W I N T E R
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NEWS R E M O T E C O M M U N I C AT I O N S E X P L O R AT I O N
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SPECIAL INTERVIEW:
O3b Networks Insatiable demand for connectivity is raising a new breed of satcom providers
12 APPS See our app roundup for use offshore
REMOTE INSIGHT REPORT O&G Cyber Security Are we doing enough?
When to refine your remote network
Growth of bandwidth demand on energy rigs shows no sign of slowing Gary B. Bray, Signalhorn
THE LOWDOWN
Shape shifting in the satellite sector • Smart shipping for United Arab Shipping Company • Radio Holland returns • Airbus steps off the satbus • Inmarsat debuts in Latin America • EMC goes to Brazil • PLUS The Quarterly, Events and much more inside! Produced by CTLD Publishing Ltd
Contents
Welcome
Winter 2014
Notice anything different about this issue? It’s been an exciting quarter for OffComm News. We have new staff, an updated magazine, and a fantastic Remote Insight Report! This edition is packed with insights and analysis that matter most to those serving remote and harsh environments; namely how to maximise efficiency and security for these locations. You’ll also find out which markets are set to secure the futures of the equipment vendors; as well as challenges to consider if you’re considering refining your remote network. It’s not just us doing some shape shifting either. See page 22 and find out what prompted some of the sector players to customise their offerings as the satcom era hots up. I hope you enjoy this issue as much as we enjoyed putting it together for you. If you’d like to get in touch, my email is below. Until next time, Georgina Elrington Editor@OffCommNews.com OffCommNews.com
Inside this issue 11
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REMOTE INSIGHT REPORT Oil and Gas Cyber Security Are we doing all we can?
FEATURE Refining the remote network Challenges and considerations
22 OffComm News is a trading name of CTLD Publishing Ltd. Company No. 7774639 ISSN 2051-9362. Read the digital version online by clicking the current edition image at http://OffCommNews.com. OffComm News is available in print quarterly by subscription only. Digital subscriptions are free via www.goo.gl/kr3bz For advertising contact: marketing@OffCommNews.com For editorial & subscription queries email: editor@OffCommNews.com or telephone 44 (0) 203 239 1777
ARTICLE Shape shifting in the satellite sector Companies consider their offerings in preparation for the satcom era
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ANALYSIS Equipment vendor’s future secured in the subsea market
24 Whether online or in print, copyright remains that of CTLD Publishing Ltd. It is prohibited to photocopy, scan, distribute either hard copies or digital versions on a website, via email or anywhere else without appropriate accreditation i.e. Source: OffComm News magazine. Reprints are available. The publisher is not responsible for the endorsement for products, services or opinion offered, nor any subsequent effects relating to accuracy, goodwill, substantiations or consequential outcomes relating to news, features or advertisements.
NEWS
PRODUCT ROUNDUP 12 apps for the offshore oil and gas industry
ANALYSIS NSR reveals its satellite operator financial analysis
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SPECIAL INTERVIEW O3b Networks Choices emerging for satcoms progression
OPINION iDirect’s Denis Sutherland considers HTS and the capacity to accommodate offshore O&G
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FEATURE Growth of bandwidth demand on energy rigs shows no sign of slowing down
WINTER 2014
THE LAST WORD Wireless, at 20 words per minute, from Anver Anderson
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The Quarterly - Marketplace Roundup Stay up to date with the market on these pages in every issue. In between, get the news to your inbox as it happens: http://goo.gl/kr3bz
Who’s Who
Orange maritime VSAT wins US$12m contract with petroleum leader BW Offshore, an Oslo-based, global provider of floating production services to the oil and gas industry, has signed a five-year, US$12 million contract with Orange Business Services for an end-toend satellite communication system for its fleet of specialized oil and gas production vessels. Orange maritime VSAT will integrate 14 vessels and two land-based locations into
an MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) network. This will offer ship personnel access to the exact same business applications, communication, and entertainment services at sea as they do on land, no matter where the vessel is located. In addition, the client has agreed to invest in Session Internet Protocol (SIP) trunking to enable unified communications for its 2,000 employees regardless of location.
New intelligent oil and gas technologies from GE Oil and gas companies in Brazil vying for position and future growth, amid increasing production costs and a dwindling workforce pool, may find help at GE’s new research hub in the region. GE Oil & Gas has invested more than $250 million to develop industrial internet solutions with a mind to transform the work process,
using data insights combined with industry knowledge. Intelligent oil and gas technologies should help to maximise production, extend important operational asset lifetime, as well as reduce operating costs.
Maritime VSAT connectivity deal for Malaysia’s PBJV Group PBJV Group is required to provide a dedicated 512kbps up and down link to some 300 Petronas staff working onboard a barge, called Kota Laksamana 101. It asked Globecomm Maritime to help equip the vessel with VSAT connectivity and now enjoys Ku-band comms with L-band back-up during deployment in waters off Bintulu.
operators. So, from now, both ship and crew will be able to enjoy always-on, unlimited bandwidth for both business and personal applications.
Although PBJV specified a pure data solution via a single satellite beam, the below decks equipment has a VoIP (voice over IP) option. Further, should Kota Laksamana 101 be awarded charters in locations that fall outside the current coverage area, the system can be remotely realigned to connect to other VSAT satellite
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MSS operator, Thuraya Telecommunications has bolstered its commercial maritime team to reflect its growing presence in the shipping and fishery sectors. Leticia Diaz Del Rio (pictured) joins as market development manager, maritime, based in Dubai; while Phoebe Wang sets up as sales manager, maritime, based in Singapore. Rajant Corporation, a provider of multi-frequency mesh networking, has appointed Kirk Byles as vice president of sales and marketing. Byles will work with Rajant’s sales force help strengthen existing channel partnerships and integrate growth strategies, while building new partner and customer relationships in the oil and gas and utility industries. Assisting with accelerating Aviat's business transformation, the company has appointed Chuck Kissner as executive chairman. From this position, Kissner will work with the company’s management team on strategic initiatives, long-term product and service planning, and further alignment of Aviat's business model. Inmarsat confirmed that Michele Franci has been appointed as its chief technology officer. Franci joined Inmarsat in August 2012 as VP GX Commercial.
UASC embraces smart shipping with maritime satellite comms Embracing the concept of ‘smart shipping’, UASC (United Arab Shipping Company) is deploying various technologies, including web-based fleet management, electronic document handling systems, and a better crew welfare offering. To achieve this, it approached Marlink for WaveCall Plus VSAT to provide the connectivity for 17 newly built advanced container ships.
Thuraya’s Phoebe Wang (left) and Laticia Diaz Del Rio (right)
Marlink will provide stable connectivity, future-proofed for HTS (high throughput satellites) when available. The system combines Ku-band VSAT with L-band, and helps to improve crew services to stay in touch with family and friends on the phone, by email, or other online applications.
WINTER 2014
Eutelsat Americas, a subsidiary of Eutelsat Communications welcomed Ignacio Gonzalez Nuñez as VP of business development and regulatory strategy. Ignacio has more than 20 years of international experience in the telecommunications and space sectors. Mazen Mroue, the CEO of MTN Uganda, has been appointed as the new COO (Chief Operations Officer) of MTN Irancell.
NEWS
The Quarterly - Marketplace Roundup Company announcements can be emailed to the news desk for consideration. Send your story to editor@OffCommNews.com
Who’s Who
BT to harmonise global infrastructure for Glencore BT (British Telecom) has been tasked with building and managing a new global core network across Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. The new network requirement comes from Glencore, one of the world’s largest global diversified natural resource companies and a major producer and marketer of more than 90 commodities. The Group’s operations comprise in excess of 150 mining and metallurgical sites, oil production assets, and agricultural facilities. The new infrastructure will enable employees to work together more effectively across more than 50 countries by improving access to critical business applications. BT will also provide a range of collaboration services, including voice, audio conferencing, and contact centre services. Cyril Reol, global chief information officer of Glencore, said: “We operate globally and deploy critical activities in very
George Fisher Zinc-Lead Mine, Mount Isa, Australia
remote areas. As a result, we need reliable communications to bring our employees together in real-time, from our trading offices to our mining sites. “The recent merger [with Xstrata] presented us with considerable challenges, including those related to the standardisation and management of the network infrastructure and the reliable provision of communication services between our employees. We opted for BT because of its global presence and the quality of its services, giving us the ability to be creative and innovative in the way we leverage technology to meet these challenges.”
Satcoms tradewinds It’s been quite the quarter for the offshore satcoms sector. SpeedCast International Limited confirmed a multi-year contract from Jan De Nul Group. This brings the number of the group’s vessels, one of which is pictured, served by SpeedCast to 44. The comms system has been designed to include operational, and ship management applications, as well as crew connectivity. And ITC Global, the provider of satellite communications to remote and harsh environments, was awarded a three-year contract from Harkand, a global provider of offshore support vessels and subsea services to the oil & gas industry. For Harkand’s vessels operating in the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea, Africa, and Asia Pacific, the new system will provide a
private end-to-end satellite-based network that includes real-time video support for undersea Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs).
“We learned that Radio Holland still is a trusted, strong name in the shipping
NEWS
Signalhorn has strengthened its executive team by taking on Andy Frost as chief commercial officer; and Tom Wright as VP sales for North America. RigNet, Inc. a leading global provider of managed remote communications solutions, telecoms systems integration services, and collaborative applications to the oil and gas industry, has named Sheldon Mundle as vice president and CIO (Chief Information Officer). Pal Jenson has also been appointed as vice president for the company’s energy maritime division. He will lead the provision of remote communications to vessels operating in upstream oil and gas locations globally. NSR, the global satellite industry research and consulting firm, has appointed a new analyst. Ali Younis will cover satellite communications from a Washington DC office. Nectar Services Corp., a leader in unified communications network monitoring and management solutions has announced Christopher Joe as vice president of sales, Americas channels.
Jan De Nul Group vessel
Radio Holland is back! The service will be installed on three new vessels for Scheveningen-based ship owner, Groen. Groen is worldwide specialist company in security, support, and service activities ~ mainly for the offshore oil and gas industry.
GE Oil & Gas, Latin America, has a new president and CEO. Patricia Vega (pictured) will be responsible for maintaining the company’s position in the O&G market, as well as contributing to developments for regional customers.
industry, valued by our relations. That’s why we decided to bring the name back for service and nav/com [navigation communications]. “Our trading name will remain Imtech Marine, but the trusted Radio Holland name is back and we are happy with that,” said Imtech Marine’s sales manager, Wim Telman.
WINTER 2014
Long View, a North American provider of hybrid IT solutions and services, has made several hires. Dave Frederickson becomes vice president of sales and business development after more than 20 years at HP Canada; Andrew Bentley starts as general manager of sales, North America, reporting to Frederickson; Alastair Woolcock takes responsibility for strategic business solutions, filling the role of general manager, SBS North America; and Kevin Crowe adds licensing to his portfolio as Long View’s vice president of procurement and licensing.
