Ducati and Lenovo continue partnership to lead innovation in MotoGP

Lenovo provides Ducati with more advanced technologies to achieve even greater results this season.

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After 2021 ended with the victory of the MotoGP Constructors’ World Title for the second year in a row, Ducati Lenovo Team is ready for a new season, in which technology will play an increasingly crucial role. Since 2018, Lenovo’s technology partnership with Ducati has helped the team innovate and improve on-track performance. Innovation, speed and security are at the heart of this evolution. Enabled by a wide range of smarter solutions, Lenovo’s data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and smart collaboration continue to drive improvements and help the team to accelerate simulations and real-time data analysis, constantly transferring technology between the racing world and Ducati’s street bikes.

The first goal for the 2022 season is to complete the Remote Garage project, which allows engineers to receive data in real-time and to interact with the garage and bikes while working remotely. Moreover, Ducati and Lenovo are committed to improving video conferencing both in the headquarters and in the garage. The aim is to better connect the virtual teams for successful collaboration, even from miles away.

“2021 was an important year for the Ducati Lenovo Team. We have strengthened our technology partnership – paving the way for bolder innovation in the new hybrid working world.”

We are proud to collaborate with Ducati, who share our core values of speed, dedication, team spirit and a focus on results. In line with our mission to enable intelligent transformation, we will continue to invest and innovate with Ducati to achieve increasingly ambitious goals in the fast-evolving industry of motorsports,” commented Luca Rossi, President of Intelligent Devices Group at Lenovo.

“To be competitive and achieve the best results, on and off the track, it is essential to have a clear idea of ​​the central role of digital innovation and to rely on the support of the best partners. Thanks to the collaboration with Lenovo, we have accomplished important goals, such as accelerating data collection and analysis, thus speeding up the decision-making process. This is how we brought to circuits worldwide the bike that won the MotoGP Constructors’ World Title last season for the second year in a row,” said Claudio Domenicali, Ducati CEO. “Thanks to a passion for technological innovation that we share with Lenovo, we will continue moving forward in this direction, exploring tech solutions that will achieve even better results on the track, in serial production, and in corporate infrastructures.”

Computing power at anytime, anywhere 

Lenovo has supported Ducati’s engineers and designers in the innovation of racing and street bikes since 2018, helping the company to reach maximum performance and enhanced levels of security.

Using High-Performance Computing technology, based on Lenovo ThinkSystem SD530, SR630 and SR650 servers, Ducati has been able to simplify and accelerate data analysis concerning aerodynamics, fluid dynamics and stress tests. The improved computing power has allowed the company to obtain data and information in a third of the computation time and run almost twice as many simulations at the same time – making it easier for engineers to understand how the bikes will react to various weather conditions and continuously improve on-track performance. In addition, Lenovo infrastructure grants high standards of data protection and has allowed Ducati to minimize the risk of dangerous and expensive downtimes. 

Ducati has adopted the ThinkSystem SE350 edge server to boost connectivity and advanced real-time analytics, even in the most challenging environments. Lenovo’s server boasts a high computing power in an extremely small, versatile and easily portable device, bringing compute capabilities and AI features wherever you need them.  Designed and built with the unique requirements of the Edge in mind, ThinkSystem SE350 can operate effectively in any location, even in extreme environments: from the Malaysian humidity, which could reach 90%, to the dry heat and the sand of Qatar. ThinkSystem SE350 allows engineers to manage in real-time, wherever they are, about 15GB of data for each bike, and to produce customized insights for each rider that can be leveraged to take fast well-informed decisions. Finally, the security tools integrated in the device allow automatic data encryption in case of tampering, helping to protect Ducati’s intellectual property and prevent data leaks.

Collaboration, productivity and mobility at its core

Ducati has deployed a new virtual desktop infrastructure, built in partnership with Lenovo. Over 250 2D and 3D virtual desktops are used across the organization from the R&D department to the garage. Ducati is benefiting from increased productivity as users can connect to their workstation whenever they want, wherever they are and from any device. Virtual desktops also help to simplify IT management and maintenance, to improve data protection and business continuity, as well as to optimize resources and allow professionals to focus on higher value-added tasks. Furthermore, thanks to the possibility of working on the move, Ducati designers can remotely collaborate in real-time with the development team and the test rider during test phases, making changes to the design of the bike or of a single component based on the feedback received, reducing production times. 

Everyone across the Ducati team – from managers, engineers, and riders – rely on Lenovo tablets, PCs and workstations to achieve the highest levels of collaboration, power and speed. Technicians use the Lenovo ThinkPad P1 mobile workstation, to analyze data coming from the bikes’ sensors in minutes and to study the lap statistics, compare them and optimize the bike setup.

Top management, on the other hand, relies on the innovative ThinkPad X1 Fold foldable PC to enjoy maximum productivity and mobility, whereas designers can count on the power of Lenovo workstations, including the ThinkPad P Series, for design and development using CAD software. 

Driving towards an augmented future

Together, Ducati and Lenovo have big plans for the future. The two companies are already looking at how they can harness AI, machine learning and augmented reality to drive even greater levels of innovation in MotoGP. Reproducing the bike and its components virtually, in full size in a real context, will represent a differentiating factor accelerating future R&D, testing and maintenance, as well as of after-sales support for street bikes.

Press release from Ducati