Published On: 21st January 20152.9 min readTags: ,

Business Challenge

SafeVision was developed by SafeKick as “The Driller’s GPS”. It is designed to take data from sensors around a rig and to provide information to rig operators so effectively they can see what’s happening down below, where the actual drilling is taking place. The system removes user error or fatigue from the drilling process and ultimately results in more efficient, productive and safer drilling operations. However, there are several inherent challenges with operating such a data collection and analysis product on an oil rig.

  • Oil rigs (especially off-shore ones) are harsh environments which typically have severely limited and slow-running internet connections and where hardware failures are costly and time consuming to put right
  • Power supplies are short, and unreliable compromising real-time performance
  • Space for hardware is limited making maintenance difficult.

To enable SafeVision to operate properly and deliver optimal value to their clients, SafeKick needed to pair its software with a data storage system on the back-end that can support:

  • High availability and reliability – to minimize or eliminate downtime
  • Enough performance to enable real-time support
  • Failover capabilities in the event of a server or component going down and ease of maintenance for on-site support staff.

Solution

SafeKick originally considered a traditional SAN solution but it was rejected for several reasons. First, connections wouldn’t work: simple interoperability couldn’t be supported in a rig environment. Second, a traditional solution would have required a physical SAN, a complex and expensive option and one where management would be difficult as each part failure meant sourcing parts, getting approval and sending staff out to the rig to fix the problem. Additionally, in a tight space UPS systems would be required, for power and cooling, driving up operating costs. After a thorough review, StorMagic SvSAN was selected as the back-end storage solution for their SafeVision clients.

Why StorMagic

SafeKick selected SvSAN because as a software-only solution that leverages internal server storage, it enables a 2-server and no-SAN environment, making it as portable as storage can possibly be.
Simplified hardware requirements – 2-server solution.

  • Reduced the complexity of the solution, requiring only one crossover cable on site instead of the previous solution which required 50 cables.
  • True high availability and reliability – with SvSAN, synchronous mirroring occurs to ensure seamless operations if one server goes down thus eliminating single point of failures and preventing data loss.
  • Centralized IT – SvSANs across distributed sites can be managed, provisioned and maintained remotely from a single-pane-of-glass interface at a central location, with minimal resources required on site.
  • Easy deployment – for SafeKick, set-ups are done at the home office and then deployments are executed in turnkey fashion. No on-site staff are required – it’s a simple plug-and-play process, with no cloud infrastructure or unreliable WAN.
  • Cost savings – less power usage, less equipment to ship, money reclaimed from no downtime, less IT support on site – all contributed towards a 35% lower overall cost than other solutions SafeKick considered. SafeKick has also seen a 50% reduction in licensing fees for failovers.

All of which provided a competitive advantage to SafeKick as they could enable their clients to derive more value from the combined solution.

Simple

Provides a true ‘set and forget’ solution for any environment using centralized deployment and management – whether for thousands of sites or just one.

Cost-Effective

Eliminates physical SANs by converging compute and storage into a lightweight commodity server footprint thereby dramatically lowering costs.

Flexible

Delivers on today’s performance needs leveraging any CPU and storage type whilst avoiding over-provisioning with the confidence of scaling for tomorrow’s demands.

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