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Comms News
Deals Airbus steps off the satbus Airbus Defence and Space is divesting non-core business segments ~ including commercial satcoms ~ to strengthen space based activities (launchers and satellites), military aircraft, missiles and related systems and services. This leaves commercial and para-public communication business (including professional mobile radio and commercial satellite communications services activities) outside of its portfolio ~ as they no longer fit the company’s strategic goals. It also intends to sell some of its subsidiaries and participations, including Fairchild Controls, Rostock SystemTechnik, AvDef, ESG, and Atlas Elektronik. “Given the tight budgetary situation in our home countries, and increasing competition on global markets, the portfolio review is an essential element to further develop our defence and space business and to ensure its competitiveness,” said Bernhard Gerwert, CEO of Airbus Defence and Space. Elsewhere, Signalhorn recently received capital from European private equity firm Metric Capital Partners (MCP) to further global expansion. Robert Kubbernus, CEO at Signalhorn, said that the investment puts
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the company in a strong position to capitalise on the changes in the telecomms and satellite industry. The company provides secure, customised communications using satellite, terrestrial, and wireless connectivity from its technical centres in Backnang, Germany and Leuk, Switzerland. Its customers include government agencies, energy firms, retail and banking networks, as well as other private enterprises worldwide. In August, Signalhorn also received an extended contract to support remote drilling sites in Oman. KCA Deutag, one of the world’s leading drilling and engineering contractors, will use Signalhorn technology to provide and maintain satellite and terrestrial a network in the Sultanate of Oman. In the meantime, Signalhorn will continue to provide seven KCA Deutag land rigs in the region with hybrid communications platforms, meeting the high-bandwidth demands of modern drilling applications. It will also cater for three new rigs, and a warehouse facility in the Khazzan gas field. And those moving along the coastline of Oman should feel safer now thanks to a new maritime communications network. It
has been reported that 35% of all seaborne traded oil, and 20% of all oil traded worldwide, passes by the Strait of Hormuz ~ a geopolitical hotspot. To help secure the area, the Sultanate of Oman is building a landmark network that will introduce intensive ID, freight, and itinerary information monitoring on all ships in its waters. Through a local partner AlMadakhel Investment LLC, Qnective Middle East has been tasked with the design, construction and operation of the new maritime communications network; and partner company Frequentis, will be responsible for implementing the technical infrastructure. Built upon the GMDSS Standard (Global Maritime Distress and Safety System), local authorities will obtain additional important data regarding the identity, the freight and itinerary of all the vessels in the waters surrounding Oman. The GMDSS Standard is a worldwide distress and maritime radio safety system that delivers additional safety measures and ensures they will receive help quickly in the event of emergency. Together with the constant import/export traffic, roughly 15,000 active fishing boats passing through the Strait of Hormuz will also benefit.
WINTER 2014
NEWS
Comms News
Markets Inmarsat expands presence in China and debuts in Latin America Inmarsat has opened an office in the capital of Beijing to better serve the Chinese market, where demand for satellite communications is growing rapidly. Connectivity requirements in the region are being fuelled from the aviation, maritime, media, oil & gas markets, as well as some government sectors. And, earlier this year in Panama, Latin America, the company also unveiled IsatHub. This is a portable smart device connectivity service that enables users to talk, text and access the internet and apps ~ using their own smartphones and tablets ~ when beyond the reach of terrestrial mobile and fixed networks. “Panama’s impressive growth rate, dollarized economy, the expansion of the Panama canal now underway, and the rising importance of Copa Airlines as a regional airline have combined to make the country an increasingly important hub for business, increasing the demand for advanced voice and data technologies, such as those offered by the new IsatHub service,” said Deborah Deffaa, chief executive officer of MVS USA, a partner company.
NEWS
According to the International Energy Agency, the Brazilian oil and gas market will triple in production over the next 20 years, becoming one of the top six largest producers by 2035, up from 12th in 2013. Rio de Janeiro is right behind Sao Paulo in Brazil’s top economies, and is South America’s centre for oil and gas exploration, accounting for nearly 80% of the country’s oil reserves.
EMC also responded to Brazil’s call for connectivity As global companies in the oil and gas, maritime, telecommunications, and enterprise verticals expand operations in Brazil, EMC’s (Emerging Markets Communications) recent move to the region should help to support an anticipated wave of customers over the next 12 months. EMC currently enables fully managed, satellite (VSAT) and terrestrial connectivity solutions to over 3,200 remote customer sites in Brazil, both onshore and offshore.
WINTER 2014
“We have a number of oil and gas customers operating both onshore and offshore levering our services in Brazil,” said Jesus Barber, senior vice president, EMC, Brazil. “Taking the input from customers, we adapted our services and support to align with market-specific requirements, such as licensing, regulations, and commercial flexibility.” And the only telecommunications company to own and operate satellites in Australia, Optus Satellite, has signed a two-year agreement with ITC Global. ITC Global specialises in satellite based comms for industrial operations in extreme environments, including deep water energy exploration, remote mining, and transoceanic shipping. The deal enables expanded satellite capacity, equipment hosting, up-linking, and downloading services. Optus’ Lockridgelocated facility is both a domestic and international gateway for satellite services across Australia and regions to the west, around the Indian Ocean, and into Europe.
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Flash comms contracts Q3 Vendor
Client
Type (fixed, cellular, Destination satellite, hybrid)
Details
Deal date
Airbus Defense & Space
Inmarsat
Satellite, Cellular
USA
Agreement extending reselling of the ultra-fast broadband service to the US Government market
Jul-14
Avanti Communications
Intermatica
Satellite
Europe
Capacity agreement to extend satellite bandwidth capabilities across Europe
Jul-14
Bel Fuse Inc
Emerson Network Power Connectivity
Satellite, Cellular
Worldwide
Acquisition of the connectivity solutions business for approx US$98 million
Jul-14
European telco, StarDSL AG
Avanti Communications
Satellite, Cellular
Europe & Middle East
Multimillion dollar multiyear contract to bring satellite broadband services to over 20 countries across Europe & the Middle East
Jul-14
Globecomm Maritime
PBJV Group
Satellite
Bintulu
Contract to provide VSAT connectivity to the barge Kota Laksamana 101 which accommodates up to 300 personnel
Jul-14
Hughes Network Systems
Tampa Microwave
Satellite, Cellular
Various
Partnership to embed HX-based modems into the Tampa Microwave ManPack family of small tactical satellite terminals
Jul-14
Rockwell Collins
Undisclosed/confidential
Satellite
Georgia & Sweden
Sale of company portfolio including satcoms, to be renamed DataPath Inc
Jul-14
Technip
MTN Communications
Cellular
North & South America, Deal to service a substantial portion of Technip's global fleet with critical, high-availability broadband Europe, Africa & SE Asia communications
Jul-14
Thuraya Telecommunications Company
Satellite Communications SA
Satellite, Cellular
Europe
Partnership to provide key markets such as government, relief, maritime & leisure with access to mobile satellite products
Jul-14
ASC Signal Corporation
US Military
Satellite, Cellular
USA
4 contracts from different divisions of the US military to provide about 25 3.9m & 4.6m TriFold antenna systems
Aug-14 Aug-14
Groen (Scheveningen)
Imtech Marine Netherlands Satellite, Cellular
Netherlands
Contract supplying 7-Oceans OSVs with navigation & communication equipment
Inmarsat
AddValue
Satellite, Cellular
Panama
Production of powerful & portable device connectivity service that enables users to communicate beyond Aug-14 the reach of terrestrial mobile & fixed networks
Intel Corporation
Avago Technologies
Satellite, Cellular
Various
Agreement to acquire business & related assets for $650 million & is expected to close in late 2014
Aug-14
ITC Global
Harkand
Satellite, Cellular
Various
A 3 year contract to build a private end-to-end, tailored satellite-based network incl. real-time video support for undersea ROVs
Aug-14
Optus
ITC Global
Satellite
Perth, W.A.
A 2 yr agreement to provide expanded satellite capacity, equipment hosting, up-linking & downloading services Aug-14
Orange Niger
Intelsat
Cellular
Niger
A multiyear agreement to provide C-band broadband capacity to support deployment of cellular backhaul services
Aug-14
Orbital Sciences Corporation
Avanti Communications
Satellite, Cellular
Europ
Deal to build the HYLAS 4 broadband communications satellite, to be based on Orbital's GEOStar-3 satellite platform
Aug-14
RigNet Inc
Undisclosed/ confidential
Satellite, Cellular
Barents Sea
A renewal contract to serve a major global offshore drilling contractor on an ultra-deepwater semi-submersible drilling rig
Aug-14
Signalhorn
KCA Deutag
Satellite
Oman
Extension to provide & maintain 7 existing land rigs with comms platforms & extend the service for 3 new rigs & a warehouse facility in the Khazzan gas field
Aug-14
u-blox
Antcor
Satellite, Cellular
Not disclosed
Purchase of Antor for â‚Ź5.2m for ownership of advanced WiFi core technology enabling development of ruggedized communications
Aug-14
BT
Glencore
Satellite, Cellular
Worldwide
Contract to build & manage Glencore's new global core network, allowing employees to work together more effectively in more than 50 countries
Sep-14
BW Offshore
Orange Business Services Satellite
Norway?
$12m deal for an end-to-end satellite comms for highly specialised oil & gas production vessels.
Sep-14
Gilat Satellite Networks
Terabit Wave Co
Satellite, Cellular
Myanmar
Deal for satcom-on-the-move terminals, inc tactical satcom units, vehicle-mounted satellite antennas, and related equipment
Sep-14
Inmarsat
Intellian
Satellite, Cellular
Not disclosed
Contract to deliver Xpress Link services across FB500 antenna
Sep-14
SES Government Solutions (SESGS)
Army Warfighter Information Satellite Network-Tactical
USA
5 year contract to provide satellite capacity to support the Army Warfighter Network-Tactical (WIN-T)
Sep-14
SpeedCast International
Jan De Nul Group
Worldwide
A multiyear contract to provide high-performance broadband connectivity for mission critical data & voice applications on vessels operating worldwide
Sep-14
Key OSV: Offshore Support Vessels
Satellite, Cellular
Case Study
Subsea 7 DSV Seven Discovery
Crew welfare comms Helping morale and crew retention aboard Subsea 7 For satellite communications specialists Livewire Connections, working with customers is more than just supplying equipment or an off the shelf solution. In the last few years the company has seen an increase in crew welfare support packages as commercial vessels look to retain crew and ensure their welfare whilst at sea. These services can have a profound effect on the working life of those using them.
L
ivewire has developed quite some experience in the provision of crew welfare communications on a significant number of vessels. Furthermore, it doesn’t expect demand to diminish any time soon.
David Walker, a director at Livewire Connections said: “We have seen an increasing demand as operators, managers and captains are looking at ways to retain their crew for longer periods. Crew welfare packages such as this are becoming more paramount and there is a direct correlation with this, crew retention and morale.” A long standing customer recently reported how such solutions make a difference to its employees and contractors at sea. As a Cobham Sea Tel dealer, Livewire Connections recently installed a Sea-Tel Kuband VSAT antenna with airtime on board the vessel Subsea 7 DSV Seven Discovery, a 120m versatile dive support vessel (pictured above).
The complete turnkey solution provides reliable internet access for the crew and contractors whilst they are working on board. The divers working on DSV Seven Discovery are saturation divers; subsequently they spend a prolonged period of time in a pressurised capsule, with very little interaction with the ‘outside world.’ The crew welfare VSAT enables the divers to keep in touch with friends, families and colleagues. Working out of mobile phone range, the WiFi internet access can be the only interaction they have with people other than the divers who are also enclosed within the restricted capsules. When asked how the packages supplied by Livewire Connections to DSV Seven Discovery help with crew morale, Mike Derrick, chief engineer, explained three key benefits that the divers receive from the connectivity: Access to the internet, including social media sites, something not usually possible with the saturation diving complex; continued communication, should the primary satellite dish be masked due to the heading of the vessel; and finally they can access sites such as You Tube, which are usually blocked by company servers due to bandwidth restrictions. The operators of offshore survey vessels, wind farm support vessels, dive support vessels and all types of merchant ships, captains and crew have an ever growing reliance on internet access, and Livewire Connections utilises this knowledge and understanding of communications and IT to meet these customer requirements.
NEWS
WINTER 2014
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NEWS
REMOTE INSIGHT REPORT Cyber security offshore
Remote Insight Report
O&G Cyber Security Are we doing all we can? Offshore may be far from the crowds, but distance doesn’t minimise cyber threat. Innovations in technology are allowing us to drill further and deeper. But these advancements often come with an array of open back-doors. So, as numerous different networks and devices find their way onto rigs and remote installations, just what can be done to protect the oil and gas industry asks Vaughan O’Grady.
T
here is no shortage of activity in the remote exploration cyber security space these days. Late last year, for example, we heard that RigNet had selected cloud security specialist Alert Logic’s Threat Manager and ActiveWatch services to help its oil and gas customers better identify suspicious network traffic and respond quicker. In February, Airbus Defence and Space and Communications International announced an alliance to enhance secure radio communication solutions for the Brazilian mining industry. In May, GE announced the acquisition of Wurldtech, a leader in cyber security solutions, noting: “This move is one of several by GE to help protect critical infrastructure and advance cyber security efforts globally for key industries.”
into the environment, social engineering attacks (“tricking a user into installing a backdoor into the network”) and the vulnerabilities of industrial control systems.
