Sonardyne International Ltd.

Connecting regional offices and ships

Connecting offices all over the world and meeting increasing demands for bandwidth and reliable access to mission critical applications is a common challenge for modern global corporations. Because their network infrastructure has developed over the course of their growth, many of them still rely on expensive, low capacity MPLS lines. Sonardyne, a pioneer in providing maritime sensing services for over forty years, is replacing an existing MPLS infrastructure with a robust Viprinet VPN solution for interoffice and mobile communications. This UK corporation, headquartered in Yateley, Hampshire, has remote offices in Brazil, Singapore, and the USA, as well as several research and development ships. Interoffice and mobile communications are critical to their operations. Their regional offices increasingly depend on access to centralized ERP and CRM systems, and their ships need reliable and continuous connectivity, especially to accurately report GPS correction data in a timely fashion.

Benefits of Viprinet's solution

Avoiding an MPLS upgrade that would have trebled connectivity costs
Increasing available bandwidth by combining a variety of service providers
Integrating VPN access to company resources
Improving reliability without increasing annual expenses
About 66% less expensive than comparable solutions

The challenge

The MPLS network Sonardyne was using was not reliable, did not provide the capacity they needed, and offered no affordable upgrade scenarios. In addition, this wired network did not provide adequate support for the core of Sonardyne’s business – enabling offshore vessels with limited access to connectivity to collect large volumes of data. They needed a solution that made it possible to lower the cost of network access, increase reliability, and expand access to their fleet.

Implementation

A Multichannel VPN Router equipped with Streaming Optimization software was installed in each regional center and on each ship. So, in total, five Viprinet Multichannel VPN Routers 2610 and four 300 model routers were deployed, along with sixteen Gigabit Ethernet and four LTE/DC-HSPA+/EDGE/GPS modules. Two Multichannel VPN Hubs 2020 have been loaned to Sonardyne and installed in their datacenter. These will be replaced with the next generation models 2030 in the near future. Viprinet’s UK Distributor, Wired Broadcast, provided pre-sales technical consulting through the ordering process.

Result

Viprinet’s solution has delivered significant capacity and availability improvements at a lower cost than an MPLS upgrade. Backup links from a variety of independent providers, combined with unique, innovative software features including Streaming Optimization, not only deliver effective bandwidth aggregation and reduced latency, but also make it possible to easily switch between a variety of different ISPs – which is crucial for reliably connecting moving vessels. In addition, our autotuning and traffic analysis tools have made it possible for Sonardyne to engage in WAN optimization.

Partners involved

Wired Broadcast

25 Ashley Rd
N17 9LJ London
United Kingdom
http://www.wiredbroadcast.com

Customer Opinion

We chose Viprinet technology so that we could use autotuning, traffic accounting, and Streaming Optimization to ensure the delivery of mission critical data and be able to use the best performing or most cost effective providers in any service area without being tied to any single carrier.

Andy Jackson

Head of IT, Sonardyne International Ltd