@pigeonrace2009 was born due to the mere fact that Telkom is useless when it comes to internet in South Africa.
Neil the man behind the Pigeon Race idea was getting realy frustrated with the slow speed and unreliable lines that the company he is working for is using to transfer large files between satallite call centres. This made him think about a april fools paper he read a while back about using carrier pigeons as a network layer.
This all got Neil thinking about how long it takes to transfer large amounts of files in South Africa over standard ADSL line, and how fast it can be done using carrier pigeons. After discussing it with his CIO, Pigeon Race 2009 became a reality.
Basically they will be flying a pigeon with a 4GB micro SD card from Howick to their central site in Hillcrest. They did a dry run. Here is the stats: Pigeon took 48 minutes to deliver the data. ADSL is still downloading. Telkom got hold of this via the media and is currently in a flat spin. They got a call from Telkom asking them for their circuit numbers so they can make sure they have good service.
Now for the best part, tranfering the data through ADSL circuit is costing them +- R45 000 per month, now if they moved to Avain Carrier Pigeons they will be saving a whopping R35 000 per month.
If you would like to support Neil and Winston the Carrier Pigeon go check out their site, follow them on twitter or search for Winston on Facebook. You can also buy a very nice shirt from springleap to show your support.
