Founded in 1978 and headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Pason Systems Inc. is a leading global provider of specialized data management systems for drilling rigs. The company is the industry’s only oilfield specialist with fully integrated drilling data solutions that make it fast, flexible, and easy for clients to access their critical drilling information – anytime, anywhere. These capabilities allow these clients to collect, manage, report and analyze drilling data in order to optimize the performance and cost-efficiency of their operations. Today, the company employs over 600 staff and serves most major oil and gas companies around the world.
Business Challenge
Given that drilling sites are nomadic in nature, frequent moves to remote areas present a significant challenge for connectivity. With a patchwork quilt of cellular carrier coverage and the unpredictable nature of the next location to effectively transport data, companies typically need to deal with several communications carriers to ensure connectivity at every site. For Pason, this brings operational challenges when scaling thousands of drilling rigs across broad geographic areas with unknown coverage and service company options at each site.
Given the harsh environment of a typical drill site, Pason also needed a rugged solution – one that could be exposed to all the elements and survive. With operations in areas in Northern Canada where temperatures routinely drop to -40°C to the southern US where summertime temperatures are well above 50°C, a broad operational and reliable solution was required.
With a large installation base, the ability to remotely monitor and manage each location is key to avoiding having to dispatch technicians to remote locations when problems arise.
Sierra Wireless Industrial Networking Solution
The company evaluated several solutions and in 2017, Pason chose to incorporate the AirLink RV50X Industrial LTE-A Gateway into their North American communications services. Because the RV50X is a dual-SIM device, Pason can install the same hardware at each site, and utilize the carrier service that provides the best connectivity option. The RV50X provides Cat-6 LTE connectivity which ensures product longevity among a broad installation base and allows clients to experience higher speeds. The small form factor simplifies deployment, and the wide temperature range makes the device rugged in remote operations. Pason also selected AirLink® Management Service, a cloud-based device management service, to be able to remotely manage each of the AirLink devices at their client drilling sites. Through the AirLink interface, Pason can monitor each location’s performance, deploy software and security patches as required, and troubleshoot