OffComm News 2 - O3b Networks

O3b Networks is a global satellite servicesprovider that is deploying a next-generationsatellite network that combines the reach ofsatellite with the speed of fibre. It wasfounded in 2007 by pioneering hightechnology entrepreneur Greg Wyler whohelped to create Africa's first commercial 3Gmobile and fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networkand in 2008 was ranked amongst the top 50global technology trendsetters.www.O3bNetworks.comCurrently, this data is offloaded by discs and flown byhelicopters to shore-based corporate supercomputercenters for further analysis. The high price of bandwidthtoday along with the lack of available capacity hasprevented this data from being offloaded in real-time.We can now offload hundreds of megabits of data at areasonable price point directly over the satellite network,allowing the seismic vessels to perform less of theprocessing on the ship and removing the need forexpensive and inefficient manual transportation of thedata.Do you see latency as big factor on the networks ofoil companies?Latency is certainly a big factor. Anyone who knowsabout IP, IT and Enterprise Application Delivery knowsjust how crucial latency is to ensuring applications runsmoothly and the way they were designed to. Virtuallyevery oil company runs some sort of ERP application foreverything from their equipment maintenance andpurchase requisitions to asset management to employeeservices. Most transactional software applications areheavily impacted by the delays caused by latency, andERP applications are no different. Oil companies areforced to put servers on every remote location, drivingup costs for both hardware and operational support ofthose servers. With a low latency solution like O3b, oilcompanies will be able to run thin client terminals andhost all their ERP applications at headquarters, making itmuch easier to maintain the integrity of the records intheir databases.In addition to improved performance of the business ERPsystems, low latency dramatically improves the quality ofvoice calls. Lower latency allows for more naturalinteractive conversations between staff on the platformand their counterparts on shore. It will also lead to moreeffective use of video conferencing systems.How do you think having access to more bandwidthwill impact the recreational lives of offshoreemployees who spend a significant amount of time onoil drilling platforms?Any manager of an offshore rig will tell you that thehappier his offshore employees, the more connectedthey are to their friends and families, the moreproductivity he will get out of them. Keeping offshorestaff happy by providing them with access to Twitter,Facebook, downloads and cost effective, clear voice callswith their friends and families keeps the rigs runningsmother. We now live in the age of bandwidth intensivesmart phones, so if you are running a rig with 50 peopleon it, it is likely you will have 30-40 smart phones andtablets that need to access the internet.Are there any regulations that might require oilcompanies to improve their communicationsnetworks?There are. Following the BP Deepwater Horizon incidentin the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), safety concerns about theoperation of these rigs have caused the US governmentto tighten up the regulations and operations in the GoMin general. It is anticipated that this will not only increasethe data capacity demands for operators, but alsorequire higher availability of circuits, with directivesrequiring rigs to cease operations if interruptions ofcritical communications exceed 30 minutes. We believethis creates an opportunity for O3b to help solve someof these connectivity problems that operators are facing.©OffComm News ~ Winter 2012 www.OffCommNews.com236OOO