{"id":45655,"date":"2020-02-17T09:59:27","date_gmt":"2020-02-17T09:59:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/?p=45655"},"modified":"2020-04-03T14:39:08","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T13:39:08","slug":"po-maritime-logistics-eliminates-network-complexity-with-aruba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/2020\/02\/17\/po-maritime-logistics-eliminates-network-complexity-with-aruba\/","title":{"rendered":"P&O Maritime Logistics eliminates network complexity with Aruba"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

P&O Maritime Logistics has updated its infrastructure with technology from Aruba resulting in a network overhaul that has eliminated complexity and reduced management overheads. Crew productivity has also been enhanced for its large fleet stationed across seven continents with the development of mobility apps by the P&O Maritime Logistics IT team. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Headquartered in Dubai, P&O Maritime Logistics\nprovides marine logistics services and solutions to the global energy industry.\nThe company operates a fleet of over 400offshore\nsupport vessels and has branch offices in several locations including Baku,\nKazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lagos and Angola.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the company on a robust growth trajectory, Kris\nVedat, Head of IT at P&O Maritime Logistics, was aware that its network\nneeded an overhaul. \u201cAs our operations expanded, we found it difficult to\nmanage the disparate set of solutions that comprised our network,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Setting\nsights on standardisation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citing an example of the challenges his IT team faced,\nVedat, said: \u201cWe\u2019re a nimble team that\u2019s responsible for connectivity across a\nlarge geography and for services on over a hundred offshore vessels. Having deployed\ntechnologies from multiple vendors meant that upgrade cycles, troubleshooting\nand support were complex. It also meant that we were unable to apply any\nstandard sets of policies and procedures.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vedat knew the solution to these challenges would be\nto upgrade his network with solutions from a single market-leading vendor.\n\u201cStandardising on one provider would present us with a clear architecture that\nwe could implement across all offices, and rapidly roll out on our vessels during\ntheir brief docking windows,\u201d he explained. So, simplicity in roll-out, minimal\nresource requirements and speed were critical for Vedat and his team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For due diligence, Vedat and his team thoroughly\nevaluated two vendors and it rapidly became evident that Aruba was a clear\nmatch for their requirements. A point of contention with the other vendor was\ntheir \u2018pure subscription\u2019 model which would result in lock-in and higher\nlong-term costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More importantly however, it was Aruba Central that\nimpressed Vedat and made Aruba the clear choice. \u201cA unified cloud-based\nmanagement platform that could enable us to efficiently and effectively manage\nour wired and wireless environments was exactly what my team needed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overcoming\nresource limitations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the very first stages of roll-out, the benefits\nof Aruba Central were apparent. \u201cTwo challenges we typically face with any\ndeployment are IT resource limitations, and short deployment windows \u2013 both of\nwhich are especially pronounced when our vessels are involved,\u201d explained\nVedat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Zero-Touch Provisioning (ZTP), Aruba Central\nhelped overcome both challenges, allowing configurations and policies to be\ncentrally applied. This meant Access Points (APs) and switches could be\ninstalled in a plug-and-play manner. This not only saved huge amounts of time,\nbut it also significantly reduced risk of errors in network configuration and\nthe need for highly skilled technicians at each location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aruba demonstrates firm commitment to support<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When his team faced the unforeseen challenge of long\nfirmware update periods at the time of first installation on vessels \u2013 owing to\nthe limited bandwidth of the satellite links \u2013 Aruba\u2019s team provided a service by\nensuring all devices were updated to the required level prior to delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt presented a learning curve but also an opportunity\nfor the responsiveness and support of Aruba\u2019s team to shine through,\u201d said\nVedat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Onboard\nWi-Fi is an asset<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P&O Maritime Logistics\u2019 vessels are typically out\nat sea for three to six months and in some cases, even up to a year, making Wi-Fi\nessential to crew welfare. \u201cEmail and other communication services play a vital\nrole in keeping up crew morale. So, the reliability of Aruba\u2019s solution is\nintangible,\u201d said Vedat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking beyond this function, Vedat and his team are\nusing mobility as a driver of multiple digital initiatives, increasingly making\nWi-Fi a business-critical medium. \u201cWe\u2019re working to enhance crew productivity\nby reducing manual tasks through purpose-built apps,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mobility enhances productivity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company’s new Planned Maintenance System is an\nexample of such an application. Whereas, this was previously desktop based requiring\nthe crew to shuttle back and forth to update