Case Study Securely Connecting Remote Operations
Securely Connecting Remote Operations
Customer: Ok Tedi Mining
Industry: Mining
Services: Network transformation
Challenges
- Implement remote working facilities in a low bandwidth environment
- Ensure reliability of mission critical data
- Deliver the outcomes during a Global Pandemic
Outcome
- A seamless transition to remote working
- Expanded network throughput over satellite connection
- Ensured ongoing productivity of a global workforce
The challenge
Ok Tedi Mining Limited operates one of the most remote mines in Oceania – located deep in the mountains of Papua New Guinea.
With almost 5,000 staff working to provide minerals for essential services around the world, Ok Tedi is a critical component of the global supply chain.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Ok Tedi needed to double the number of staff working remotely within weeks — whilst ensuring mission-critical data was reliably transmitted from the remote site to a distributed international workforce.
Furthermore, the mine was constrained to a low throughput 03b satellite uplink, posing a barrier to reliable network performance.
Ok Tedi chose CyberCX to put in place a solution that would ensure connectivity, connect their workforce securely, and maintain business continuity. This was no small challenge.
The solution
CyberCX selected Oracle SD-WAN and MicroSoft as the most effective technology solution for the connectivity challenge.
A key feature in the decision was the ability to translate TCP WAN traffic to connectionless UDP sessions before uplink — allowing drastically expanded network throughput, despite the limited satellite uplink capability.
We worked closely with both Ok Tedi and Oracle throughout the process, and:
Maintained uninterrupted operations -
specialists from across our teams worked quickly to create a secure, resilient design, deploying risk mitigation mechanisms at every stage to ensure continuity
Implemented a flexible SD-WAN -
to connect the geographically distributed organisation over an intelligent wide area network
Moved existing Office 365 applications to the cloud -
enabling the surge in remote working with high-performance, cost-effective cloud infrastructure
Introduced resilient network optimization -
bringing in continuous application performance measurement and automatic re-routing of congested traffic
The outcome
Ok Tedi Mining is now able to unlock new opportunities at remote mining sites with a strengthened, resilient network.
The key benefits achieved were:
A seamless transition to remote working -
maintaining productivity across the organisation
Drastically expanded network throughput -
over an existing satellite connection
Improved systems performance-intelligently -
optimised connectivity between the remote site and an international workforce
“The Ok Tedi (OTML) project presented unique low bandwidth constraints, and required a rapid mobilisation to deliver a transformed network, which provided a huge amount of benefit to the client in a difficult location. This was especially beneficial to the mining operations during a global pandemic.”
Mike Hawley
Executive Director, Security Integration and Engineering CyberCX