But what should remote exploration companies be worried about? Chris Camejo, director of information security and risk management specialist NTT Com Security, cites a number of threats. They include the potential for users on their networks to bring malware
Where are threats coming from?
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He explained: “Industrial control systems ~ including SCADA ~ have a long history of vulnerabilities, administrators deploying insecure configurations, default passwords, and in some cases protocol designs that are simply not appropriate for connection to a potentially hostile public network.” The resulting economic dangers, for oil and gas in particular, said his colleague Lars Thoresen, CSO & CQO Nordic region, are not just information theft but very expensive system downtime.
The motives for cyber attacks vary. Disgruntled insiders are an obvious source but Alert Logic's chief security evangelist, Stephen Coty, also cites “industrial espionage by countries looking for a
WINTER 2014
NEWS
Remote Insight Report
Vaughan O’Grady, independent telecomms writer
Stephen Coty, chief security evangelist, Alert Logic
competitive advantage using remote access Trojans built to spy on organisations; political motives; and people who just want to know how the system works and break in to explore out of curiosity.” Camejo suggests that some attackers may be looking to gather economic information on lease bids or to exploit weaknesses in control systems. He said: “The ‘Night Dragon’ malware and another attack reported last year both stole passwords, modem numbers, and other information that could be useful for hijacking control systems and using them for sabotage.” Just about any communications system can be vulnerable unless it is properly secured. Camejo points out that even satellite terminals and cellular connections, in many cases, “are just another device with an IP address that can be accessed from anywhere in the world and face the same sort of attacks as their leasedline brethren.” Telephone modems are often used as an out-of-band backup in case of an internet outage or for periodic control of remote locations. These too are vulnerable because they tend to be connected directly to console ports on sensitive devices, devices that may have default, or no, passwords. “Radio communication links should also be on the security radar as the price of software defined radio (SDR) technology quickly drops,” Camejo pointed out, and Thoresen added “also, letting a system be installed with default settings may leave that system open to known vulnerabilities or backdoors.” The more points at which security could be compromised (systems, people, devices) the more risk. But the risk may be greater because, as Coty suggests, remote sites tend to have what he calls “a lower security posture.” This certainly doesn't
Chris Camejo, director of information security and risk management, NTT Com Security
Lars Thoresen, CSO & CQO, Nordic region, NTT Com Security
help when personal devices are involved. Staff may want to access, monitor or control internal systems ~ even SCADA ~ from any wirelessly enabled device anywhere but they run the risk of picking up malware on a public WiFi network and spreading it. “The best advice,” said Thoresen, “is to always conduct a thorough risk analysis before allowing any mobile device remote access to systems containing sensitive information.”
field, and the infrastructure pieces that control the satellite, cellular, and radio links.”
Coty added: “A paper we wrote on this* found that BYOD introduced a great amount of risk into environments. Using desktops in the cloud has given a new strategy in which we can still centrally secure and monitor desktops while making them available for a remote workforce.”
On the technology side Camejo said, “2-factor authentication and VPNs are key tools to make it more difficult for remote attackers to access sensitive resources,” along with “monitoring technologies like SIEM [security information and event management] that can provide a security dashboard to detect attacks in their early stages when they can be more easily stopped.”
Another problem, said Camejo, is that many of the systems that are deployed in the field are rarely upgraded or updated due to a lack of IT resources and, often, fear that updates will cause outages that impact the business. “It's still fairly trivial to find control systems with default passwords and known vulnerabilities connected to the internet,” he notes.
Security strategies Perhaps that is why Coty argues for the importance of “a solid strategy that has management support to enforce the policies created to protect the environment.” He also suggests preventative measures, such as “locking down the physical security of the facilities to make sure there is no outside introduction of malicious technologies; the hardening of computer networks and the implementation of a security-in-depth strategy; and monitoring the security technologies that are deployed 24/7 to look for possible incidents and anomalies.” Changing default passwords and patching vulnerabilities are also important but, said Camejo, ”This applies equally to the back office systems, the control systems in the
At the organisational level, IT managers need control of the security policies for the devices and the authority to enforce them. And, Camejo points out; staff need to be aware of the threats of lax password control, phishing emails and installing ‘sketchy’ apps (that could be malware) on their BYOD devices.
“There are several good technologies in the market that secure devices through encryption, policies that restrict or prohibit risky behaviour and that prevent malware infections,” added Thoresen. As for the recent RigNet deal with his company, Coty explained: “Having Threat Manager deployed with 24/7 Active Watch will allow our SOC [Security Operations Centre] to respond to incidents quickly and efficiently escalate them for resolution. With NetFlow collection we can then look for anomalies that might occur through network traffic.” But technology needs to be part of an overall company policy of security enforcement. As Coty said: “Companies need to invest in their security-in-depth technologies and support the people and process behind it.”
*The paper can be found on the OffComm News website, listed under this feature.
NEWS
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Remote Insight Report
Industrial risk control Industrial Control Systems, such as those seen in the oil and gas industry, are often characterised by how unchanging and unmovable they are. So it seems ironic that ICS is going through a revolution fuelled by two areas: an ever-increasing connectivity demand and, as a result of that, the change in tactics of attackers, says Robert Miller, security consultant to MWR InfoSecurity.
Robert Miller, MWR InfoSecurity
The drive for organisations to gain better insight into their facilities has meant a change in how ICS networks sit within the corporate infrastructure. Whereas traditionally we took the "isolate and airgap" method, many companies are now asking how they can extract real-time data out of ICS and build real-world metrics to improve how they run their business. Vendors have been quick to support this move, but have not always put security at the forefront of this progress, instead prioritising latency and convenience. Now one IT network can carry all the traffic and suddenly, office computers can query ICS components directly. Even the vendors could connect to update the firmware without travelling to the site or risking using old technology like modems. For isolated, remote ICS installations it was a revolution. The benefit is clear, but what is the security risk of these new routes to ICS?
Where is risk coming from? We need to understand that this new found connectivity is a two way street. Based on the results of recent engagements, we found that remote ICS sites were commonly connected to corporate networks. During incident response work, it was regularly observed that hostile attackers are traversing the easiest route to achieve their objective. In ICS environments, new connectivity into the corporate environment often gifts attackers with a way in. Security researchers have publicly demonstrated the exploitable nature of components used in remote sites used in the oil and gas sectors. For example, last year a team of security researchers from IOActive demonstrated how wireless protocols, used by ICS devices, could be compromised from a range of up to 40 miles. During security assessments, MWR often finds that although pains were taken to stop an employee accidentally sending traffic to a
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PLC on the ICS, little was done to restrict traffic back to the offices. This is where the remote site then becomes interesting to the attacker wanting to assail the organisation, not just the remote site. In these cases it is possible for attackers to compromise the remote site and then use its trusted status to pivot their malicious traffic into the corporate IT network. Vulnerabilities like these are an ongoing challenge, with the solution being custom to the needs and layout of each ICS. With remote sites, these attackers may be based in the country we are operating in; they may have physical access to our systems or the country’s communications infrastructure. This represents a very different scenario to the attacker trying to compromise our systems from the internet. To make things more complex, we see the attacker’s capabilities and techniques changing on both fronts - a dangerous mix when it comes to defending against them.
So what can we do? Security managers should be asking questions about how these vectors could manifest in their systems. For example many remote sites require engineers to visit them with their laptops. If so they should be assessed for their risk. Do they contain private data? Can they connect to the corporate VPN? What is the protocol for a laptop being lost/stolen or an engineer leaving the company? Working in the field of ICS security, MWR has seen a growing amount of evidence that attackers are changing their mind-sets and methods against the companies that run remote ICS. ICS-CERT has reported around an 80% increase in reported attacks against ICS over the last two years. It is imperative that everyone who works with these systems understands this shift and the steps they need to take to keep their company and its facilities safe.
WINTER 2014
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Remote Insight Report
Companies need to get data security in order, says research New research shows that organisations continue to struggle to manage data securely, prepare for potential crisis scenarios, and defend against hacking and other cyber threats, according to findings from the ‘2014 IT Security and Privacy Survey’ conducted by global consulting firm, Protiviti. The third edition of this report contains insights from more than 340 CIOs, CSOs, IT directors, managers and IT auditors at companies with gross annual revenues ranging from less than $100 million to greater than $20 billion. According to a statement from the company, the findings identify gaps between where companies currently stand - and where they should be in relation to fundamental elements of IT security. The hard line is that many still fall short of important standard protocols for IT security and privacy.
“Companies need to take more action in relation to the risks they recognise to better protect their crucial data.” Cal Slemp, managing director and global leader of the firm's IT security and privacy practice.
Key findings The research covers key themes and areas for consideration. These include the fact that organisations lack high confidence in their ability to prevent a cyber attack or data breach. While executive management has a higher level of awareness there are lower
confidence levels among IT executives and professionals in preventing an attack or breach. There is also a noticeable year-overyear jump in the number of organisations without a formal and documented crisis response plan to execute in the event of a data breach or cyber attack. Regarding the correlation between board engagement and stronger IT security profile, nearly three out of four boards have a good level of understanding about the organisation’s information security risks. Organisations whose boards are concerned with how the organisation is addressing its risks, have significantly stronger IT security profiles. On the other hand, one in five boards appear to have a low level of engagement in how the company is addressing information security risks. However, several companies appear not to have proper “core” data policies. One in three do not have a written information security policy (WISP). More than 40% lack a data encryption policy. One in four do not have acceptable use or record retention/destruction policies. These are critical gaps in data governance and management, and they carry considerable legal implications. The 2014 IT Security and Privacy Survey can be found at www.protiviti.com/ITsecuritysurvey
How is the O&G sector being impacted? Deloitte Cyber Risk Services’ Jeremy Wood kindly took the time to give us his opinion on the state of cyber security in the oil and gas sector. He said that, in the oil and gas industry, cyber security concerns are gaining increased attention within the corporate IT and operational technology environments. As control networks and equipment used to govern plant operations become increasingly interconnected, it creates a larger area that is vulnerable for attack and thus increases the risks and threats to businesses. These processes then become a legitimate target for external groups with an interest in disrupting or damaging critical business and national infrastructure. “Oil and gas providers have become a key target of interest from state sponsored cyber attackers, who are motivated to cause disruption and gain access to intellectual property. Many oil companies in particular have been targeted by hactivism groups
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Jeremy Wood, Energy & Resources lead, Deloitte Cyber Risk Services practice
who use hacking as a tool to make political statements, for example, on the environmental policy of the organisation. “The rise of consumerisation as an IT trend means that more remote devices, such as smartphones and tablets, are being used to interact with operational equipment. While these provide flexibility, optimisation, and enhance the user experience, they also bring additional risks to these systems which need to be proportionately managed. Finding the balancing between supporting flexibility and also managing the security risks to critical operational equipment is a crucial aspect to protecting the business and preserving safety.”
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Remote Insight Report
Protecting software and IP from malicious activity offshore As we move, away from hardware, towards an increasingly virtualised environment the need to protect software and IP from malicious activity is now more important than ever. How do the methods, to ensure protection, differ for offshore industries such as oil and gas? Here’s an approach, from Jamie Longmuir, software monetization expert at SafeNet.
Due to most software installations being remote and of extremely high value in these locations, the need to prevent tampering, protect IP and prevent license abuse within disconnected and remote environments is especially high. In addition, the industry has to contend with managing and consistently updating remote installations. Indeed, the influx of devices being used by employees, suppliers and third parties has made it crucial to have a system in place that protects devices from tampering and reverse engineering. Many have not considered the important role that software protection plays in protecting these.
Software licensing When discussing IP theft it’s important to remember that the moment software is out in the open for others to use, it is susceptible to theft. Therefore, independent software vendors (ISVs) or providers of software embedded within a machine, must have technologies in place to protect a company’s IP. IP theft is usually malicious and occurs when an individual or group attempts to reverse engineer how a company’s solution works in order to make a copy of it. ISVs should therefore look to offer a software licensing system that can protect and manage software embedded into any piece of hardware – from networking appliances and mobile handsets to industrial automation equipment. Both software security solutions and licensing enforcement can help to protect this software, giving vendors control and visibility into how applications are deployed and used. This in turn makes for easy control of offshore applications.
