du has announced the leading offshore drilling contractor, Seadrill, as its new Managed VSAT (very small aperture terminal) services customer. For the first time, du is offering IP telephony to offshore Oil and Gas rigs, in addition to data traffic.
“We are thrilled to welcome Seadrill as the newest member of our enterprise services family. We believe that the company will benefit immensely from our VSAT offering, which will provide them a solid new base from which the remote aspects of their business will experience consistent and reliable communication. When clients take on managed VSAT connectivity, they will be utilising du’s world class hub which is ranked the 12th best teleport in the world, saving automatically on OPEX costs,” said Hany Fahmy Aly, Executive Vice President - Enterprise Business, du.
In line with the agreement, Seadrill will benefit from a variety of VSAT offerings including IP VSAT, Managed Data Network services over satellite, and Satellite Integration Solutions. Furthermore, du provides integrated end-to-end solutions, delivered over a redundant backbone infrastructure. This will enable their valued enterprise customers to increase productivity and profitability through IP technology.
Harvey Snowling, Vice President of Operations, Africa and Middle East, Seadrill, said, “We signed a multi-year agreement for du’s VSAT Managed Services to bring improved connectivity to our remote marine bases. We can now rely on consistent communications at all times. Not only will this new agreement improve our and our employees’ peace of mind, it will also improve our security and overall connectivity.”
VSAT services provide a transmission and networking connectivity utilising Very Small Aperture Terminals (earthbound station) and Space Segment to simulate terrestrial data networks. The solution is optimised to support the customer’s needs, guaranteeing a consistent level of quality of service. These types of services are particularly useful for mobile platforms (marine), areas with no or limited terrestrial connectivity (deep desert), or as an alternative route (business continuity) to traditional telecommunication services.
Source: du