NASCAR picks AWS to power its cloud

Image credit: Pixabay (Image credit: Image credit: Pixabay)

NASCAR will leverage the power of AWS to migrate its 18 petabyte video archive to the cloud as part of its new multi-year agreement with Amazon's cloud computing arm.

The racing body announced that it has chosen AWS as its standard for both cloud-based machine learning and artificial intelligence workloads.

NASCAR will utilize the full breadth of AWS technologies to build cloud-based services and automate existing processes. Additionally, a new video series on its website called This Moment in NASCAR History will be powered by AWS.

NASCAR's video archives will be migrated to AWS and through the use of Amazon Rekognition, the videos will be automatically tagged with metadata such as driver car, race, lap, time and sponsors so that they can be searched more easily.

By using AWS' services, the racing body expects to save thousands of hours of manual search time each year as it looks to quickly deliver video clips to fans on its website and social media channels.

NASCAR and AWS

NASCAR will use AWS services to enhance its full range of media assets including websites, mobile applications and social properties for its 80m fans worldwide.

The racing body will also use Amazon SageMaker to train deep learning models using 70 years of historical footage to enhance metadata and video analytics. NASCAR even plans to caption and time stamp every word of speech within archived videos using Amazon Transcribe which will easily allow its video producers to locate source footage via text searches.

Additionally, NASCAR will use AWS Media Services, such as AWS Elemental MediaLive and AWS Elemental MediaStore, to support NASCAR Drive which puts fans in the driver's seat through the use of in-car cameras, live audio and live leaderboards.

Executive Vice President of Innovation and Development at NASCAR, Craig Neeb explained why the racing body chose AWS over competing cloud services, saying:

“Speed and efficiency are key in racing and business which is why we chose AWS—the cloud with unmatched performance, the most comprehensive set of services, and the fastest pace of innovation—to accelerate our migration to the cloud. Leveraging AWS to power our new video series gives our highly engaged fans a historical look at our sport while providing a sneak peek at the initial results of this exciting collaboration.”

Anthony Spadafora

After working with the TechRadar Pro team for the last several years, Anthony is now the security and networking editor at Tom’s Guide where he covers everything from data breaches and ransomware gangs to the best way to cover your whole home or business with Wi-Fi. When not writing, you can find him tinkering with PCs and game consoles, managing cables and upgrading his smart home.