Stratos Global, the leading global provider of advanced mobile and fixed-site remote communications solutions, today announced it has completed deployment of its new StratosMAX II broadband service for W&T Offshore, Inc at 29 sites in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). W&T is an independent oil and gas company based in Houston.
The WiMAX-based StratosMAX II provides reliable voice communications, high-speed (up to 10Mbps) Internet connectivity, Stratos HotSpot WiFi service and a wide range of mobile applications. For W&T, StratosMAX II is powering numerous applications, including procurement, recording production and preventative maintenance.
Stratos also is providing W&T with an auto-failover VSAT service to ensure 100 percent service continuity to those StratosMAX II sites. The failover service protects against momentary outages on last-mile connections.
The Stratos microwave backbone network carries StratosMAX II traffic to shore. With its redundant beach crossings, survivable ring architecture and on-land fiber optic distribution, the offshore microwave network provides very high reliability in the harsh GoM environment. Stratos uses the industry’s most sophisticated management systems to monitor its microwave network 24×7.
“The StratosMAX II advantages of higher speeds and ultra-low latencies over a robust network enable our customers to achieve maximum functionality at the same price they were paying for traditional VSAT service,” said Gerbrand Schalkwijk, Stratos Vice President, Global Enterprise Sales . “This economic flexibility will enable customers to expand their networks to include corporate video conferencing, telemedicine and other bandwidth-intensive applications.”
Schalkwijk added, “This deployment for W&T demonstrates our dedication to providing energy companies with customized solutions that maximize flexibility, scalability and crew welfare in the most rugged environments.”
About StratosMAX II
StratosMAX II provides WiMAX coverage and connectivity to oil rigs, platforms and offshore vessels in the GoM. It connects fixed and nomadic customers back to shore utilizing Stratos’ industry-leading digital microwave network with diverse shore crossings and onshore Stratos interconnection facilities. The IP-based StratosMAX II service offers high-bandwidth, low-latency features and is competitively priced against VSAT and legacy radio technologies. The low-latency features enable superior service quality and customer experience for lag-sensitive applications such as corporate VPN access, voice and video communications.
In addition to the high-quality connectivity back to the Internet, voice services, and corporate networks, StratosMAX II provides a Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT)-based, service-continuity feature to ensure that mission-critical communications are not impacted by short-duration service interruptions in the GoM. This feature provides customers with a level of performance and reliability that is unparalleled in the GoM.
StratosMAX II is based on WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) standards. WiMAX technology is provisioned by Stratos over licensed spectrum across the GoM.
[mappress] Source: Stratos, July 25, 2011;