Business

#tourdownhana Takes Think180 To Victory At Top SAP Conference

By Kelly Noble

Posted on June 16, 2015

Local technology company Think180’s #tourdownhana program has taken out the top prize at a prestigious SAP national conference in Melbourne.

South Australia’s reputation for winning cycling events like the celebrated Tour Down Under just got a whole lot bigger this week with local technology company Think180’s #tourdownhana program taking out the top prize at a prestigious SAP national conference in Melbourne.

The Adelaide-based SAP partner and business solutions provider walked off with the major gong at the 2015 Mastering SAP Technology conference’s Demo Jam contest. The challenge called on all SAP partners to put together a program, using SAP technology, to showcase just how innovative and clever the software is – and how these solutions can be applied to the real world.

The win is the second in three years for Think180, who received the identical award in 2013 with its computer-controlled cannon.

“What’s really pleasing about the award is that all entries are reviewed and judged by the conference delegates, most of whom are users from large organisations we as SAP partners work with each day,” Think180 co-founder and director Stephen Silver said.

“It’s the customer who decides.

“The entries also seek to show that customers can do so much with what they already own as part of their SAP ERP system. They don’t need to go and buy other tools or take on additional licensing to do some pretty clever things.

“Our win again shows that a niche Adelaide company can compete with the bigger national players when it comes to devising and offering agile and smart software solutions that drive innovation and generate improved business returns.”

Think180’s #tourdownhana program simulates a four-kilometre bike race with synchronised video footage and real time analytics. Built around the SAP HANA database system, it performs all the calculations, determines the gradients, calculates the distances and supplies all the information in real time.

“As the team of riders moves through the race, we simulate the ups and downs based on the current elevation and apply pressure to the bike using linear actuators,” Mr Silver said.

“We also count every revolution of the bike’s wheel using our spinneret propeller embedded web server which we’ve integrated with a SAP HANA XS service.

“That’s the technology behind it, but what’s ultimately important is that it shows how technology and electronics can be cleverly integrated to solve real world problems!”