activities and issue work orders,\nnow Vedat and his team have been able to take advantage of the Wi-Fii<\/ins>\ncoverage available across all decks. This approach significantly increased\nstaff productivity and improved their workplace experience, saving the company\ntime and money while enhancing user satisfaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy migrating this system to a mobile-based\napplication, we have empowered the crew to access information and update or\nissue work orders at source. Everything they need is where it needs to be and\nthis has been a tremendous boost to productivity and quality of work,\u201d said\nVedat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Achieving IoT ambitions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P&O Maritime Logistics\u2019 IoT ambitions have also\nbenefitted from the use of Aruba-2930F Campus Edge switches which offer Power\nover Ethernet (PoE). This allows IoT devices and sensors to be directly plugged\ninto the switches without the need for the additional power cables, reducing\ncabling costs and eliminating the need for separate power supplies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome sensors, such as the fluid and particle sensors\nthat are essential to lube oil analysis, have to be deployed in harsh\nenvironments such as engine rooms wherein wireless connectivity isn\u2019t feasible.\nAnd yet, because Aruba Central enables management of both wired and wireless\nnetwork components, these sensors too can be centrally managed and monitored,\u201d\nexplained Vedat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\npartner for long-term success<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the network overhaul continues, P&O Maritime\nLogistics\u2019 network today is comprised of 580 Aruba AP-305 Access Points and over\n150 Aruba-2930F Campus Edge switches. All these components are centrally\nmanaged by the cloud-based Aruba Central platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have already rolled out Aruba\u2019s architecture across\n38 sites and a large number ofvessels and are on track to complete\nthe deployment of 20 more offices very soon,\u201d said Vedat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maximising the benefits of Aruba Central<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking to the future, Vedat sees potential to maximise\nhis company\u2019s utilisation of Aruba Central. In particular, he is keen to take\nadvantage of the platform\u2019s powerful bandwidth and traffic management features.\nThis will be particularly important for prioritising performance for critical\napplications, devices and user profiles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause satellite links are involved when vessels are\nat sea, bandwidth is a precious resource. We\u2019re therefore exploring the\nprioritisation of traffic so that the performance of critical apps can be\noptimised,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exploring Aruba\u2019s automated testing tool<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aruba User Experience Insight (UXI) is another\nsolution that the company is evaluating. This provides mobile user application\nservice assurance and rapid troubleshooting through easy to deploy sensors that\ncontinuously perform user-centric application testing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the nature of the company\u2019s operations make it\nimpossible for on-site engineers to be deployed at every location, this\nsolution – which automates the testing of Wi-Fi and application performance –\ncan prove invaluable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delivering on expectations and ROI<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Vedat and his team, standardising P&O Maritime\nLogistics’ network architecture on Aruba\u2019s industry leading solutions has\nproved to be a resounding success – delivering on all their expectations, while\neliminating network complexity and reducing management overheads. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The appeal of Aruba for us is its cloud-based\nnetwork management solution, which provides Zero-Touch Provisioning. It helps\nus to cut infrastructure configuration, eliminate manual intervention, and\nspeed up deployment,\u201d said Vedat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe save considerable man-hours each week thanks to automation\nand significantly simpler management, made possible by Aruba Central. In the 12\nmonths since initial deployment, we have already achieved full return on\ninvestment,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

P&O Maritime Logistics has updated its infrastructure with technology from Aruba resulting in a network overhaul that has eliminated complexity and reduced management overheads. Crew productivity has also been enhanced for its large fleet stationed across seven continents with the development of mobility apps by the P&O Maritime Logistics IT team. Headquartered in Dubai, P&O […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":46783,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,829,93,38,3629,13,3343,185,79],"tags":[114,5910,22,420,1439,48,11330,5903,11329,3626,288,11326,11328,11327],"class_list":["post-45655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-case-studies","category-editors-choice","category-main-story-newsletter","category-networking","category-newsletter","category-top-stories","category-transport","category-uae","category-used","tag-aruba","tag-aruba-central","tag-cloud","tag-dubai","tag-hewlett-packard","tag-infrastructure","tag-kris-vedat","tag-logistics","tag-marine-solutions","tag-maritime","tag-network","tag-po","tag-po-maritime-logistics","tag-topaz"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45655"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46782,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45655\/revisions\/46782"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}