Tamper prevention Another approach to IP protection is through ‘tamper prevention’, and unlike IP theft, not all tampering is malicious. For example, imagine a drilling machine operated by software, where the
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Jamie Longmuir, software monetization expert at SafeNet
software sets the depth and strength of each turn of the drilling device. The drilling speed would thus depend on these parameters for optimised drilling performance. Now imagine a scenario where people from the drilling location want to speed up the process – perhaps to end their shift sooner – and access the software to amend the settings, making the machine work faster. This could potentially lead to disastrous consequences, such as a damaged drill that has overheated from moving too quickly. Hence, having tamper prevention in place ensures that only approved users can access the machine / software. Software licensing can allow firms to deny access to applications for anyone not entitled to access them. In the past, these software licenses have been stored on disks, which are subject to corruption and more likely to be misplaced. As a result, the demand for more robust software rights management solutions have grown – because they’re flexible, keep licenses secure and ensure the data is encrypted. Companies should therefore look for a single supplier who can provide hardware keys, software licensing and cloud licensing, in order to consolidate this protection. Software and services provider Geocap AS, is a good user example that demonstrates the importance of software licensing in the industry. The company’s primary product, Geocap, is a 3D visualisation and modelling tool for the Windows and Linux/X11 platforms. Geocap displays oil and gas related data such as wells and seismic interpretations and calculates continental shelf limits. The company required a licensing solution for its application in order to control the licensing terms and conditions. After replacing its existing FLEXlm licensing platform with SafeNet’s Sentinel RMS, the company was able to automate license generation and renewal, improve license management, enforce multiple licensing options and get cross platform support for multiple operating systems and development environments.
WINTER 2014
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Remote Insight Report
Remote support and security Remote support can and should help companies to remain productive, but these tools must meet the strictest security policies. By keeping security in mind, remote support can ultimately improve service delivery and reduce costs, says Stuart Facey VP EMEA, at Bomgar.
Stuart Facey, VP EMEA, at Bomgar.
Support and security Sending a member of staff to these remote locations to fix a problem is expensive, when you factor in several days’ journey time for jobs that only take a few hours to fix. Support therefore has to be delivered in a different way. Delivering IT services remotely over the internet can help resolve problems faster and keep operations running. This approach brings the best of both worlds: keeping costs low, while also delivering fixes more efficiently. However, a big issue to consider when remotely accessing computers is security. For utility companies in the oil and gas markets, security is a top priority. While remote access and support can help these companies run their operations, they can’t simply open up their systems to the internet. Yet, this is often the case. IT professionals have a wealth of tools available to them for connecting to machines remotely, from free software tools through to software-as-a-service options. However, these don’t always meet the security requirements of organizations with remote locations, and often work poorly in low-bandwidth environments.
Locking down The first consideration around remote support security is the connection itself. For many tools, connecting to another machine over the internet requires an open listening port on the end system. Unfortunately, this can be easily found and compromised by hackers. This is not a suitable option for a secure enterprise, as it’s essentially an open door for attackers to infiltrate company networks. For remote locations that require security as standard, consider support solutions that don’t require open listening ports. This should be considered alongside security policies on changing default settings and passwords. It’s also a good idea to assign unique login credentials for each user, so that you can track who is doing what and when.
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It’s also important to capture an audit trail of any remote access activity that occurs. From a security perspective, it’s essential to continuously monitor this activity and identify any unauthorised use of remote access tools. If these tools are being used outside of normal business operations, you can then ask why.
Supporting a wide range of devices The sheer range of devices that are present in company IT networks is going up, and many more of these devices are becoming “smart”, as the Internet of Things continues to take hold. This will only continue to increase the number of support requests that come through to IT. In addition to laptops or desktops, today support professionals may have to know how to fix mobile devices, server infrastructure, manufacturing equipment, and more. In the years ahead, they will probably have to add even more connected devices to the mix. Again, for utilities and manufacturing companies, security for these systems is paramount. This is an area where network design can help; by segmenting networks appropriately, through the use of demilitarised zones (DMZs), you can restrict access to IT assets as need be.
Permissions Rather than providing unfettered access to anything on the IT network, it is possible to use granular permission settings to determine what individual support staff have access to and what they are allowed to do. This is particularly important for organisations that outsource all or some of their IT support, which is common with companies that work in remote environments. By putting this idea of permissions in place, the IT organisation can securely allow their technicians, vendors or partners to access only certain systems, and at certain times if required. If you need support for a specific machine or application, then the remote access request can be limited to that server or desktop.
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Remote Insight Report
Securing the mobile workforce Cybersecurity is not all about ensuring you have antivirus, firewalls and security updates installed on your systems. It’s about addressing a wide variety of threats such as deliberate attacks, internal breaches, and industrial espionage. It should extend past desktop computers and internal servers, writes Barry Scott, CTO, EMEA at Centrify. Regardless of where devices and applications reside, and who owns them, organisations need to ensure they have full control over those resources that are accessing and storing corporate data, to safeguard against these threats.
could be a simple download from an infected email or the connection of a virus-laden USB, these inadvertent compromises of the information infrastructure can all resort in a massive breach of security.
The new office model is evolving, cloud computing, virtualisation, and the proliferation of mobile devices has left many businesses fraught with the task of managing the complexity and security of IT infrastructure.
Identity and access can often be overlooked, but unless enterprises can find a unified way to securely identify individuals, they risk their business coming under attack and facing a host of repercussions. Just as importantly, unified identity enables straightforward removal of access from applications and resources when an individual leaves the enterprise.
Proprietary data no longer sits within the office walls. In fact, it no longer resides within the remit of the corporate firewall. As we are faced with an increasingly hybrid infrastructure, and an influx in compliance regulations to boot, ensuring that corporate and sensitive data remains secure and is protected against insider and outsider threats, requires end-to-end visibility and control over users, applications, servers and devices. Today’s business environment is driving enterprises to find cost efficiency at every operational level. Outsourcing, offshoring and cloud computing are giving organisations agility and flexibility. With the increase in flexible working models, mobile workers, contractors and offshore personnel, IT departments are challenged with providing IT services across a much more disparate network, to an even broader cross section of workers that require these mobile devices and applications to drive their productivity.
94% of IT security professionals use third party applications on their mobile devices for work, with 82% using up to 10 apps A recent survey, conducted by Centrify, found that 94% of IT security professionals use third party applications on their mobile devices for work, with 82% using up to 10 apps. This demonstrates how applications have become a crucial tool for employees whilst in the office and on the move, exemplifying the risks for organisations as these cloud-based or mobile apps create islands of identity that become harder for IT to track and manage.
Turn to page 33 for our Apps Roundup for offshore ops
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Preventing insider error Whilst the Stuxnet Worm revealed the overwhelming threat of APTs and the futility of relying on existing security systems, the risks do not always come from the outside. It
Organisations must manage users’ digital identities and the corresponding roles and rights those identities have across mobile devices, servers and applications and ensure the business is protected, while remaining agile enough to respond to evolving business conditions.
In an increasingly regulated world, it is vital to be able to ensure accountability of actions back to an individual It is very important to implement bestpractice security principles, such as leastaccess and least-privilege, to ensure that users only have access to, and privileges on, systems where they have a legitimate business need. Also, in an increasingly regulated world, it is vital to be able to ensure accountability of actions back to an individual. Barry Scott, CTO,
Being able to understand and manage EMEA at Centrify who has access to what, where, and when, is crucial to enabling companies to manage access and identity across multiple platforms, from any device and location. Leveraging new technologies such as single sign-on (SSO) provides the ability for a user to enter one username and password that enables them to logon to multiple applications within an enterprise and delivers the capacity to enforce authentication policies across the whole organisation. A single, unified architecture for sign-on can address these challenges, and businesses need to apply these same levels of security capability to those IT resources outside the office walls ~ as they do to those inside.
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Communications links & cyber-security Martin Jarrold, chief, international programme development, GVF
A new Cyber Security Task Force for oil & gas IT network infrastructures The Mission: To work with the broader communications community to maximise security By Martin Jarrold, chief, international programme development, GVF During HTS 2014 Washington Roundtable, GVF (Global VSAT Forum) announced the launch of a global initiative to address escalating cyber security threats. It’s a new task force that will identify best practice and provide guidance on how users and industry can optimise the application of VSATs to reinforce network integrity.
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his initiative, led by GVF - the international non-profit association of the satellite communications industry launched the Cyber Security Task Force, a consensusbased group chaired by Rakesh Bharania, tactical operations at Cisco Systems.
As a collaboration of the satellite industry and the user community, the Task Force represents a unified front against the increasing threat of cyber attacks. David Hartshorn, secretary general of GVF, interviewed for this article, commented that: "Rakesh is ideally suited to chair the Task Force. He served as senior network security architect with Cisco Information Security specialising in vulnerability assessments and audits, as well as web security design and architecture. Rakesh’s expertise, combined with the VSAT industry’s foremost technology leaders, is the right response to this challenge.”
End to End
work with the broader communications community to maximise security in the entire end-to-end solution: From the network operations centre to the hardware and software security protection embedded in the VSAT terminal on the user premises. The Task Force will leverage its work with current measures being applied by the international satellite communications industry to defend against cyber-attacks. For the thousands of operators and millions of VSAT systems throughout the world, the satellite communications industry will evaluate how a variety of considerations – from training and support to security policies, standards and protocols – can be most effectively applied. More recently, the Task Force developed and released the GVF Product Security Baseline (PSB), a consensus-based specification guideline that establishes best practices for VSAT hardware and software providers in the areas of secure product development.
The member companies of GVF, representing the major providers of satellite networking, place security of communications utilising their equipment and services at the highest level of importance. As a reflection of that commitment, the Task Force’s mission is to
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WINTER 2014
NEWS
Product News
Rugged Products Having a rack of apps available is all very well; getting a device that can carry them into action needs further consideration. Here are two devices, both recently launched, that can stand up to the task in hand in harsh, remote, and sometimes even dangerous environments.
ecom launches Zone 1 / Div. 1 tablet
for multiple mobile worker roles performing a range of applications, including asset surveys, material tracking, operator rounds, inspection and maintenance.
Picture courtesy of ecom instruments
ecom Hazardous Area Tablet Tab-Ex(R) brings new customer focused solutions and improved ease of use to mobile workers in oil & gas, refining, chemical, pharmaceuticals and other hazardous industries; an entire family of tablets, aligned with Samsung, suitable for use in Zone 1/Division 1, Zone 2/Division 2, and rugged environments are being launched for worldwide use. ecom instruments is a global provider of mobile devices for use in explosive areas including: chemicals and petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas production, and mining environments.
An 8" screen enables standard desktop applications to become mobile in hazardous areas, allowing workers to view and interact with SCADA/DCS systems, enterprise systems (SAP, Maximo), and computer aided design systems, when they are moving around the hazardous area. Augmented reality and video conferencing also become much easier to use with Tab-Ex®. Built-in cameras and full range of wireless capabilities allow equipment defects to be captured as inspection and maintenance work is executed, and instantly visible to those who need to diagnose the issue and determine the follow-on actions.
NAUTIZ X4 rugged computer now available on Android
Its new hazardous area tablet computer Tab-Ex® series should help mobile workers work and interact with each other, their remote experts, and the necessary backend systems.
A manufacturer of rugged mobile computers and smart phones, aptly called Handheld Group, has upgraded its Nautiz X4 rugged device that was launched earlier this year. The multipurpose, compact handheld computer ~ built for the mobile worker ~ now supports Android 4.2.
"BP sees great promise in the use of mobile devices in hazardous areas for improved data collection quality and access to documents." Michael M. Haley, technology consultant, BP chief technology office.
The Nautiz X4 is optimized for efficient field data collection. It has been designed and developed specifically for mobile workers in tough environments.
