EMC, in partnership Alphatron Marine, was asked to successfully manage the complete process of a network plan for AMS. The service called for an end-to-end solution from the design of the networks through installation and 24/7 customer service
Atlantic Marine Services (AMS) is an offshore support service contractor, providing accommodation and drilling rigs to major operators in the oil and gas industry, including governmental operators. Currently they manage and operate five accommodation rigs and three drilling rigs. AMS has a long and successful track record in operating and upgrading offshore assets and has a solid reputation with a recognised name within the offshore oil and gas industry.
AMS is strategically positioned in Amsterdam, Singapore, Ciudad del Carmen Mexico and Esbjerg/Denmark, situated throughout the main oil and gas areas in the world (Gulf of Mexico, Asia and the North Sea).
Scope of work
EMC, in partnership Alphatron Marine, was asked to successfully manage the complete process of the network plan. The service called for an end-to-end solution based on the highest standards, providing full support, from the design of the networks through installation and complete with 24/7 customer service.
The solution
EMC provided VSAT communications to three drilling platforms operating in the Gulf of Mexico and two accommodation vessels one in the North Sea and the other in Asia-Myanmar. This agreement included satellite communication services for a total of five rigs, with the option of adding the service for two more rigs.
The accommodation vessels provide first class service for the crew with a capacity for up to more than 150 crew members. Rigs like the Atlantic Tiburon II and Atlantic London operate for some of the worlds most important petroleum companies; like Pemex (Mexican state-owned petroleum company) and Total (French multinational integrated oil & gas company).
These platforms are located in different areas, therefore the coverage beams used to fulfil AMS requirements are different. For the rigs operating in the Gulf of Mexico (Atlantic Tiburon I, II and III) EMC chose to use T11N USA. The Atlantic London operates in Asia, in Myanmar, and uses the IS22. EMC covers the needs of the Atlantic Amsterdam with the T11N EUR, as it operates in the North Sea.
The satellite communication services required for the rigs use EMC´s SatLink technology and enable high speed Internet and VoIP, supported by the 24×7 Global Operations Center (GOC). The Internet bit rates delivered are different for each rig, for example, for the Atlantic Tiburon 1, 2 and 3 the bit rates are 768/768 1:1 connection shared over the three rigs with a guaranteed CIR of 256/256 per rig. The service received at the Atlantic Amsterdam is the lowest, which is 128/128 1:1. The Atlantic London is the rig with the highest service with 2MB/2MB 1:1. EMC will provide SatLink 2900 modem commissioning and configuration, as well as the information needed to configure the VoIP.
The antenna used for these rigs is the Intellian V130. This model of Intellian is capable of withstanding the most demanding sea conditions to provide high quality, continual broadband communications on all vessels. These platforms operate in the most demanding seas, such as the North Sea, therefore the V130 model meets all of the needs this platform may experience.
The services offered are Internet and VoIP, with up to eight different numbers postpaid and prepaid numbers.
One of the main challenges solved was to offer DIDs (telephone numbers) in Indonesia, a country in which providers rarely offer them and where they are extremely complicated to acquire. In the AMS case, EMC was able to provide a solution by forging an agreement with Alphatron, a local provider of DIDs.
The results
EMC and Alphatron worked together to successfully deliver a professional and customised service, completing all the stages of the process, from the design of the network to installation.
EMCs customer support delivers a customised service for AMS. One of the key features is the 24×7 customer service, providing fast and professional support. The fact that EMC has a worldwide distribution of local engineers, has also been a very important aspect of this project, because the service has to be delivered in different areas, based on the region throughout the world.
Prior to coming to an agreement, EMC worked to provide personalised solutions, to differentiate themselves from competitors. One example is an alarm that EMC put in place to alert AMS every time the service goes down. Once the alarm goes off, it directly alerts the GOC system which warns the support team, who will then find the issue and work to solve it. As soon as the support engineers have solved the issue, another alarm is initiated to warn Alphatron´s support team that the problem has been resolved.
AMS entire system has been designed by EMC engineers to ensure the best and most productive service is offered.
