SilverHook powerboats transmit over 2,000 bits of data a second as they race at 150 miles an hour through ten foot waves. IBM helps turn that data into meaningful insights that help SilverHook boats finish races in one piece. Beyond ensuring the safety of the craft and its operators, SilverHook uses data to work with Animation Research/Virtual Eye to bring the boat race to viewers. Their ultimate goal? To transform the the data the boat collects into a “virtual reality” that will allow “people at home to be in the boat.” Nigel Hook, SilverHook CEO, and Ian Taylor, CEO of Animation Research/Virtual Eye sat down with theCUBE’s John Furrier to get the details on how IBM helps their companies harness the “data ocean” as they race through the real one.

Collecting Data from the Boat

SilverHook powerboats, said Hook, are outfitted with a variety of sensors that monitor the boat’s actions, mechanical functions, and outward environment, including heat sensors, pressure sensors, load sensors, and accelerometers. But SilverHook also collects biometrics from the boat’s diver and throttle controller.

“Other forms of motor racing have been doing this before,” acknowledged Hook, but none have “been able to do that in a very violent environment.” Despite the risky mixture of “saltwater and electronics,” Hook said that the powerboats are able to maintain a stream of accurate and relevant data.

The trick, said Taylor, is that IBM Bluemix “sorts out the data,” distinguishing relevant from irrelevant information. Hook continued, detailing how IBM “sifts through all that data and looks for things that could go wrong.” And a lot could go wrong on the water — anything from a faulty rudder to a bad battery. When IBM does detect that something is awry, it alerts the crew chief and boat pilot. This awareness allows them to “make adjustments,” like “switch[ing] systems while running the boat,” in order to finish the race. It’s the actionable insight that Hook said he really values. “It allows for certainty,” he stressed: “Here’s the problem, here’s the solution.”

Real time analysis is essential to the SilverHook operation, emphasized Taylor. Bluemix, he said, has been a great fit in that sense because , it there’s a “problem with the engineer starting now,” they need to “do something about it now, or the engine will blow up.”

Turning Data into Images — or Virtual Reality

The other part of this equation is transforming data from IBM into images. Taylor explained that his company, Animation Research/Virtual Eye, turns that data “into a visualization that allows the support crew to see it and contact the boat.” Without data censors and Bluemix, this used to be a quite a challenge, said Taylor. After all they were “chasing a boat going 150, 180 miles an hour” in rough seas.

Hook added that he and Taylor eventually plan to use the data collected both from the boat and the pilot and throttle controller themselves and “animate it.” Their plan is to turn it into “a virtual world” that “lets people be in the boat with [Hook].”

Watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of IBM InterConnect.