Lightweight and compact, operating on Android Kitkat 4.4, the Tab-Ex® is suitable
Measuring 156 x 74 x 25.5 millimetres (6.1 x 2.9 x 1.0 inches) and weighing a mere
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WINTER 2014
330 grams (11.6 ounces), the Nautiz X4 features a high-brightness, sunlightreadable resistive touch screen for reliable computing. It comes with either a highperformance 1D laser scanner or a 2D imager for super-fast and accurate scanning and barcoding tasks. The device also features a 5MP camera with auto focus and LED Flash. With an IP65 Ingress Protection rating, meaning that it’s impervious to dust and highly resistant to water, this device also meets stringent MIL-STD-810G military test standards for overall durability and resistance to humidity, shock, vibration, drops, salt, and extreme temperatures. The Nautiz X4 rugged handheld computer has an integrated u-blox GPS receiver for professional-grade navigation functionality and it offers multiple connectivity options, such as high-powered 3G and excellent WiFi capability. It has a high-speed 1 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM and 1 GB of flash memory, and it now runs Android 4.2 or Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5.
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Article
Shape shifting in the satellite sector The story continues The uptake of satellite connectivity has forced some major movement. While not much changed for decades, some of the main players have gone through rebranding exercises and other strategic moves to up the ante in recent months.
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irbus Defence and Space took some hard decisions with its current portfolio offerings (see our website for more news on this); EMC and ITC Global moved into Scotland; and Level 3 Communications recently revealed plans for its executive management team pending its acquisition of tw telecom.
What brought about the decision to rebrand?
Another company redefining itself, to better address the current challenges and opportunities in the remote communications market, is Spire. Earlier this year, a satellite-powered data company called Nanosatisfi, raised $25 million and set to on a branding overhaul. Initially incubated by hardware accelerator Lemnos Labs, the company went from concept to outer space in just 12 months. It has a growing customer base across North America, Europe and Asia ~ along with facilitation from the Singapore government. Now known as Spire, new funding will help the company to keep pace with customer demand, extend its satellite network and data infrastructure, and expand its team.
“As we considered the energy and enthusiasm that we put into our technology, and the relationships that we have developed with our customers, we realised that the brand - and largely the original name of our company - had been outgrown.
“Changing the satellite industry standard for innovation, measuring satellite design and development time in weeks as opposed to years,” Russ Muzzolini, Spire.
Innovation vs. Invention To date, Spire has deployed four of its small form factor satellites into space. The satellites use off-the-shelf technologies where possible, rather than expensive, proprietary, single-use technologies traditionally associated with space. This alternative approach, one of ‘innovation versus invention’, is central to Spire’s culture where employees are regularly encouraged to apply proven technologies in smart ways to create new results. Russ Muzzolini, Spire CTO, said: “We apply best practices from software development to space hardware. The agility in our approach to development through rapid iteration cycles has significantly accelerated our learning, and subsequently enhanced our ability to grow. And it shows. We are changing the satellite industry standard for innovation, measuring satellite design and development time in weeks as opposed to years.”
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Chris Wake, (pictured), the company’s director of business operations revealed a bit more about the decision to rebrand as Spire.
“Our original name embodied a classic trade-off in launching a new company. Specifically, the trade-off between brand attributes (such as the company name) and delivering on a brand promise (e.g. delivering value from a product or service). We rightly chose to focus our early time and attention on the latter, delivering two satellites to orbit within 12-months of our founding, a then unrivalled achievement in the history of man’s space explorations.”
Spire has plans to launch a constellation of more than 50 satellites in the foreseeable future, and is scaling fast to meet increasing customer demand.
Where is Spire today? “There is an incredible amount of power and value in being able to listen to the ¾ of the Earth that is neglected by traditional remote sensing, and to be able to do it on an hourly basis. Ours is a solution built to monitor and empower truly global systems; from shipping to air travel to weather; the opportunities are extensive and we are excited to put that power into measurable action for our customers. “For instance, with the fastest and most comprehensive automatic identification system in the industry, we offer the definitive solution for global ship tracking. The impact from such a solution will be felt across maritime domain awareness, trade monitoring, illegal fishing, piracy, insurance, and many other key areas relevant for those in the offshore community. In addition, our satellites are highly modular and the advent of new sensors is regularly bringing new applications to light.”
WINTER 2014
NEWS
Flash new builds contracts Q3 Client
Vendor
Details
Location
Hyundai Heavy Industries
Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Jul-14 Company (ADMA-OPCO) Armada Kraken Jul-14 Baku Shipyard LLC Jul-14
Letter of Award for a US$1.94 billion order to build fixed offshore platforms & to lay subsea cables Contract to convert an FPSO scheduled for delivery late in 2015 Deal to design and outfitting of SCV
UAE
Jul-14 Jul-14
Chosen to build a superstructure for a jack-up platform Contract to build 2 PSVs with accommodation for 23 people
Jul-14 Jul-14 Jul-14 Jul-14 Jul-14 Jul-14 Jul-14
Intermarine
Transtar Transitario
Jul-14
Damen
Astilleros Navales Ecuatorianos (Astinave) Esso Exploration & Production Nigeria Ltd Grupo CBO Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Co Ltd Damen Shipyards Group
Aug-14
Shipbuilding agreement for vessel named Offshore Waddenzee to be delivered in August 2014 Tasked to deliver 2 x PSVs Shipbuilding contract worth US$700 million to build 2 gas treatment & production platforms for 2016 An agreement to build 2 new cruise ships for delivery 2018/19 to accommodate 4,200 passengers Contract extensions for FPSOs worth approx $600 million 6 x offshore 5yr contracts for 2 new build CJ-54 class rigs Contract for 3 multi-functional IBSvs. Joint project covering 20 yr term & assist with accommodation of offshore personnel facilities A joint venture to be known as Transmarine which will operate in the ocean carriage of oil & gas equipment to Angolan ports Agreement to construct 2 vessels for the Ecuadorian coastguard for use on general patrol duties able to accommodate 32 people 2 year contract for new build ultra-deepwater drillship, West Saturn
The Netherlands Brazil South Korea
Norwegian Cruise Line Saipem North Atlantic Drilling Ltd Sakhalin Energy
Brodotrogir COSCO (Guang Dong) Shipyard Co Ltd Damen Shipyard Den Helder Damen Shipyards Group at ITS Hess Exploration & Production Malaysia Meyer Werft (Germany) Petrobas Rosneft Oil Co Sovcomflot
Contract for 4 AHTS Agreement to deliver ship design & equipment to 4 PX121 type platform supply vessels to be completed in 2016 Contracts for the delivery of the design, material package, technical assistance & training for 2 vessels, one supporting 145 passengers & 17 crew Another win for 2 FCS 2610 to be named SeaZip 3 & SeaZip 4 Chosen to build a large fleet of 100 temporary modular living quarters cabins onboard a fleet of jack-up vessels 75 new build tankers & bulkers to be delivered 2015-2016 adding a total of 148 SSM managed vessels that will operate using WaveCall Plus services A contract for 2 new 500-men accommodation work barges with options for two more Merger to create a world-class total solution provider for shipbuilding & onshore & offshore services
Brazil China
Keppel Shipyard Keppel Singmarine Perenco Vroon Offshore Services Offshore Wind Services Wilson Sons (Brazil) Hyundai Heavy Industries
Seadrill Ltd Havyard Design & Solutions Ulstein Design & Solutions Secretaria de Marina
KEY
SeaZip Offshore Service Asian Offshore Services (AOS) Scorpio Ship Management (SSM) MacGregor Samsung Heavy Industries
Deal date
Aug-14 Aug-14 Aug-14 Sep-14
Damen Shipyards Group Jack-Up Barge
Sep-14 Sep-14
Marlink
Sep-14
Undisclosed Samsung Engineering
Sep-14 Sep-14
AHTS: Anchor Handling Tug Supply Vessels FCS: Fast Crew Suppliers
FPSO: Floating Production Storage & Offloading Vessel IBSv: Icebreaking Standby Vessels
PSV: SCV:
North Sea (UK) Caspian Sea (off Azerbaijan) Cameroon Europe
Norway Brazil Russia Russia Angola Ecuador Nigeria
Gulf of Mexico North Sea Netherlands Hamburg Asia Korea
Platform Supply Vessels Subsea Construction Vessel
Analysis The subsea factory of the future is expected to include a complete production system on the seafloor. Thus, the prospect for equipment vendors is secure. Escalating energy requirements and declining reserves in existing wells are lending momentum to subsea exploration, fuelling the adoption of subsea equipment globally. As attractive returns and higher recovery rates position subsea exploration to challenge the near-shore and onshore industry, demand for subsea equipment will continue to grow. As deep water drilling and production increases, identifying niche areas will help vendors sustain profits and carve a space for themselves in the global subsea equipment market. New analysis, from Frost & Sullivan entitled Analysis of the Global Subsea Equipment Market, finds that the market earned revenues of US$23.13 billion in 2013 and estimates this
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to reach US$35.84 billion in 2018. It also identifies Brazil, West Africa, and the Gulf of Mexico as high-potential regions. “Technological advancements that have led to higher production and safer, cleaner processes encourage energy companies to move further offshore, thus widening the scope of the global subsea equipment market,” said Frost & Sullivan energy and environmental industry analyst Rajalingam Chinnasamy.
Challenges While development in the deep-water platform is strong, the industry is unable to maintain similar growth in terms of resource availability. The shortage of skilled labour to execute projects and crew subsea
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vessels and equipment will slow uptake, says a statement from the company. In addition, high costs associated with deployment of a safe subsea project will curb equipment sales in the short and medium terms. Manufactures are also reluctant to invest in extensive R&D, which is crucial to produce solutions for use in hostile deep water environments. “Mergers, acquisitions and partnerships will help subsea equipment suppliers leverage expertise across the board and penetrate the market successfully,” observed Chinnasamy. “Major participants must especially partner with or acquire hardware suppliers and software providers to widen their product and service portfolios.”
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Interview
Choices emerging for satcoms progression O3b Networks is one of a new breed of satellite communication providers to remote, challenging, and insufficiently-connected markets. In 2013, O3b successfully launched four satellites, with four more following in July 2014. These satellites are now fully operational, delivering fibre-like quality and performance to 180 countries and more than 70% of the world’s population. Writing for OffComm News Teresa Cottam caught up with VP of Global Enterprise, Simon Maher to find out why there’s a growing buzz around O3b Networks. OCN: Simon, as the new kids on the block, what do you think sets you apart from more familiar names in the satellite industry? SM: Firstly, I don’t advocate that we’re about replacing familiar names - in fact, our technology is hugely complementary to existing investments. Instead it’s about using our unique capabilities to provide more choice to oil & gas firms. We offer choices that haven’t previously been available, shaking up the established norms for connectivity in remote or challenging environments. In the past, firms have often had to choose between performance and cost.
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Traditional GEO capacity, for example, may be too expensive while still not providing the speed that today’s firms are looking for. On the other hand, fibre isn’t always available or may not be reliable enough (particularly where there’s geo-political instability, for example). With our technology, not only can firms get the high-speed, reliability, and low-latency that they’re used to getting from fibre, they can also deliver this fibre-like performance at a price-point that’s really compelling. OCN: You highlighted low latency as being one of your key differentiators, why is that so important?
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Interview Simon Maher, VP of global enterprise sales, O3b Networks
SM: Our latency figures are pretty unique at sub 150 milliseconds for the round trip. This sets us apart in a market moving towards a more real-time operational model, to boost operational performance. In addition to increased productivity though, real-time operation also enables firms to make better and safer decisions. Delays to critical real-time data due to high levels of latency therefore not only threaten to raise costs, but also create production and safety risks in this new operational mode. The high level of reliability and throughput we provide, combined with really low latency, allows firms to develop completely new real-time applications. Effectively, we’re acting as the enabler of, or the transport to, their real-time vision. OCN: Reliability has long been a critical issue for oil & gas firms, how can O3b help improve that? SM: Undoubtedly, achieving high levels of reliability is a fundamental requirement for the industry today. In fact, that’s why many firms are pushing to deploy fibre to offshore installations to get the level of reliability and performance they need. There are two typical scenarios as to how we can help.
firms is to determine where the best place is to put their incredibly valuable subject matter experts. Increasingly, they’re deciding to bring these experts back onshore to a centralised place where they’re safe and working conditions are better. But if you’re going to do that, then these experts need real-time data in order to get their jobs done, along with HD communications and perhaps videoconferencing to facilitate better collaboration and control. Crew are also generally becoming much less tolerant of constrained communications and are making contract choices based on the communications facilities that are provided. That’s an issue that HR is increasingly flagging up as it battles to recruit and retain the right people, demonstrating how differentiating adequate data communications are these days. OCN: Where is O3b currently active Simon, and what sort of feedback are you getting from early users of your technology?
