LONDON – August 14, 2020 – Global sports league SailGP and Acronis®, a world leader in cyber protection, have partnered on an innovative technology solution that will bring fans closer to the high-speed, high-tech action.

Through an innovative voice recognition project, every conversation onboard the national teams’ F50 catamarans will be tracked, transcribed and translated in real-time. This will then be made available to broadcasters and viewers around the globe across a number of mediums and in a variety of languages, including French, Spanish, Japanese and Mandarin.

SailGP is continually looking at ways to improve its award-winning broadcast production and use data to bring fans ever closer to the action, as well as help educate them on the high-speed world of SailGP. Being able to listen in on the key conversations – including tactical calls and race-winning, split-second decisions – will give fans a unique insight into what it takes to race at the highest level on the world stage.

The voice recognition project will also be an important tool in the team data analysts’ armory as they look at ways for the teams to continually improve and gain a competitive edge while racing boats that all feature the same design and technology.

Through the three-year deal, Acronis will become an official Cyber Protection Supplier to the league, as well as Cyber Protection Partner to the France SailGP Team, helmed by multiple world champion Billy Besson, with its branding prominently displayed on the French team’s F50.

Acronis’ cyber protection solutions combine the best of cybersecurity and data protection, delivering on the Five Vectors of Cyber Protection: Safety, Accessibility, Privacy, Authenticity, and Security (SAPAS). One such solution includes Acronis Cyber Protect, which provides fast and reliable backup, AI-powered anti-malware, and comprehensive endpoint management in a single solution.

Acronis is no stranger to working on technological solutions for high-performance sports teams. In recent years, the tech firm has kept data safe and developed innovative solutions for English Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Eredivisie, NFL, MLB, Formula One, and Formula E clubs and teams.

SailGP CEO Russell Coutts said: “Technical innovation plays an integral role in everything we do at SailGP, and we are continually looking at ways to entertain with our unique sports property and excite our fans. Being able to listen to all of the onboard communications in the different team languages will truly bring another dimension to our broadcast offer and we are really excited to work with Acronis to add this to our award-winning broadcast platform when the league restarts in San Francisco in April 2021.”

Acronis' founder and Executive Officer Serguei Beloussov said: “This is an exciting project to work on together with SailGP, and we are looking forward to seeing it well-received by fans once the league restarts next year. We are also thankful for the opportunity to work with SailGP to help them get #CyberFit by developing innovative AI/ML voice recognition technology to enable fans to have a truly unique insight into what happens on the race boats.”

France SailGP Team helm Billy Besson said: “It is fantastic to welcome Acronis – a company that shares similar values – as a partner to the French team. We are extremely excited to work with them on technological developments that will play a major role in the future of the sport, as well as continue to find new ways to engage our fans. We look forward to our partnership together.”

SAILGP
SailGP is racing redefined. Established in 2018 and headquartered in London and New York, SailGP is an annual, global sports championship featuring bold, cutting-edge technology and awe-inspiring athleticism. The fan-centric, inshore racing that is powered by nature takes place in some of the most iconic harbors around the globe and culminates with a $1 million winner-takes-all match race. Rival national teams battle it out in identical supercharged F50 catamarans, engineered for intense racing at electrifying speeds exceeding 50 knots (nearly 60 mph/100 kph). Visit SailGP.com for more information.  

ABOUT ACRONIS
Acronis unifies data protection and cybersecurity to deliver integrated, automated cyber protection that solves the safety, accessibility, privacy, authenticity, and security (SAPAS) challenges of the modern digital world. With flexible deployment models that fit the demands of service providers and IT professionals, Acronis provides superior cyber protection for data, applications, and systems with innovative next-generation antivirus, backup, disaster recovery, and endpoint protection management solutions. With award-winning AI-based antimalware and blockchain-based data authentication technologies, Acronis protects any environment – from cloud to hybrid to on-premises – at a low and predictable cost.

Founded in Singapore in 2003 and incorporated in Switzerland in 2008, Acronis now has more than 1,500 employees in 33 locations in 18 countries. Its solutions are trusted by more than 5.5 million home users and 500,000 companies, including 100% of the Fortune 1000, and top-tier professional sports teams. Acronis products are available through 50,000 partners and service providers in over 150 countries in more than 40 languages. Visit acronis.com for more information.

CONTACTS
Sacha Kemp (SailGP) // skemp@sailgp.com // +44 7772 577129
Guennadi Moukine (Acronis) // Guennadi.Moukine@acronis.com // +61 40 555 9296