Uplogix customers delivering satellite communications to oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico are using out-of-band for a graceful shutdown of gear ahead of Hurricane Harvey.
Ocean-based energy discovery and production is a tough business. Even if you take for granted the technical challenges of drilling in deep water through thousands of feet of rock, you have to deal with a remote, dynamic and unforgiving environment. When a storm like Hurricane Harvey comes through, many rigs close up shop, send staff to the beach and wait for the storm to pass.
Uplogix allows satcom providers to remotely manage their gear on platforms at sea without an onsite tech. In situations like a shutdown, Uplogix can manage a graceful shutdown of both satcom and networking gear. And just as importantly, when the storm passes, Uplogix can power up gear in order. If there are issues, say an antenna has become misaligned during high winds (or is missing!), an out-of-band link over an Iridium connection can provide shore-based techs with valuable information on the site.
During and after a storm, having the networks up and running can make a big difference. Remote cameras can show environmental conditions as well as damage. This helps with triaging repairs and providing a more-informed response.
Uplogix can maximize the time you have on a battery backup, or minimize the drain on a generator with automated actions. A Local Manager can gracefully shutdown network gear by issuing the proper commands and waiting for appropriate responses to ensure that your gear goes down properly. Another option would be to reconfigure network gear to operate in a “light” mode, maybe some devices can be shut down automatically to reduce the power draw.
In the event of a catastrophic network event, Uplogix can serve as the foundation of a bare-metal restore. Wire up the new gear with a LM and Uplogix can push out the previous configurations, saving hours of work, and freeing up the most skilled network technicians to focus on more difficult problems in your network.