Firstly, where fibre is deployed, firms are using us to provide a diverse route to back that up. The consequences if there’s an outage or an accident, and the fibre link is lost or disrupted, can be pretty severe: the firm may have to stop drilling or even evacuate the platform. That’s where we can step in and provide that fibre-like performance to ensure continuity.
SM: O3b’s satellites are placed in orbit 8062 kilometres above the earth, providing around 70% of the world's population with fibrequality internet connectivity and enabling us to support services globally. We cover emerging and insufficiently-connected markets in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, where there’s a collective population of over three billion people. We’ve been pretty active in the Gulf of Mexico and West Africa, and we now have upwards of 30 customers in markets ranging from the Cook Islands and Papua New Guinea to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Where fibre isn’t available – for example on ultra deep water platforms or in areas of political instability - we’re seeing a second scenario, where customers are using us to enable a completely new architecture. In this case we’re literally revolutionising their performance by opening up the bandwidth bottleneck. Now they can now roll out demanding data services where previously they only had narrowband and mobile voice services.
The reaction to O3b’s service has been absolutely spectacular. Service statistics from customer field deployments confirm that we’re meeting or often times, exceeding our comprehensive Service Level Agreements, including link up-time, latency and throughput. In fact, once they’ve tried what we have to offer, customers are so enthused by what it enables, they’re determined not to go back to the bad old narrowband days.
OCN: Beyond operational performance does this deliver any other benefits?
OCN: Thanks for talking to us Simon. Do you have any last words?
SM: Yes, when you have enough bandwidth, the low latency we talked about, and the reliability sorted out then you can deliver totally new ways of working. So one conundrum facing oil & gas
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SM: The key message is that O3b provides you with choice. We expand the choices available to operators, and offer them fibre-like performance at a cost point that’s highly competitive, in places where you are often not be able to reach with fibre.
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Diary Dates
11-13 November 2014
12-13 November 2014
Africa.com
VSAT Africa 2014
CTICC Cape Town, South Africa
CTICC, Cape Town, South Africa
http://africa.comworldseries.com/
http://africa.vsatevent.com/
Bringing together leading operators, challenging new players, OTT brands, content providers, regulators, vendors and all those who make a difference in the market, the conference and exhibition helps you meet the right people and make the right decisions to meet your targets. AfricaCom 2014 is more than ever the place to be at the forefront of new market opportunities in digital Africa and to overcome the new threats posed to existing business models and stakeholders.
VSAT Africa is the only VSAT focused show to take place on the African continent. It’s set to place the importance of satellite communications firmly on the agenda at the largest annual communications Congress & Exhibition. VSAT Africa is co-located with AfricaCom, Africa’s largest telecommunications event, providing delegates with an unparalleled networking, learning and business development opportunities. With huge growth potential forecasted for VSAT in Africa, VSAT Africa 2014 is set to place the importance of satellite communications firmly on the agenda at largest annual communications Congress & Exhibition in Africa.
19-20 November 2014
24-25 November 2014
Oil & Gas Communications South East Asia Intercontinental Hotel, Kuala Lumpur www.uk-emp.co.uk/current-events/o-gsea-2014/ The Asian region will continue to play an important role globally in the offshore oil and gas industry over the next five years. With a number of developing countries expected to see increasing demand for energy, the region is likely to see increased levels of offshore oil and gas activity. NOC’s will continue to be the main focus of investment in the region, with IOC’s closely following behind. Asia will become one of the largest investors in offshore fixed platforms, with Malaysia and China dominating demand.
Oil & Gas Cyber Security London, UK www.smi-online.co.uk SMi’s 4th annual Oil and Gas Cyber Security event will provide the perfect platform for hearing about lessons learned in the field from oil and gas operators. Address the most pressing cyber security issues facing the oil and gas sector and learn new exploits within social engineering, with key presentations, live demonstrations and case studies delivered by senior industry decision makers.
8-10 December 2014
Cyber Defence and Network Security UAE
25-26 November 2014
Oil & Gas 2014,
Rosewood, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates www.cdans-uae.org/
Manchester Central, UK www.the-eic.com/EICConnect/OilGas EIC Connect Oil & Gas 2014 encompasses a series of supply chain briefings, a conference and exhibition covering global opportunities and updates on major energy projects. Leading operators and contractors will present to suppliers from a series of theatres in the main exhibition hall. Sessions are supplemented by 1-2-1 meetings where delegates can put their products and services forward to decision makers. An adjoining exhibition allows UK companies to showcase their products and global capabilities to buyers from the world’s leading energy companies.
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Cyber Defence and Network Security UAE (CDANS) is a two day summit focussing on the increasing move towards the inclusion of big data analytics and cyber forensics in government cyber security in the UAE. Previously considered by some as the preserve of finance and manufacturing sectors, UAE security agencies and government organisations are moving beyond traditional purchases of cyber security software and systems towards analytical preventative and predictive measures as well as rapid response to create a holistic defence and preparedness programme.
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NEWS
7TH ANNUAL
SCADA
ASIA SUMMIT
Defense news
Securely integrating OT and IT in Critical Infrastructure 28 - 30 January 2015 • Prince Hotel & Residence Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Leon Vilfand Strategic Planner – SCADA & Real Time Systems JEMENA, AUSTRALIA
Mohamed Panai Aritach Michael Khor Abdelghany Deputy Chief Information Specialist Engineer – Technology SCADA Master Transmission Officer Station TENAGA METROPOLITAN DUBAI NASIONAL WATERWORKS ELECTRICITY AUTHORITY, BERHAD, & WATER THAILAND MALAYSIA AUTHORITY
Bambang Kesumajaya Superintendent – Technical Maintenance PT PERTAMINA HULU ENERGY, INDONESIA
Such an eye opener to know what is out there in the market when it comes to scada.
CYBER
SCADA
SUMMIT Focus Day: 27 January 2015
Close the Loophole. Reduce Vulnerability. Prevent Attack.
Capacity deals for US forces Global satellite solutions provider SES Government Solutions (SES GS), a subsidiary of SES, has been awarded a contract to provide satellite capacity to support the US Army Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T). This network keeps soldiers connected to each other on the move – as well as to the company network.
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his is a five year contract awarded via Defense Information Systems Agency, as a subcontractor to small business company, AIS Engineering, Inc. Under the agreement SES satellite capacity will provide support for US Army research and development activities as well for testing new applications for mobile missions.
Dr Mohammad Shahir Senior Manager – Market Strategy, MIMOS BERHAD, MINISTRY OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION, MALAYSIA
Dr Ayman Al Issa Digital Oil Fields Cyber Security Advisor ADMA – OPCO, UAE
Arunabha Basu Chief - Technology & Systems TATA POWER, INDIA
Elsewhere, in Afghanistan, Intelsat General has extended its commitment to provide satellite capacity to forces stationed in the region. For the third year, Intelsat General is supplying satellite services to DRS Technologies, a division of Finmeccanica, in support of US Central Command requirements in Afghanistan. The service utilises 180 MHz of Ku-band capacity on an Intelsat 9 series satellite over southwest Asia.
“Even though US troops are being withdrawn from Afghanistan, the Pentagon will continue to provide support to Afghan forces,” said Kay Sears, President of Intelsat General.
“Our satellite connectivity will continue to play a key role in that support.”
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Feature
The historic driver of bandwidth demand – internet access for the crew – has been eclipsed by technological advances in the ways that energy rigs are operated and monitored, writes Gary B. Bray, Vice President, Energy at Signalhorn Trusted Networks GmbH.
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emote monitoring of energy rigs, and new government requirements to record and store operational data, are two major factors driving demand for broadband connectivity for onshore and offshore platforms. In less than a decade, the amount of bandwidth required by a typical energy rig has grown from a measly 256 Kbps to at least 4 Mbps - and sometimes even 8 Mbps. With advanced monitoring technology, rig operators don’t require as much crew located at the site; the goal is to reduce personnel and to be able to manage and monitor these facilities remotely. But these new monitoring applications require significantly more bandwidth. On deep-water platforms, drilling companies may have to invest in excess of over a million dollars in additional equipment to allow for this remote management capability. Submarine fiber is often used in remote monitoring applications. But even rigs using fiber employ VSAT as backup in case there is a break in the fiber. In some regions, such as West Africa, getting fiber the “last mile” from an urban area to a remote exploration site can be a challenge. So despite the expansion of terrestrial fiber networks, satellite remains the best option for reliable and continuous connectivity.
The challenges Following the Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, data replication, video CCTV, and storage of critical data have become a necessity among oil exploration companies. We anticipate that this necessity will soon become a standard for the industry. Furthermore, governments are looking to adopt new
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regulations requiring rig operators to undertake more sophisticated management of data that is produced at the site, requiring operators to store the data, on site and remotely, in such a manner that it can be retrieved when required. Signalhorn is helping its energy customers identify how best they can store and manage their data for streamlined retrieval if and when required. A big question on all our minds relates to how much – and for how long – governments will require rig operators to store and retain such data: will it be data gathered over the previous 24 hours, a week, a year? Regulations are still being developed regionally but we are beginning to understand the requirements under consideration, and how they might impact our customers.
The Signalhorn approach Oil and gas companies are increasingly deploying cloud computing, but we don’t see the technology being used extensively when it comes to real-time drilling applications. Rather, it is being employed more for mail services, and for disaster recovery backup systems. Signalhorn has innovative cloud computing and cyber security platforms and has some pilots under way to help our drilling customers meet these evolving challenges. So far, the results look very encouraging. Signalhorn is engaged with virtually every satellite operator and also operates submarine fiber networks; we are one of the largest bandwidth providers in the oil and gas market. Our dedicated team manages and monitors our satellite capacity to ensure that our energy customers have what they need when they need it to operate at their highest capacity and in accordance with evolving regulatory requirements.
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Feature
Refining the remote network Overcoming the challenges headed for networks serving harsh environments Oil & gas companies are continually challenged to improve their operational and safety performance while at the same time cutting costs. But although the industry operates in some of the most extreme and remote environments, it’s no backwater when it comes to adopting new technologies, reports Telesperience’s Teresa Cottam.
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emote networks, in particular, are being transformed by increasing use of sensors which are utilised to monitor facilities that are spread out over large distances. As sensors become cheaper, far more are being deployed. Berg Insight, for example, forecasts that the number of M2M connected devices in the oil & gas industry will triple from 423,000 in 2013, to 1.12 million by 2018. Firms have been using remote sensors for basics such as monitoring temperature, flow rate or viscosity for some time, but increasingly they’re also using them for more demanding applications ranging from more realtime monitoring, to automatic ordering of consumables such as fuel, to tracking equipment and even workers.
Dependency drivers As business and operational performance becomes more dependent on technology, the technology itself is becoming more dependent upon the network to be effective. “Today, technology advancement is one of the biggest drivers in deciding whether a network upgrade is needed,” RigNet’s Brooks Albery told us. “Basic network capabilities and quality, along with the economic cross-over points that drive choices between network technologies, are changing at a pace where close monitoring of a customer’s network and network choices are imperative.” Inmarsat’s Gerbrand Schalkwijk agreed, noting that new technology is driving the demand for more bandwidth which, in turn, drives the requirement for network improvement. “Bandwidth requirements will double between now and 2020,” he commented “with both crew welfare and operational issues driving that increase.” Schalkwijk noted that while firms want to track more and more things, they also want to bring the resulting data back to central locations. “This trend is not just driven by operational reasoning but also because firms now want to keep specialists onshore out of harm’s way,” added Inmarsat’s Mike Korotinsky. “These specialists
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are highly valuable, and companies also have to ensure they make best use of their time.”
