[Satnews] Fully integrated geoscience company, CGG, has extended its contract with Marlink for customized Sealink VSAT services for an additional five years.
As part of the agreement, Marlink will continue to deliver dual C-/Ku-band connectivity to support efficient operations on CGG’s high-end survey vessels, mainly operating in the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea and South East Asia. CGG offers a complete range of marine acquisition services, providing high-end broadband solutions, state-of-the-art narrow-, wide- and full-azimuth towed-streamer exploration, development and 4D seismic surveys and complementary non-seismic techniques such as gravity and magnetic surveys. In partnership with its seabed joint venture, CGG also provides hybrid node-streamer surveys and seamless acquisition from deep to shallow water.
Marlink connects CGG vessels to its recently upgraded iDirect VSAT network platform, including X7 modems, further enabling the company to use its connectivity for smart operations, leading to reduced operational costs whilst increasing crew and client satisfaction and supporting compliance for safety processes and regulations. The longstanding relationship between Marlink and CGG and the effectiveness of the recent connectivity upgrade supported CGG’s decision to continue operations using Sealink customized VSAT services. CGG reports that, following the upgrade, one of its key clients, a major oil and gas producer, declared the broadband facilities on board as “Best-in-class.”
Providing fast, reliable connectivity for client networks is a critical aspect of CGG’s service delivery, but the high-throughput link provided by Sealink VSAT also supports the company’s own admin and vessel operations, in addition to providing sufficient capacity for crew communication. Onboard hardware across the fleet includes Dual C- or Dual C-/Ku-band antennas, with fully redundant below-deck equipment, including dual X7 modes and dual Cisco routers and switches. Marlink has also established MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) terrestrial integration to ensure a high-quality connection to the CGG onshore office network in addition to Public IP and DataManager web compression and filtering for the crew LAN.
Executive Comments
“The connectivity upgrades to the fleet earlier this year enhanced CGG’s service offering to clients and its own communication facilities across its fleet. This and our ability to provide flexible and reliable services with high bandwidth and QoS (Quality of Service) control played an important part in CGG choosing Sealink VSAT for a further five years,” said Tore Morten Olsen, CEO, Marlink.
“The combination of the customized network architecture with iDirect is a real game-changer for CGG from both a business and welfare perspective. Not only are our broadband facilities now rated ‘Best-in-class’ by our offshore client representatives, all crew onboard CGG vessels can enjoy shore-like connection speeds for leisure, social networking and banking, etc.,” said Mark Cassellis, Global IT Manager, Marine Business Line, CGG.