Bristow takes off with Speedcast multi-year connectivity agreement

Aiming to enhance its technology and future-proof its network, communications and IT services provider Speedcast has signed a multi-year contract with Bristow Group to deliver technology upgrades and future-proof more than 40 remote sites across the globe, including Australia, Europe, Nigeria, the UK, and North and South America.

Houston-based Bristow Group is a global provider of sustainable vertical flight solutions. Its primary aim is to provide aviation services to a base of major integrated, national and independent offshore energy companies, with current customers located in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the Dutch Caribbean, Falkland Islands, Guyana, India, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Spain, Suriname, Trinidad, the UK and the US.

Bristow also provides commercial search and rescue (SAR) services in several countries and public sector SAR services in the UK on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Additionally, the company has 222 aircraft in its global fleet and offers ad hoc helicopter and fixed wing transportation services.

As part of the agreement, more than 40 onshore energy and search and rescue office bases will receive technology and system enhancements via Speedcast’s Unified Global Platform (UGP) and its software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) solution. Additionally, all sites will benefit from equipment upgrades.

The new contract follows 10 years of connectivity partnership between the organisations, with Speedcast providing 24x7 secure network support for Bristow’s operations, managing its wide-area network (WAN), local area network (LAN), voice, and back-up broadband services. The solution supports flight operations, managing a critical lifeline for aircraft to operate safely and efficiently, and enables Bristow personnel to access core enterprise systems and applications such as aircraft maintenance data transfer.

“At Bristow, our mission is to make every flight personal and assure safe, efficient and reliable solutions to deliver superior outcomes to our stakeholders,” said Bristow’s chief information officer, Noel Malcaba. “Speedcast has been our long-standing connectivity partner, serving our fleet operations and base stations across the globe. Because of the reliable service and advanced technology Speedcast delivers, our team can conduct their work and ensure flights continue to run seamlessly and stay connected, no matter the flight path or destination.”

As a multi-path, multi-orbit connectivity solution, Speedcast’s SD-WAN is designed to provide flexible, intelligent and secure network management, and ensures applications have the highest availability and performance. It blends very small aperture terminal (VSAT), low Earth orbit (LEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO) solutions, cellular 4G/5G, wireless and multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) technologies into a single optimised and secure WAN path that is claimed to deliver high-quality uptime all the time.

“As part of this agreement, Speedcast will be conducting technology enhancements and equipment upgrades at many critical base locations, ensuring Bristow benefits from the latest advancements in hybrid connectivity,” said Richard Elson, executive vice-president for energy at Speedcast.

“By future-proofing their network leveraging Speedcast’s Unified Global Platform, we’re confident Bristow will experience the highest quality connection and redundancy, keeping their operations running smoothly. We look forward to continuing to meet Bristow’s requirements for safe and efficient operations,” he added.