“Bandwidth requirements will double between now and 2020,” he commented “with both crew welfare and operational issues driving that increase.” As oil & gas companies struggle with recruitment, M2M applications are plugging the hole, remotely monitoring equipment to reduce the number of site visits required and bridging the knowledge gaps that are opening up as older workers retire and take manual expertise with them. But what implications does all of this have for the remote network? What technologies will deliver the kind of performance required? Schalkwijk said that companies obviously need to focus on performance but also on factors such as reliability, security, mobility, globality and scalability. “The global and mobile aspects can easily be overlooked but are key,” he said. “Global scale on the supply side is important, because it means wherever a company operates in the world they can use the same equipment, configurations and settings, and offer the same user experience”. He noted that if a rig or other equipment is moved or re-used in another region, global solutions and mobility mean that everything is portable and can be up and running again quickly.
Selecting the right mix Schalkwijk doesn’t think there is necessarily a universal best mix of technologies, but rather that the right mix depends on the environment and the needs of the company. “The exact technology choice depends on the circumstances,” he said; “solutions are often bespoke, and communications service providers usually need
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Teresa Cottam, chief analyst, Telesperience
to combine solutions and infrastructure to get the level of reliability and SLAs required.” Tim Passingham, SVP of enterprise and government business for EMEA at Level 3 Communications, commented that while terrestrial fibre is increasingly available in far more remote locations than has traditionally been possible, a hybrid approach is the way forward: "Level 3 has been providing terrestrial fibre networks to businesses operating in remote places for years and has seen enormous growth in demand for bandwidth from the oil and gas industry. A blend of satellite and fibre communications is essential. Often satellite will be used to support the initial exploration of new resources, as the oil and gas companies explore more locations. But fibre networks offer the security and scalable infrastructure needed when investing heavily in specific locations long-term. “Fibre better enables the digital oilfield and remote operations but, whilst increasingly available in more remote locations, it obviously isn’t available everywhere, so oil and gas companies need partners like Level 3 that can offer both services.”
“Technology is revolutionising the business but firms need to keep business realities in mind.” RigNet’s Albery agreed that hybrid network solutions are beginning to dominate customer choices. “They allow companies to attain superior user experience by combining network technologies in ways that maximize the benefits of the underlying technologies,” he said. “As an example, user networks combining high through-put satellites for bandwidthintensive crew welfare applications, Kuband VSAT for primary remote voice and data, and L-band VSAT for the critical service availability, and for comms on the move, make the best use of all three network technology choices.” Passingham explained how in late 2013 Level 3 delivered terrestrial services over
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fibre to a substantial mine in Zambia for a large Canadian mining company First Quantum Minerals (FQML). The company operates in remote locations around the world, where reliable communications are either limited or non-existent. FQML, a long-term customer of Level 3, wanted to consolidate a number of its legacy communication providers globally, linking offices and data centres in Europe, North America and Canada to operations in remotes parts of Finland and Australia. Level 3 also provided FQML with satellite communications for exploring resources in Africa. “The satellite is swapped for fibre if a long-term investment is made in a certain location” said Passingham. “This marks a significant change in the way extractive industries can receive connectivity, as prior to this businesses in remote areas were reliant on satellite links alone.”
The managed service In contrast, one of RigNet’s clients is a major global offshore drilling contractor, which uses a RigNet fully managed solution for its remote communications services at its ultra-deepwater semisubmersible drilling rig in the Barents Sea. This comprises an end-to-end IP network solution using VSAT technology for lastmile connectivity, which includes VoIP, enterprise data and internet access services supported by 24/7 network monitoring and support, with backhaul to the company's offices via MPLS connection. Using a managed solution, said Avery, is useful to ensure that the rig derives greater value from network services through increased standardization and innovation. “There are, undoubtedly, many technical solutions available, but firms need to consider if their chosen solutions are truly reliable and global, and whether their supplier can support their needs throughout the end-to-end lifecycle of the field,” said Schalkwijk. “Technology is revolutionising the business but firms need to keep business realities in mind. They don’t want to pay double as the data doubles. So affordability is also a key consideration.”
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MPLS: Multiprotocol Label Switching
Questions to consider when planning a new network • Reliability and performance: Have always been key but as firms become more reliant on technology, and as new technologies and needs emerge, new challenges are presented. • Globality and reach: Increases operational efficiency and provides a standard global platform for a consistent experience. • Mobility: To enable more mobile working and to accommodate efficient changes in location of key equipment, supporting more flexibility and rapid redeployment. • Security: This has always been important but it is becoming more challenging to prevent loss of key data to combat criminal and terrorist risks. • Fault management: If there’s a failure or accident, how quickly will it be corrected? • SLAs that include everything: SLAs show whether a supplier has confidence in their solution. • Bill management: Does your plan provide for unlimited data? If not are there tools to warn you how much data is being used and what your revenue position is to help you manage spend and avoid billshock? • Future proofing: Is the solution sufficiently flexible and scalable to accommodate unknown future needs? Can it scale up and down as needed to accommodate needs across full lifecycle of the field? Will it be available for a long period of time, so you can ensure longterm availability of the network? • Backwards compatibility: So that you can continue to squeeze value out of legacy infrastructure and applications.
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Opinion
Mobile security strategy Risk analysis and risk acceptance Before any mobile device, access, application or service is added, it should be signed off as accepted by the Board Planning Planning for deployment should include security implementation or overt acceptance of the risk
Mobile security Mobile devices with their large data capacities, always on capabilities, and global communications access, can represent both a business applications’ dream and a business risk nightmare. Ian Kilpatrick, chairman Wick Hill Group, specialists in secure IP infrastructure, looks at the risks involved with mobile devices and how to secure them.
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or those in the security industry, the focus is mainly on deploying “solutions” to provide protection. However, we are now at one of those key points of change which happen perhaps once in a generation, and that demands a new way of looking at things. The convergence of communications, mobile devices and applications, high speed wireless, and cloud access at a personal level, are driving functionality demands on businesses at too fast a rate for many organisations. While for some, “lockdown” is an appropriate solution to this burgeoning situation, for others, the legitimate business benefits mean they must learn to live with it and try their best to make it work securely. These demands, coupled with user skills and experience of deploying mobile devices at home, mean that even organisations on “lockdown” can have challenging times dealing with staff “guerrilla” deployments. Clearly, part of the solution is deploying the right tools to both minimise and report on the risks (e.g. mobile device management, tracking and RF management, authentication, encryption, and behaviour
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management - as well as basic security measures on mobile devices). Solutions are available from a variety of suppliers, including Kaspersky Lab, WatchGuard, Check Point, SafeNet, Becrypt, VASCO and Allot.
However, a much larger and more important component is actually changing the way that we interact with the problem. Currently, many organisations see dealing with these unprecedented risks as a challenge for the IT security team, whose role is to protect the organisation. That has been a good model in the past. But in the new environment, with immense pressure for fast change and fast deployment of new applications, it is not possible for most IT security teams to carry the responsibility of securing the whole business and every user single-handedly. Security needs to be the responsibility of every individual user, every manager and every member of the Board. However, this is more typically honoured in the breach than in the observance, as evidenced by the fact that only a small number of staff are actually formally sanctioned or sacked for failure to comply.
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Embedding security Security needs to be deployed with the solution, not after the event. Policies Policies need to be clearly enunciated, not just contained in a policy document Processes Processes need to be clear, as do consequences Education and staff involvement Staff education is essential and should be ‘education’, not just a list of things staff can’t do. If employees don’t understand why they need to secure their own mobile devices or wireless connections, they certainly aren’t going to be overly concerned about yours. Deployment Mobile device security and monitoring need to be introduced at the point of deployment. If this is a sign off/buy-in situation, it gets management commitment and cuts negative activities around mobile device usage Monitoring and feedback loop It is crucial to not only monitor, but also to be seen to be monitoring mobile security measures. High visibility and regular feedback to all staff, on both success and failure are very important. Analysis The Board needs to have regular reporting of the security landscape, so they are aware of the level of threat, and the levels of risk that they have accepted. Forensics After a breach, particularly for mobile devices, organisations will want to understand what happened and what action they can take. Forensic tools such as those provided by Guidance Software can help and can be found via Wick Hill’s site.
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Best offshore apps roundup
Applications for the offshore oil and gas sector As smartphones and tablets become everyone’s default mobile communications devices, apps are adapting to enterprise as well as consumer needs. Meanwhile, even remote exploration can now accommodate iPhones, Windows Mobile or Android devices. But can apps accommodate remote exploration? Vaughan O’Grady investigated what’s currently available on the market.
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here are many ways in which mobile apps can serve the oil and gas industry: by supplying data, such as pump rate, weight on bit, RPM, and mud viscosity as well as production data; through geolocation services like asset tracking and worker security; through efficiency-based services like well organization; by assisting field operations and device management and monitoring; by supplying manuals, guides or industry publications; or just through removing the need for note-taking with pencils and paper. That list isn’t ours alone, by the way. It is based on comments from Houston-based enterprise mobility agency ChaiOne whose recent eBook, Mobilizing the Oil & Gas Industry, estimates that by the year 2015, some $8 billion will be spent on oil and gas mobile apps. Gaurav Khandelwal, ChaiOne founder and CEO, said: “The market is expanding exponentially. Not only do you have more use cases for mobile apps coming up daily ~ because the market is educating itself ~ but you also have a higher penetration of smartphones which are replacing feature phones in the oilfield.” This is not just because younger users expect to be able to use iPads as they wander around a field, rig or refinery, but because older users are also adopting smartphones and tablets. “The use cases for mobility are going up,” says Khandelwal ~ and if your oil rig has the connectivity needed to accommodate mobile phones or tablets, it is likely to be enabling some of those use cases.
to deliver a better experience to the user. What’s starting to happen is that the machines can communicate a reading to your phone directly just by you being in proximity to them.” In other words phones and machines are talking to, and seeing, each other. However, one area of oil and gas app adoption is still in its infancy: apps that directly address remoteness. It’s not easy to track down easily available smartphone or tablet apps that, for example, monitor use and availability of limited satellite network bandwidth or intelligently manage and filter big data or, for that matter, apply M2M from thousands of miles away over an iPhone. But many more of these are no doubt on their way. As Khandelwal points out: “The speed of adoption of technology these days is faster than ever before because mobile devices have entered the enterprise world from the consumer world.” In other words enterprise customers already know about apps and behaviours like push notification; they are not trying to learn something new. More proprietary applications ~ or bespoke versions ~ in use are hidden away inside enterprise companies. While we see several options on the market today we may not immediately hear about many new industry apps as they could be part of in-house enterprise development.
But what will apps do?
In this article, by contrast, we focus entirely on free or openly available apps that can or could be used in remote exploration. The result has been a mixture of apps tailored to this market and standalone ones that have relevance to distance and remoteness (rather than any particular industry).
We’ve already offered a few examples but, as Khandelwal explained: “You will see in the market in the next six to 18 months a broader shift in mobility from dumb apps that run on the device itself ~ like calculators ~ to smarter apps that leverage your context
In almost every case the app itself is free or relatively cheap. However, some require the support of paid-for hardware, software or subscriptions ~ so check before you download.
