Intel-Based Sony Notebooks Add Wind To The Sails Of Yachts Competing In Global Challenge 2004

Crews toughing it out in the world's only around-the-world amateur yacht race, Global Challenge 2004, are relying on Intel-powered Sony VAIO* laptops to make it through the harrowing 10-month, 30,000-mile journey.

Crews are using satellite technology and Intel® Centrino™ mobile technology**-based Sony notebooks in all 12 competing yachts to log their journeys, check weather conditions, communicate with family and friends, and navigate their course as they vie to achieve victory in Portsmouth, UK, next July. The yachts set sail from Portsmouth on Oct. 3 and are currently docked at Buenos Aires, Argentina, until Nov. 28, when they will set sail for Wellington, New Zealand.

Each 18-man team is equipped with Sony digital stills cameras and digital camcorders to capture the excitement, which they can then email to friends, family and the Global Challenge team using a high-performance Intel Centrino mobile technology-based Sony laptop. Two other identical laptops are used for navigation and communication purposes, providing the latest weather information at their fingertips to help skippers be more competitive in making crucial decisions throughout the race.

The great battery life and thin, light, robust designs of the Sony laptops based on Intel Centrino mobile technology enable the crew to spend more time with the laptops on board. Integrated wireless LAN capability allows teams to access the Internet wirelessly at hotspots in each of the harbors where the yachts will dock, including Buenos Aires; Argentina; Wellington, New Zealand; Sydney, Australia; Cape Town, South Africa; Boston; USA; La Rochelle, France and Portsmouth, UK.

"Spending such long periods of time away from friends and family, it's important for the crew to be able to send and receive regular emails and photos to people back home and those following the race," said Amedeo Sorrentino, Skipper of the VAIO yacht, currently placed second overall. "The technology onboard enables us to more easily access the latest weather reports and use vital navigational technology to our advantage."

"Global Challenge 2004 is a great example of how mobile technology touches many different aspects of people's lives," said Andrew Allison, mobile solutions marketing manager, Intel UK and Ireland. "Every item taken on the yacht had to be chosen very carefully. It's important for the yachts to have slim, light laptops. Notebooks based on Intel Centrino mobile technology fit the bill perfectly, providing all the processing power needed by the teams in a thin and light space-saving package, with outstanding battery life."

"This sailing challenge gives ordinary people an extraordinary opportunity to do something different with their lives," commented Stewart Burness at Sony. "The same can be said of the unusual way that the Intel-based Sony notebook PCs are being used - which proves that it is the people that bring the products to life."

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