U.S. Ski Team

They carve through fresh powdered slopes, glide down epic terrain, and perform extreme freestyle acrobatics. They are the U.S. Ski and Snowboard team!

Required Unbreakable Connectivity

In order to be the best, the team trains at some of the most spectacular and most dangerous venues in the world. Unfortunately for them, these picturesque sites are often dead zones for connectivity.

Success Factors

Online at All Times

Having connectivity is crucial for the U.S. Ski team that uses a cloud based service to organize the skis and waxes, and needs access to live video of races for timing purposes.

Reliability and Flexibility

Ability to maintain the team’s connections to each other, weather tracking devices, as well as video uploads and playbacks

Technologies

U.S. Ski Team Stays Connected

They carve through fresh powdered slopes, glide down epic terrain, and perform extreme freestyle acrobatics. They are the U.S. Ski and Snowboard team! The organization represents nearly 200 elite skiers and snowboarders competing in seven teams: alpine, cross country, freeski, freestyle, snowboard, Nordic combined, and ski jumping. In addition to representing these elite athletes, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team also provides leadership and direction for tens of thousands of young skiers and snowboarders across the U.S.

The Need For Connectivity

In order to be the best, the team trains at some of the most spectacular and most dangerous venues in the world. Unfortunately for them, these picturesque sites are often dead zones for connectivity. In remote, mountainous areas of Europe, for example, the team’s connections to each other, weather tracking devices, as well as video uploads and playbacks are not reliable. To complicate matters further, the team travels to different locations week after week.

These problems are not confined to training sites. The team also encountered issues in a large, Austrian city when 50,000 fans challenged the limits of available bandwidth. The team uses a cloud based service to organize the skis and waxes, and needs access to live video of races for timing purposes. Sometimes connectivity problems are no more than a simple nuisance, but other times the safety of the athletes is at stake.

Peplink Reliability
The U.S. Ski and Snowboard team required unbreakable connectivity, and they got it using Peplink’s HD4 MBX router. The HD4 MBX is designed for industrial usage and is ideal for on-the-go deployments. It is capable of aggregating the bandwidth of up to four cellular links into an unbreakable, high-speed, SD-WAN connection. The device is installed in the team’s mobile wax truck, affectionately named Yolanda. An antenna is mounted on top of the vehicle and the router is securely mounted away from works stations. The HD4 MBX uses local WiFi when available, and the team also uses SIM cards. With up to 16 cellular providers to connect to, the team’s spotty coverage issues are gone.

The Results

“The connectivity provided by Peplink is crucial to the success of the team,” says Ski Technician Eli Brown. “We need to operate with uninterrupted access to weather, databases, and changing information on the events. We are constantly uploading video for technique analysis and sending press images and articles back home to share our success… and once in a while we watch stupid cat videos on YouTube!”

Brown says the HD4 MBX was a breeze to set up and bring online. He adds, the connection is always strong and secure regardless of where the team is on the circuit. “Count us—the U.S. Ski Team—as a completely satisfied customer.”