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Best offshore apps roundup
Name of app:
Kony Field Service app Who’s it for? Field technicians
Name of app:
MTN OceanPhone Mobile Name of app:
Who’s it for? Maritime crew
Satellite Locator App
What does it do? Leverages the Wi-Fi infrastructure on vessels, as well as over the MTN network, for calling and messaging, helping crew to stay in touch with family and friends using their own smartphones and tablets
Who’s it for? Users of satellite communications What does it do? Enables users to locate geostationary satellites, assess obstructions in the line of sight and point satellite ground terminals. The customizable application overlays a spatially accurate arc of satellites on the mobile phone or tablet screen, and includes a complete almanac of satellite information Who makes it? Norsat International Inc (www.norsat.com)
Who makes it? MTN What OS is it for? iOS, Android Where is it available? Apple App Store, Google Play and www.oceanphonemobile.com
What does it do? Integrates with your existing ERP to extend field service processes and deliver optimized workflows across all channels. Whether in a remote location or on a customer site, technicians are equipped with the right information and tools to resolve customer issues in a single visit Who makes it? Kony What OS is it for? Apple iOS 7+, Google Android Where is it available? www.kony.com How much is it? Application cost depends on the volume of users, type of licensing and other parameters
How much is it? The app is free but users will need to purchase an OceanPhone Mobile plan when onboard a vessel
What OS is it for? iOS, Android Where is it available? Apple App Store, Google Play How much is it? Free
Name of app:
Speedtest Name of app:
Who’s it for? Anyone who needs to test an Internet connection
ScadaVisor Mobile Who’s it for? The oil and gas industry
Name of app:
WeatherMap+ Who’s it for? Anyone who is interested in weather trends What does it do? Allows you to pan and zoom around a map of the world, switching various weather layers in order to get a comprehensive view of both current and future weather events Who makes it? Michal Frankowski What OS is it for? iOS, Android Where is it available? App Store, Google Play How much is it? $2.99
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What does it do? Remote SCADA monitoring and field automation. A cloud-based automation and monitoring service serving the upstream and midstream oil and gas industry. ScadaVisor supports multiple device or continuous real-time monitoring via the web or a mobile device Who makes it? Fielding Systems
What does it do? Lets you test your Internet connection with one tap. Shows download, upload and ping speeds, and populates graphs that display connection consistency. Relevant to remote communications, says Ookla, because “Our latest versions are optimized to measure not only very high-speed networks but also connections with very high latency” Who makes it? Ookla What OS is it for? iPhone, Android, Windows Phone
What OS is it for? iOS, Android, RIM BlackBerry, Windows Phone Where is it available? http://www.fielding systems.com/scadavisor/ How much is it? Subscription-based pricing model
Where is it available? Apple App Store, Google Play, Windows Phone Store and Amazon stores, as well as on the web at http://www.speedtest.net How much is it? Free
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Best offshore apps roundup
Name of app:
Name of app:
Sat-Fi
SPOT App
Who’s it for? People beyond the range of terrestrial networks or without cellular coverage who need to be able to access satellite communications
Who’s it for? Anyone who travels/works on land, sea or air
Name of app:
What does it do? The combined Sat-Fi hotspot and app turn your smartphone or and Wi-Fi enabled wireless device into a satellite enabled device
What does it do? SPOT is a GPS tracking device especially suited to contacting emergency services. The SPOT App allows users to view their SPOT messages, show their track points and monitor their assets via their iOS and Android smartphone or tablet
WellLink RT Mobile
Who makes it? Globalstar
Who makes it? Globalstar
Who’s it for? The oil and gas industry
What OS is it for? iOS, Android
What does it do? Provides secure access to your real-time well data, from your iPad, wherever and whenever you are connected to the internet
Where is it available? Apple App Store, Google Play. US only at present but software testing is currently underway to facilitate the rollout of Sat-Fi in other regions
What OS is it for? iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone (optimized for iPhone 5), iPad, and iPod touch. Requires Android 2.3.3 and up
Who makes it? Baker Hughes
How much is it? The app is free. However, users will need to purchase the Sat-Fi hotspot (about $1000 depending on the supplier) and airtime plans
What OS is it for? iOS Where is it available? Apple App Store
Where is it available? Apple App Store, Google Play How much is it? The app is free. However, you will need a device and a SPOT account
How much is it? The app is free. However, for pricing of the WellLink RT service users will need to contact www.bakerhughes.com/welllink
Name of app:
SatSleeve
Name of app:
Bhagwan Marine LiveFleet
Who’s it for? Workers in remote locations
Name of app:
Ship Finder Who’s it for? Professionals, ship spotters and maritime enthusiasts What does it do? Tracks live vessel activity from across the world’s seas and oceans Who makes it? Pinkfroot What OS is it for? iOS, Android, Windows Phone Where is it available? Apple App Store, Google Play, Windows Phone Store How much is it? £1.99-£2.99
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What does it do? An adaptor in the form of a sleeve equipped with a satellite SIM card and antenna that transforms a smartphone into a satellite smartphone Who makes it? Asia Pacific Satellitecommunications Inc.
Who’s it for? Offshore energy vessel management What does it do? Enables Bhagwan Marine customers to track the company’s vast fleet of marine vessels offshore Australia, offering realtime data access and geolocation capabilities
What OS is it for? iOS, Android
Who makes it? Telerik/Bhagwan Marine/Glenfield Digital Group
Where is it available? Apple App Store, Google Play
What OS is it for? iOS, Android
How much is it? The app is free. However, SatSleeve can cost in the region of $700 depending on the seller. Users will also need to purchase a Thuraya SIM card in order to connect to the Thuraya network
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Where is it available? Apple App Store, Google Play How much is it? The app is free. However, Bhagwan Marine serves only Australia at present.
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Analyst opinion
The Big Four Strike Back Satellite Operator Financial Analysis In last year’s Satellite Operator Financial Analysis, 3rd Edition (SOFA3) report, NSR made it a point to highlight the increasing market share of regional satellite operators as compared to the Big Four in recent years. It’s an interesting phenomenon given that most industries are prone to consolidation and a larger share of the pie going to the larger players due to, among other things, economies of scale and increased market penetration.
H
owever, this year, in NSR’s Satellite Operator Financial Analysis (SOFA), 4th Edition, (SOFA4) it is noted that the Big Four struck back in a big way, led by Eutelsat’s acquisition of Satmex, which in 2012 represented nearly US$150M in revenues and was a sizeable regional operator.
“Including the Satmex acquisition, and solid growth from SES, the Big Four saw their combined revenues increase by nearly 5% in 2013, which is a huge increase from the roughly 1% increase that these companies saw in 2012,” said Blaine Curcio, senior analyst and report author. “Further, non-Big Four operators saw their revenues decline by nearly 4%, although it should be noted that this would have been more or less flat had the Satmex 2013 Revenues (US$ M), "Big Four" acquisition not been taken into account,” Other Operators adds Curcio. Telesat 32.5%
7.2%
Eutelsat 15.8%
Intelsat 22.4%
SES 22.1%
Source : NSR, Space News
Overall, the reporting operators covered in this report saw their revenues increase by around US$210M, or 2%, compared to 2012, a number that is well within the “GDPlike” growth rates that one industry insider predicted for large satellite telcos moving forward.
Regional operators continue to power forward and carve out strong niche markets in their areas of strength
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Niche markets Despite the Big Four seeing a significant increase in their market share, the report finds that a number of regional operators continue to power forward and carve out strong niche markets in their areas of strength.
Blaine Curcio, senior analyst and report author.
ArabSat, for instance, despite releasing very limited financial data, was reported to have increased its revenues by over 10% in 2013, propelling it past SingTel-Optus for the 6th largest FSS operator in the world by revenue, no small feat. Other notable regional players include Thaicom, ChinaSat, and APT Satellite, all of which have seen big growth numbers in recent years. Beyond the split between the Big Four and the rest, SOFA4 provides commentary on the way that new business models, namely HTS systems, are affecting the paradigm of the satellite telecommunications industry. “From an operator perspective, certainly one of the operators getting the most attention, be it encouragement or speculation, is Avanti Communications,” notes Curcio. As the report notes, the company has seen exceptional revenue growth, with revenues doubling in FY 2014 to nearly US$70M. However, one concern outlined throughout the study is the company’s flat backlog, which may indicate equally flat demand for its all-HTS play moving forward. With positive EBITDA for the first time in 2013/14, Avanti now has relevant values for a number of EBITDA-related metrics, improving the overall quality of assessment for this young company.
Bottom line With in-depth analysis marrying the financial side of the industry with the supply and demand side of the industry, NSR’s SOFA4 sifts through the numbers to highlight the real trends in the market. Despite the Big Four striking back in 2013, NSR remains confident that barring future M&A activity, regional players will continue to see faster growth rates moving forward, and will contribute to the competitive and very special nature of this industry.
WINTER 2014
NEWS
Denis Sutherland, iDirect
Opinion
HTS: The capacity to accommodate offshore O&G More than two Tbps of HTS (high throughout satellite) capacity is projected to fill the sky over the next 10 years. This should provide a welcome opportunity for the offshore oil and gas sector, where throughput demand continues to escalate, says Denis Sutherland, senior manager, sales system engineering, iDirect. Offshore rigs and platforms around the world remain heavy users of voice, video, and data applications, ultimately driving up the average consumption of bandwidth. Be it: applications connecting rigs with onshore production teams; safety applications and equipment monitoring to track operations; or personal connections for crew welfare, this growing use of data presents a service challenge that network operators will need to face in the near future. Both Ku-band and C-band have served the oil and gas offshore market for a number of years. C-band is the most reliable choice for operations where uptime is a must, but is also the most expensive choice per site. Ku-band is more cost-effective and is the most deployed satellite solution in the market. It is used in many areas where weather has less impact on performance. HTS will add new capacity and services launched in the higher frequency known as Ka-band, where more capacity is available. This frequency has the most available spectrum for use, and requires smaller hardware, but is more susceptible to rain fade interference.
Many of the satellite service providers, supporting customers in these challenging offshore environments, will use all of these different beams to deliver appropriate services regarding the uptime requirements of their clients.
The last word New HTS satellites, with smaller focused spot beams, will offer greater throughput. But they will need the ground infrastructure to make sure the reliability, uptime, and speed of the service is delivered, as well as meeting the service level agreements being offered by the service providers. iDirect, as an infrastructure manufacturer, continues to develop its platform to support connectivity on any band, on multiple satellites. While HTS will offer the bandwidth to accommodate the growing connectivity requirements for offshore exploration and production, reliability of the service will remain key for this market.
Impacting the cost of the service The adoption of HTS in the oil and gas market will be impacted by the cost of the service compared to the uptime and availability that can be delivered. In tropical areas closer to the equator, C-band services will still have a strong role to play as rain fade could impact the reliability of the service. In markets where the weather has less of an impact, you will see Ku-band ~ and now the increased use of HTS ~ to meet the expanding application requirements that are driving up bandwidth.
NEWS
WINTER 2014
37
Feature
EFFICIENCY AT 20 WORDS PER MINUTE
Anver Anderson
Morse code, a wireless technology, has been empowering our world for decades Anver Anderson gives us a peek into the days of working with Morse code, at twenty words per minute.
W
ith not so much as a blink of an eye, we can send, receive, edit or forward just about any message be it text, graphical, audio or video in today’s fully integrated and hyper-connected world. But it really is not that long ago when this just was not the case, especially for the maritime and offshore customer.
When I began my career in telecommunications back in 1978 with the GPO (now BT), I served as a radio officer at the UK’s long range (High Frequency – HF) station, Portishead Radio (GKA). The long range station was complemented by a number of coastal radio stations operating on VHF and MF frequencies. This gave the UK full coverage of local and international shipping and offshore operations. For the most part, communications with ships at sea was done by radio telegraphy (Morse code) or radio telephony – although at that time there was a burgeoning market in the “new fangled” Radio Telex – which was able to carry messages at a massive speed of 50baud! But let’s not let the technology of the moment run away with us… The frequency bands we used for this elegant communications form were from 4MHz through to 22MHz (up to 25MHz when the sun cycle was enjoying extra activities). So, depending on the time of day, and the position of the vessel, and appropriate frequency would be chosen. It’s important to know that to use this particular wireless system, you had to understand a little about the state of the ionosphere at any particular time of day to ensure the right bounce to hit your target.
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A radio officer in some far flung vessel would have to listen in to specific frequencies and pre-set times to hear a Morse transmission, which might – or might not - contain his particular callsign. This was “The Traffic List.” If your callsign was on it there was a message waiting for you. So you would tune to Portishead’s listening frequencies (GKB) and send your callsign. The response would be to tell you to go and listen to one of two other frequencies (GKC or GKD). Your transmission frequency would be noted before passing all these details on to the operator who would be “working” with you. These details were written on a specifically colour card (denoting frequency band) via a moving belt in the middle of the long desk. The radio officer would make a call to you on GKC, you respond on your transmit frequency, and then (if there was traffic for you) he would ask to you listen to one of his own send frequencies (GKG perhaps) and the message would be sent. If you had your own message – for your office or family – you would be returned to GKC and you could send your messages, usually at 20 words a minute. Once received, the green telegram form was sent on another moving belt journey to the telex room where it was “re-typed” to its final destination. Today you tell the kids that was how it was done and they won’t believe you. In my career, we’ve gone from Morse code at 20 words a minute, and a lot of palaver, to half a Gig over a single transponder and WiFi on every corner… what will the next generation see, I wonder.
WINTER 2014
NEWS
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