19 May 1997 - Digital Equipment Corporation PCs and servers are supporting the world land speed record challenger, the British-built Thrust Supersonic Car (ThrustSSC). Digital's technology will be used to transfer vital facts and performance data via satellite link from the ThrustSSC in the remote Jordanian Jafr desert to the Web Site and then back to the ThrustSSC UK headquarters in Farnborough. The car, which is attempting to break the world land speed record and become the first car to go supersonic (ie break the sound barrier), will undergo high speed trials in Jordan during May and early June.
After each run in the desert, Digital laptop PCs will be used to transfer performance data to the desert control centre using a Digital RoamAbout wireless Ethernet connection. From the control centre, the data will be uploaded via satellite link to the Digital ThrustSSC UK Web site.
Among the PCs used by Thrust will be a specially developed rugged portable, designed to withstand the hostile mobile environment and extremes of temperature which the desert trials may entail. Four VP535s and five HiNote II laptops, three Celebris Desktop PCs and a Prioris NT server are also being supplied by Digital to the Thrust team.
By combining a wireless bridge and wireless PC Cards, Digital's RoamAbout lets network installers configure mixed Ethernet-to-wireless networks. It gives laptop users such as technical support staff the flexibility to move and work from anywhere in an installation while remaining live on the network.
Digital also manages and services the immensely successful Digital ThrustSSC Web site which has been designed to bring the land speed record attempt to a world-wide audience. The site, which is powered by a Digital Alpha server, has attracted over 7 million hits to date and provides a daily update with reports, photographs and a special media information service for journalists. The web site is also critical to a major breakthrough, where daily radio reports and interviews are stored and accessible to the world's radio stations. Through its on-line sales of merchandising, the site plays an important role in increasing funding for the ThrustSSC project. The Digital ThrustSSC Web site is located at http://thrustssc.digital.co.uk.
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