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INSTALLATIONS SSystems Integration Asia February - March 2015
KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA
Connecting A Steely Future In The Desert
Polycom Powers Communications at Saudi Steel Major
When Saudi Arabian steel major SOLB STEEL, decided to set up its manufacturing plant in the Jazan Economic City – the tiny southwest part of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is part of an ambitious Master Plan – it was like walking into an all-advantageous place but one. Lack of telecom infrastructure! The steel major, however, went ahead with its plans undeterred, and made a business case. The key to its success has been the communication mechanism it set-up between its plant and headquarters, thanks to technology solution provider- Polycom.
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t was a sort of too early a time for Saudi Arabia’s Jazan Economic City (JEC) when Riyad-headquartered steel fame SOLB STEEL began building its manufacturing facilities there in 2009. Intended for development under an ambitious Master Plan, the JEC did have several advantages: easy access to the kingdom’s third-largest port Jizan; a strategic location being very close to the main east and west sea trade routes to Europe; as much as 300 km of potential coastline; vital link to the country’s fast-
growing southern region; and, above all, substantial government and industry backing.
rolling mills, besides 500,000 tons of rebars production.
Despite all that, it suffered from one big hindrance- lack of telecom infrastructure. Its communication facilities were years behind those available in Riyadh and other developed areas in the country. Being in a patch of undeveloped desert of around 1,000 kilometers from the country’s largest commercial center, one’s ability there to communicate and collaborate would determine how quickly and efficiently plants, offices and other facilities could rise out of the sand.
Having committed to such a massive initiative it was essential for the company to have regular interaction with the field staff to monitor the plant progress. However, that it was so far from the headquarters, establishing a telecommunication channel with the plant site was imperative. Ironically, the JEC region had dismally poor communications infrastructure – a bandwidth of a meager 64k – thus the company had to explore other avenues of ‘conferencing.’
Though created from humble beginnings, SOLB STEEL quickly emerged into a dynamic giant in Saudi steel industry. Today, it is acclaimed as one of the major manufacturers of billets, re-bars and wire rods in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Looking into the future, government thrust on developing the JEC, SOLB STEEL had committed itself for a multi-billion dollar investment to set up the steel plant with a reported capacity of one million ton billets and
The poor telecom bandwidth at JEC meant that SOLB plant had to use a Microwave for Internet access. They were forced to use Microwave P2P connection over 23 LOS with multiples of poor copper line connections. While that didn't meet their requirement by any count, their communication concerns only got compounded with their work load weighing up, and no other alternative of fiber optic or copper cabling network. That the