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Background
Norled AS is one of Norway’s largest ferry and express boat operators. The company has 80 vessels and operates ferry and express boat services from the Oslofjord to Troms county. Norled has invested significantly in new types of vessels and eco-friendly technology, and has developed solutions used solely by the company. The company has over 1,000 employees and an annual turnover of NOK 2 billion. The company’s head office is in Stavanger with branch offices in Bergen and Oslo. Norled is owned by the Nordic infrastructure fund CapMan Infra and the Canadian company CBRE Caledon Capital Management
Bjørn Tore Garderhagen – IT Operation Manager was set a challenge … How to allow access to the cellular network and stream video/conference calling and allowing internet access direct to the vessels. The natural choice was to install the Digi EX15 LTE cellular extender, https://www.digi.com/products/networking/cellular-routers/enterprise/digi-ex15 offering reliable Ethernet connectivity with limited downtime. Easy deployment was the key and being able to control devices with Digi Remote Manager® essential.
Bjørn then needed to find a fast effective and reliable method of housing these inside a suitable IP67 rated outdoor enclosure. GTT Wireless had such a product and were able to take the initial enquiry from Bjørn and ship, fully-configured samples on the same day.
We asked Bjørn a little more about the process and his future plans?
Q: Which brand of router are you using in the GTT outdoor enclosures? What applications are these supporting?
We are using GTT outdoor fully configured enclosures to provide us with high quality outdoor gateways for outdoor applications on our fleet of vessels. We have a long and established relationship with Digi and have recently migrated to their Digi EX-15 router (that supports LTE-CAT11 providing higher bandwidth and greater reliability). The issue we had was that the Digi router was not designed to operate outdoors in harsh environments. With the Digi EX-15 and the GTT enclosure solutions we were able to combat both challenges in a, “best in class” solution. The IP67 outdoor GTT Enclosure solutions (with watertight IP67 interfaces to the real-world) provides us with very flexible practical mounting location options for our EX-15 router system and also reduces RF losses in our system by enabling our router system to be located on the roof of the bridge instead of at the end of a very long antenna cable run from an antenna on the roof to the router down to the instrumentation room.
Q: Where were these routers housed previously?
We have many Digi routers integrated into plastic enclosures already. The enclosures are standard off-the-shelf boxes and require quite considerable configuration for the I/O and antenna. We were not only able to integrate the router inside the GTT outdoor fully-configured enclosures quickly and easily, but also use the standard IP67 GTT Antenna as an alternative to our costly legacy products.
Q: What made you choose GTT Wireless enclosures?
We found the GTT online BTC tool after a search on Google, https://gttwireless.com/enclosure-design/ and configured our outdoor solution in minutes … and after a short call with Andy Bird the Managing Director at GTT, we were able to establish several options which appeared even more suitable for our application. We were then lucky enough to receive a fully-configured sample of the enclosure on same-day-despatch with a number of suggested alternative components to ease implementation.
Q: How long did it take you to install?
We received the GTT sample and just needed to make one simple engineering change to the internal mounting to accommodate the EX-15 router. All in all, I had a final outdoor solution sample ready for installation on my desk within 48 hours.
Q How soon from enquiry were your enclosures fitted and everything good to go?
It was less than a week between our initial enquiry until we tested the first sample on our first vessel. Great turnaround.
Q: Have you experienced decreased downtime and higher productivity because of these enclosures?
Yes, I believe we have. But more importantly it has allowed us to plan and roll-out a long-term reliable solution for all vessels and finally have a professional looking watertight (IP67) solution mounted on the exterior of the ship.
Q: Are you planning to develop this initiative further?
With the help of GTT we now have 2 solutions available. The GTT GLB enclosure solution with a single Digi EX-15 installed and option 2, the GTT Formosa enclosure solution with 2 identical Digi EX-15 products enclosed. I believe with the above options I have our future sorted.
Q: Where can people find out more about your business?
You can find more information on our website: https://www.norled.no/en/about-norled/
For more information on GTT Wireless outdoor enclosure solutions and how your business and customers can benefit, give us a call today on 01572 338011
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