RICHARDS BAY MINERALS, SOUTH AFRICA

Customer Profile

Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) is a leading producer of what is known as titania slag, high-purity pig iron, rutile and zircon. RBM was established in 1976 to mine the vast mineral-rich sands in the coastal dunes just north of Richards Bay, on the northeast coast of South Africa. The company employs some 1,800 permanent staff and around 800 contractors at any given time.

Situation

RBM was using an ageing voice and data network based on three TDM PABX units. This offered only limited functionality (no voicemail or call logging, for example) and it was becoming increasingly difficult to source spare parts.

The existing network offered no possibility to integrate business applications, and this made access to management information extremely limited. A further complication was that RBM operates from five separate mining ponds, connected to the administrative PABX via microwave links. If these microwave links failed, the pond telephones became totally dysfunctional.

Needs/requirements

When Richards Bay Minerals needed to upgrade its ageing communications network, it chose a combined solution from NEC Philips Unified Solutions and 3Com, implemented by NEC Philips' strategic partner in South Africa, GijimaAst.

Solution

GijimaAst's services to RBM included a complete IT outsourcing for the project, managed services; LAN/WAN 3COM Tsunami (wireless) network implementation, integration of NEC Philips voice applications and Microsoft, SAP and other business applications and software development as well as implementation. The solution incorporates remote site configurations, distributed processing architecture and remote survivability. It is based on a hybrid platform, combining TDM and IP functionality within three SOPHO 2000 IPS units, to replace the existing equipment.

The new NEC Philips PABX solution utilises RBM's existing data network infrastructure (fibreoptic cabling and wireless links), making it highly cost-effective. The network is now based on Ethernet technology (10/100/1,000 Mbit) and VoIP, with multiple levels of network redundancy, making it far more reliable.

The NEC Philips/3Com solution has introduced Centralised System Management through the integration of various business applications (such as MA4000, Management@Net, Aranea, OpenWorX, SAP, KDT, and a MyOffice@Net dialler). It also includes the implementation of SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) and the provision of several IP Dterm terminals and three SuperVisor 60E operator consoles.

Benefits

Basing the network on the SOPHO 2000 IPS and NEC Philips applications has given RBM a true IP solution, with peer-to-peer communications between mining ponds and IP telephony, using existing UTP cabling.Retaining TDM functionality means the company can continue using existing copper cabling and analogue devices (phones, faxes, etc.). Voicemail/Unified Messaging applications meanwhile, allow an auto-attendant to relieve operators, make emergency information available, and enable messages to be retrieved externally. Messaging alarms, PIN-code dialling, incoming call accounting and user cost tracking are all included, thereby reducing costs and combating telephony abuse.

Furthermore, network management has been greatly simplified, through the introduction of a centralised, web-based system. Wherever there is Ethernet data connectivity, voice connectivity can be provided. If a radio link to a pond is lost, for example, the PABX at the pond goes into recovery mode, meaning that local telephone communications are still available.

The VoIP application is fairly tolerant as far as network response is concerned, which is a great benefit, as the radio link signal quality to the ponds varies continuously due to the movement of the machinery and even the offices.

The SuperVisor 60E consoles are linked to the PABX via Ethernet, making maintenance, changes and fault finding much simpler. Infrastructure support can now be handled from a central location and network configuration is carried out via a user-friendly graphical interface, which also caters for backup facilities on existing data storage systems.

Vast improvement

All in all, the new communications system at RBM is a vast improvement on its out- dated set-up. There is still room for improvement, however, Mr. Richard King from RBM says. Eventually, we plan to migrate the entire RBM analogue telephone system to VoIP, making the existing telephone cabling infrastructure obsolete. The entire data/voice infrastructure will then be entirely managed via the network and once these changes have been implemented, we will have a fully future-proof network.

Key Features

•  SOPHO 2000 IPS
• Centralised system anagement
• SuperVisor 60E consoles
• Voicemail
• Unified Messaging