In a never-seen-before adrenalin match of skill against technology, Lewis will be racing around the 4.2km Kyalami Race Track in Johannesburg against a data capsule of 5.4 GB of data transmitted across Vodacom Business’ super-fast, high-capacity Metro Ethernet fibre network from Midrand to Sandton.

This once-in-a-lifetime exclusive opportunity will see a high intensity race between a Formula One World Champion in a Mercedes-Benz AMG C63, which has a top speed of 250km/h – against enough downloading data to contain about 5 full-length movies of about 1 GB each.

While the event is by invitation only, Vodacom Business invites anyone interested in fast cars and fast data to upload a photo (maximum file size of 1MB) or personal message to Lewis Hamilton on www.vodacombusinesslightspeed.co.za. These images and messages will be used to ‘load’ the data packet, which will race with Hamilton, so anyone can be part of this history in the making.

“As part of the Vodafone family, who are title partner of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 team, we are taking up this opportunity to introduce a serious network enabler for business in a fun and memorable way and celebrate this milestone for Vodacom Business and South African enterprises. We believe it will be a close call; the odds are pretty even, but whatever the outcome – this will be a race no one will forget,” says Ermano Quartero, Managing Executive of Products and Services at Vodacom Business.

And the benefits to businesses?

“Metro Ethernet enables businesses to have more control over their information and communications technology, supported by the latest in fibre optic solutions. With Metro E, our clients have access to super-fast, always-reliable, bandwidth delivered directly to their doorstep – the last mile access giving them the agility required to compete in an exponentially changing world, with no necessity to involve third parties,” Quartero concludes.

Maps and data supplied by South African digital mapping company, MapIT, in conjunction with its international shareholder Tele Atlas, will contain all the logistical detail needed to navigate the event, such as road closures around major matches, stadium entrance gates, ‘Fan Park’ points, drop-off areas and 3-D displays of key landmarks in the nine host cities. Emergency services, vehicle tracking organisations and fleet managers will have access to identical information, which will soon be available on the web as well as on personal navigation and mobile devices.

Tele Atlas will also give developers access to free API (Application Programming Interface) features that will allow them to create special custom designed programs for mobile and web applications.

“Our mapping for the World Cup covers not only the latest street level changes and new access ramps, but also the geometry around existing and new stadiums and walkways. It is designed for people on the move,” says MapIT, Managing Director, Ray Wilkinson.

The 3-D display of more than 50 landmarks including Loftus Versveld, Coca-Cola Park (Ellis Park) and Soccer City is a powerful and innovative new tool.

“These images offer users more realistic orientation and route guidance in a strange environment,” says Wilkinson. “Users can literally identify key points as they approach them.”

Danny Grobben, General Manager, Tele Atlas South Africa says, “The special map release allows our navigation and local search partners to deliver solutions for an enjoyable, hassle-free World Cup experience. With Tele Atlas content as the foundation, mobile and in car navigation products will help people avoid temporary road closures, find the best walking route to stadiums and see just where they are using Tele Atlas 3D landmarks or detailed Tele Atlas 2D city maps. Our addition of phonemes enables speech recognition technologies on navigation devices and provides better voice output.”

The special version of the company’s MultiNet map database includes all roads in South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, as well as accurate coverage of the nine host cities in South Africa. The map will allow fans to locate restaurants, hotels and bars, as well as the fastest routes around regulated traffic zones near event locations.

To help developers create applications in time for the event, Mandali Khalesi, Senior Product Manager at Tele Atlas explained, “Tele Atlas plans to offer special World Cup APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). Using these standard web interfaces, developers can access the freshest maps and dynamic content to create and deliver navigation and local search applications for the World Cup. With our APIs, developers can build the best applications that help their web and mobile end users find whatever they need during the competition.”

This special version of Tele Atlas’s MultiNet map database includes 675 160 km of road in South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, 228 152 Points of Interest, street names and road safety information, speed restrictions, signposts and lane information.

“Business and industry depend on the accuracy of our map data,” says Wilkinson. “With this latest map release, we are confident that we are offering the gold standard in mapping that we promised and set out to deliver when we first pioneered mapping in this country nearly eight years ago.”

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