More people are probably aware of the Tesoro Iron Dog snowmobile race now since the latest U.S. presidential race, when Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's husband, Todd, brought it to light. Today competitors are revving their engines preparing once again for the grueling Tesoro Iron Dog snowmobile race. This year they will be in sight at all times during their 1,971 mile competition across the Alaskan wilderness, thanks to an Iridium®-enabled tracking system supplied by World Communication Center (WCC).

Known as the “World's Longest, Toughest Snowmobile Race,” this six-day competition starts February 8. Competitors will travel north from Big Lake, near Anchorage, to Nome, then south to historic downtown Fairbanks, Alaska. The 42 two-member teams will defy sub-zero cold, poor visibility and deep snow to push their snowmobiles and bodies to reach the finish line. Map courtesy of: © Copyright 2009, The Anchorage Daily News, a subsidiary of The McClatchy Company

Through a partnership with Applied Satellite Engineering (ASE) of Scottsdale, Arizona and Ontec Technologies of Phoenix, Arizona, WCC is outfitting each snowmobile team with ASE “SBD Pro” units which utilize Iridium short-burst data (SBD) service to send GPS position information, permitting officials and spectators to track the actual position of each race team. WCC's position reports will be viewable via the Tesoro Iron Dog Website using Google Earth at www.irondog.org and www.wcclp.com/irondog.asp.  Only Iridium is able to provide mobile satellite communications services that reach anywhere on the globe, including the farthest reaches of Alaska.

“The tracking system provides a great safety feature,” says Laura Bedard, Executive Director, Tesoro Iron Dog. “The tracking system is designed to send a signal every five minutes to the ONTEC interface, allowing us to follow each race team. If a racer crashes or stops prior to a check point, the Iron Dog website confirms the last known position, giving the race headquarters a tracking point if an emergency situation arises.”

In the past, volunteers would radio-in when racers pass checkpoints, and another volunteer would enter the coordinates into the Iron Dog website manually. With the SDB Pro, the data is automatically updated, eliminating potential human error and providing timely information.

“The event showcases Iridium’s rugged and reliable two-way satellite data links as a communication tool. This allows others to know where people, vehicles and other assets are in remote locations,” says Teri Petram, WCC Sales and Marketing Director and Alaska native. Photo courtesy of YouTube video Iron Dog Song by Wes Hammrick found at.

In addition to providing peace of mind to Iron Dog organizers, racing teams and spectators, the SBD Pro is amazingly customizable.  “It can be integrated into existing hardware applications to collect and transmit data such as latitude, longitude, temperature, heading, weight, humidity…virtually anything that you could apply a sensor to,” says Petram. “Because it is bi-directional, in-coming or out-going data can activate various applications in the field — such as triggering alarms, kill switches, or map data back to another SBD Pro, not just headquarters.” 

“Our ‘Machine-to-Machine’ or ‘M2M’ service is Iridium’s fastest-growing market with revenues up 104 percent and subscribers increasing more than 131 percent in the last year,” says Greg Ewert, Iridium Executive Vice President. “That is because Iridium is ideal as a reliable, critical lifeline, not only in action-packed races such as the Tesoro Iron Dog, but for enterprise organizations that need to track business assets around the world.”

“The application’s versatility makes it popular with extreme sports, such as the Tesoro Iron Dog, and military, maritime, trucking, weather, tourism,” says Petram.  “The Tesoro Iron Dog allows us to showcase our specialty products in action under the most extreme environmental conditions in the world,” notes Petram. “We started with them in 2006 and look forward to another sensational year.”