
acceptance for a new mobility revolution. Acronis and Teknov8's
technical and strategic support will therefore hasten the arrival
of the eVTOL (electrical vertical take-off and landing) vehicle
that promises to provide a long-term clean air solution to city
congestion through a zero-emissions aerial transport solution.
Airspeeder is described by global commentators as the 'Formula
One of the skies', Acronis' track record in motorsport makes them
the perfect technical and strategic partner. The firm's technical
team will manage the streams of live data that will underpin a
sport that promises to be the most exciting global sporting and
broadcast entity on the planet.
Airspeeder is a sport driven by technical innovation. Acronis'
data solutions currently ensure the security of the terabytes of
data derived from running Formula One cars during testing and
racing scenarios. This data is essential to sports like F1 and
Airspeeder that require telemetry data to analyse performance and
set strategy.
Acronis' cyber protection solutions, like its fully-integrated,
AI-powered anti-malware and backup solution Acronis
Cyber Protect, are developed based on the Five Vectors of Cyber
Protection: Safety, Accessibility, Privacy, Authenticity, and
Security (SAPAS). This ensures that these solutions provide the
highest caliber of protection for data, while also ensuring that
said data is tamper-free and easily accessible for unobstructed
day-to-day operations.
Airspeeder's team and pilots will benefit from real-time data
including analysis of battery and key systems performance. From
this information, engineers will be able to define strategy in real
time to find competitive advantage in a sport where every team
starts with the same technical platform. This will make for the
close and equitable racing motorsports fans crave.
BUILDING A NEW SPORT:
Airspeeder is the racing series conceived by performance
electric flying car marque, Alauda. Elite pilots drawn from
aviation, motorsport and even eSports will navigate electrically
governed courses above some of the most visually arresting
locations in the world.
Electric racing multicopters created by Alauda will fly at
speeds of up to 130km/h. Airspeeder GP seasons will be contested by
teams who will purchase the original craft and equipment from
Alauda, the Airspeeder series' exclusive manufacturer but will be
given freedom to set race strategy and recruit pilots from a pool
of elite pilot academy graduates. This will create a
technologically even playing field, encouraging greater control for
teams to dictate strategy. This approach has been compared to the
highly successful Formula E racing series.
Success for teams competing in the Airspeeder series is defined
by the skill of individual pilots and the teams' ability to
maximise performance from a truly revolutionary technical platform.
Key to this will be the collection and interpretation of data. This
will be underpinned by Acronis and its world-leading solutions
which will ensure the secure and seamless management of data. Key
indicators from battery peak performance to pilot biometrics will
be available to teams as they plot strategy to gain competitive
advantage.
A GLOBAL ENTERTAINMENT ENTITY, DEFINED BY DATA:
Airspeeder's will globally stream races and interact with the
sport's fan community across multiple devices and channels,
Acronis' work securely managing global fan, follower and partner
data for leading sporting entities perfectly empowers Airspeeder to
deliver a next generation multimedia experience. Central to this is
equipping Airspeeder with the inherent flexibility to adapt to
rapidly shifting requirements of audiences in the way they interact
with brands.
SAFETY THROUGH TECHNOLOGY:
As a progressive, technologically led sport, Airspeeder is
driven by the application of big data. As a world leading provider
of cyber protection solutions, Acronis and Teknov8 will ensure an
Airspeeder race or flight will never be compromised and that the
terabytes of data shared between Speeders and the technical teams
supporting them will remain entirely secure.
Airspeeder will be experienced through global multi-channel
streaming. Spectators at live events will be limited to VIPs
exclusively invited to experience and amplify the action from
luxury pavilions. As they compete, Speeders will utilise
cutting-edge LiDAR and Machine Vision technology to ensure close
but safe racing, with defined and digitally governed no-fly areas
surrounding spectators and officials.
AIRSPEEDER | ABOUT THE FOUNDER: MATTHEW PEARSON
Matt Pearson is the founder and visionary behind Alauda and
Airspeeder. Together with a team of engineers, designers and
commercial minds spanning Australia, New York and London, he is
accelerating the development of electric flying vehicles through
the white heat of sporting competition.
Beyond his role as a defining voice in the future of mobility,
Matt is driving the rapidly expanding Industrial Internet of Things
space through his work at Fleet. From their base in South Australia
millions of devices are powered via Low Earth Orbit through a
growing network of nano satellites.
AIRSPEEDER & ALAUDA:
Airspeeder is the most exciting sporting entity on the planet.
Founded on the belief that technical development is accelerated in
the white heat of competition, Airspeeder is defining the future of
mobility by hastening the arrival of the technologies that will
drive the flying car mobility revolution. This bold vision is
realised by elite technical minds from the cutting-edge of the
aviation and motorsport worlds.
TEKNOV8
Teknov8 is a leading global provider of cyber security
solutions. Teknov8 resells services from the world's leading backup
and cybersecurity vendors. Combined with outstanding customer
service and understanding our customer's needs we deploy and
deliver world class solutions. We are the best products with the
best services, delivering the best solutions.
As an award-winning Acronis Global Direct Partner, Teknov8
provides a fully managed service for all our customer's security
and backup offerings. As the leading Cyber Security reseller and a
global customer base of mid-market and enterprise clients, Teknov8
offers a total solution for the Cyber Security, Compliance and
Backup / Disaster Recovery across all verticals.
About Acronis:
Acronis is a leader in AI-native cyber protection, unifying data protection, cybersecurity, IT operations and hybrid infrastructure to deliver business continuity, security and compliance with less cost and complexity. More than 21,000 service providers trust Acronis to protect over 750,000 businesses in 150 countries. Acronis is headquartered in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. For more information, visit www.acronis.com.