Next G Rush-es to walk... er... work on water

By Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 24 December 2008 13:46

IT Industry - Strategy

Telstra is providing Next G wireless broadband coverage to the 45-foot “Rush” yacht in the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, with its skipper expressing surprise that the Next G signal worked 60kms off shore (45 nautical miles) in a 2007 test, with the 2008 setup having better equipment and hopefully giving a “competitive advantage”.

No, the Next G service doesn’t actually walk on water, but it certainly does work on water, according to the John Paterson, the skipper of the 45-foot Rush yacht that’s set to compete in the 2008 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, due to start as always on December 26.

Telstra notes in a press release that “Technology in the world of sailing has come a long way in the 63 years of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race – often described as the most gruelling ocean race in the world.”

In years past, iBurst was the wireless broadband sponsor, but once the yachts went past “The Heads” at Sydney Harbour, coverage would likely have ceased pretty quickly. This is not the case with Telstra’s 850MHz Next G wireless broadband service which, like the CDMA service that preceded it, works well out to sea, as it were – although whether it will work over the entire 628 nautical miles of the race is yet to be seen.

According to Telstra, Rush’s skipper, John Paterson, “has been working with Telstra to use the Next G network to send messages and access publically available information such as tracking the weather and monitoring his competitors’ locations as they are posted on the web.”
 
Paterson said: “We believe that the Next G network is going to give us a competitive advantage in this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. Even though primarily intended for land-based use, our testing of the coverage on the ocean has been terrific.
 
“We experimented with the Next G network for the first time in the 2007 race and I was very surprised with the coverage and speed, especially when we were sailing at 45 nautical miles off-shore, or around 60 kilometres from land,” he added.
 
Telstra says it has “provided the Rush crew with a Next G 7 Series Turbo USB card for wireless broadband, installed an external antenna for the laptop on board, and provided a Blue Tick LGTU500 mobile phone to assist with the communications during the race.”
 
It also notes that enthusiasts of the race can be kept up to date with Rush’s progress through the skipper’s Video Blogs on the Telstra “Nowwearetalking” website.
 
Paterson concluded: “I’m looking forward to uploading video blogs while we are racing to help those following the race have a real understanding of what we are going through at the time.”
 
Continued on page 2 – please read on!