Environment:
-
A construction company needs to deploy crews into greenfield locations with no existing fixed line connectivity / communications infrastructure.
-
A single company will have crews deployed to multiple locations, and those locations will regularly move - either as the job completes and crews move to the next location or due to the work involved (ie road side repair and maintenance along a stretch of motorway).
Requirement
- Multiple cellular connections need to be aggregated to achieve the bandwidth required for on site user applications (such as large digital images and drawings) and to guarantee connection availability as the crews move to areas with different Mobile network operator coverage.
- Wired and wireless IP connectivity is needed both within on site offices or vehicles of key personnel for connected devices (such as printers and plotters) and for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets that enable the new Building Information Modeling (BIM) systems.
- Some sites will be on the edge of MNO coverage areas, and/or require the ability to add alternative connectivity options in place of (or to augment) the cellular connectivity.
- In some cases IP CCTV will be deployed to provide live feedback of construction progress as well as additional on site security for high value plant and equipment.
- Secure connectivity back to the corporate network is required for access to internal centralized systems (such as VoiP, Corporate Email, file shares, BIM and CCTV storage).
Recommended Solution
-
Use A MAX HD2 or HD4 depending on the amount of required cellular bandwidth and form a SpeedFusion Tunnel back to either a Balance or Fusionhub appliance at corporate head office.
-
Combine multiple cellular WANs and any available fixed line connectivity (as it becomes available) to create a single logical secure VPN connection for data transfer.
-
Use the inbuilt Wi-Fi access point on the HD router to provide a local hot spot for client device access, and add additional access points as required to extend the Wi-Fi coverage across the construction site.
-
Prioritise VoIP using QoS to improve the quality of voice calls to remotely deployed handsets.
-
For locations where cellular connectivity is poor, add a satellite broadband connection to the wired WAN connections on the HD router and use that as a direct to internet connection limiting the use of the VPN connection to the cellular WAN connectivity for traffic destined to the head office location.
Additional Notes:
-
A captive portal can be provisioned on the wireless network using a dedicated guest SSID to allow subcontractors limited (by time or bandwidth) access to the internet whilst isolating them from corporate resources.
-
With supported input voltages of 10-30v DC, the MAX router can be powered by any suitable available power source including direct 12V battery connection to a vehicle to enable connectivity even when there is no fixed covered location with a mains power source.
Devices Deployed: MAX HD2/HD4, AP300, AP Pro, FusionHub Virtual Machine or Balance Router (B380+ depending on the number of remote sites and the amount of Speedfusion throughput required)******