Forth Ports Plc
Aerelink Wireless Connectivity Reduces Risk
Aerelink, the country's leading wireless system integrator recently completed the installation of a wireless disaster recovery solution in Scotland for one of the UK's largest port authorities, Forth Ports plc.
The Client
Forth Ports plc operates seven ports - Dundee on the River Tay, Tilbury on the River Thames and five ports on the Firth of Forth - Grangemouth Leith, Methil, Burntisland and Rosyth.
Within and around the Firths of Forth and Tay, Forth Ports manages and operates an area of 280 square miles of navigable waters, including two specialised marine terminals for oil and gas export.
The port activities make Forth Ports the largest port grouping in Scotland. It is also the largest ports company listed on the London Stock Exchange.
The property division is involved in the long-term development and regeneration of waterfront sites within its ownership to promote a series of integrated communities.
The Requirement
Like many clients, Forth Ports had a need to protect their ever growing corporate network in the event of a disaster, so plans were drawn up to house disaster recovery equipment in a new suite within the Grangemouth port site.
In terms of connectivity, the authority looked initially at installing fibre optic cabling between the existing communication suite and the new disaster recovery suite, but costs seemed prohibitive given the distance involved, which was several kilometres, and the fact that the existing cable ducts were thought to be blocked or damaged.
Specifically, the authority required a solution to:
- Meet the minimum requirements of 100Mbps speed
- Be 'reliable' and not affected by the heavy movements of traffic within the port
- Cost effective alternative to expensive fibre digs
- Operational for use within 4 weeks.
"Aerelink's solution allows me to cover both bases in protecting our data and reducing the cost associated with a fibre dig"
Dave McInnes, IT Manager – Forth Ports plc
The Solution
Aerelink conducted both line of sight and radio surveys to ascertain the right solution.
During the survey it was found that clear line of sight did not exist and although this would ordinarily not be a problem for some of today's wireless equipment, the issue was compounded further due to the nature of the obstacles, which were in fact moving ships.
Aerelink therefore decided that the solution needed to take a path that would not be compromised by moving objects and finally arrived at a solution that involved three 'hops' using Motorola PTP600 equipment.
The solution involved utilising one of the ports existing CCTV system masts as one of the 'hop' sites, so it was necessary to make sure that our equipment in no way interfered with that.
The Benefits
The system deployed is a light licensed system, so ongoing radio licensing costs are minimal.
The equipment was installed from start to finish within two working days, enabling the authority to immediately benefit from the disaster recovery solution.
It is owned by the client and is not susceptible to being dug up or broken unlike a buried fibre optic cable.
The customer also has the flexibility to move the equipment should the disaster recovery suite location need to be changed.
By using wireless technology, costs were significantly reduced in comparison to the equivalent fixed line or fibre optic cable alternative.
The only ongoing cost is an annual maintenance agreement between Forth Ports and Aerelink, under which SLA guarantees an engineer to site within 8 hours of a call being placed, complete with necessary spares, should the unthinkable actually happen.
