Subaru Motorsports USA Uses SpeedFusion Cloud to Livestream Races Around the Country

Subaru Motorsports USA Uses SpeedFusion Cloud to Livestream Races Around the Country

Subaru Motorsports USA is the racing arm of Subaru. Every day, they test the limits of Subaru’s vehicles in rallycross, rally competitions, and record attempts spanning forests, snow, and desert. Since 2001, they have won more than 100 racing events, including 13 of the last 15 U.S. national rally championships.

Behind those numbers are compelling stories about the race team: the challenges the racers face, how they interact with their teammates. Subaru Motorsports USA shares these stories using videos on YouTube and Social media, where thousands of fans await the latest from the blue-and-gold.

Remote Locations, Congested Airwaves

As they competed in races across the country, the team often found themselves in remote areas with limited cellular access, congested airwaves, or both. However, Subaru Motorsports USA still needed to connect their team while delivering live streams and uploading content for their eagerly awaiting fans.

To achieve this, they tried a range of products including mobile hotspots, other dual-cellular routers, and signal boosters; all to no avail. They needed more connectivity, or a supercharged connectivity solution, than any single network could provide.

SpeedFusion

Enters the Race

To meet this challenge, Subaru Motorsports USA uses SpeedFusion; combining the bandwidth and coverage of AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon. This gives them rock-solid, blazing-fast, and supercharged connectivity no matter where the team is deployed.

When the team sets up camp, they connect three sites: the racing paddock, the office RV, and media crew vehicles.

The paddock is where the racers and cars rest while engineers analyze data and perform adjustments. To connect this site, they deploy the racecar of routers: the HD4 MBX. This device can connect up to four cellular radios, supporting up to eight SIM slots. For the best signal, the team deployed mobility series antennas from an elevated position. To deliver quality Wi-Fi, they use multiple AP One Flex outdoor hotspots. All devices are remotely manageable using InControl, so IT administrators can make adjustments without going onsite.

The office RV may move away from the paddock depending on the event, so it is equipped with another HD4 MBX for smooth, reliable connectivity.

Finally, they have media crews who travel to race locations far from the paddock. They need to livestream content on YouTube and Instagram as well as stay connected to the team. To do this, they use the MAX Transit Duo. This device can combine two cellular connections and supports ignition sensing to conserve vehicle batteries if needed.

Ready-Mode Global Infrastructure

Instead of setting up a VPN infrastructure, Subaru Motorsports USA used SFC for Supercharged Connectivity. This one-click service enables the team to build multi-WAN SpeedFusion tunnels with endpoints from around the world. This means no matter where they go, they will always find a nearby endpoint to connect with minimal latency.

Blazing Speed,

Solid Reliability

Despite the connectivity challenge each race brings, Subaru Motorsports USA is always able to flawlessly connect close to 100 devices simultaneously through Peplink’s supercharged connectivity. Using SpeedFusion technology, they are able to provide fans with hours of live coverage of the paddock and of the races, easily using 100GB of data for each event.

Do you have an event or broadcast that requires you to supercharge your connectivity? Get in contact with us here.

“We didn’t expect this to work – nobody’s phone works down there. We were amazed that Peplink’s SpeedFusion was able to deliver a flawless broadcast live to our social media channels. This opens up all kinds of new ideas for us to keep fans connected.”
William Stokes, Subaru of America, Inc.