ADPC and Cisco sign MOU at Gitex 2011
Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC) has chosen Cisco to implement Cisco Borderless Network and Collaboration solutions for Phase 1 of its Khalifa Port Special Systems project. The deployment will enable ADPC to build a secure and reliable platform to deliver services across Khalifa Port and eventually the industrial zone Kizad (Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi). The first phases of the megaproject (currently under construction) will open in Q4, 2012.
At a ceremony held at GITEX 2011 in Dubai, ADPC and Cisco signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen this relationship and explore potential collaborative opportunities that will enable the smart operations of the port as well as strategically connecting one of the world’s largest industrial zones which will facilitate trade, logistics and development contributing to the overall economic expansion of the region.
As a core part of this agreement, Cisco will cooperate in the creation of new service propositions and initiatives, primarily focused on aligning ADPC’s ICT (information and communication technology) strategy objectives with Cisco’s advanced technologies. This is designed to enable ADPC to stay at the forefront of technological updates and market transformations to be able to harness new trends and translate them into new business opportunities to achieve its sustainable growth objectives. The agreement will also bring training and continuous education opportunities to ADPC’s employees that strengthen their productivity, career development and job satisfaction.
Khalifa Port and Kizad are key enablers for economic diversification, development and trade in the region as they will promote new partnership models and services at the forefront of industrial logistics and manufacturing. Hence there was an urge to deploy a smart and intelligent platform that will form the basis to drive the intelligence of the services and systems as well as to develop a connected hub for trade and logistics between the offshore port and the onshore facilities.
ADPC was in need to explore a solution that delivers state of the art technologies to support the highly sophisticated port-related applications and systems as well as to cater for the unprecedented world-class capacity growth of the port. Cisco aids ADPC’s business goals through the provision of a technologically advanced and powerful network to cope with the envisaged network traffic while connecting people and devices onshore and offshore as well as outstations indoors and outdoors through a highly available, secured and reliable communications network.
The Cisco Borderless Network solution was the solution that will allow Khalifa Port to connect anyone, anywhere, anytime and on any device – securely, reliably and seamlessly.
An Ethernet Network is also required to provide data connectivity throughout Khalifa Port, allowing multiple Local Area Networks (LANs) to communicate between devices both on- and off-shore. The active components must be technologically advanced and powerful enough to cope with the massive network traffic, allowing sufficient capacity for future expansion. Cisco Catalyst Switches was the key enabler for such an advanced and powerful network.
The WLAN infrastructure will support the various port systems and stakeholder groups that require remote access to the data network. Since the WLAN is an extension of the data network, any system that is accessible over the LAN shall be accessible over the WLAN, given the correct security permissions. The Cisco Wireless solutions was able to provide anywhere, anytime access to information and resources.
Connecting people across the onshore and offshore facilities and outstations was achieved through Cisco’s Unified Communications solutions. Cisco’s collaboration architecture delivered consistent communication services to authority controls at the Khalifa Port and accelerated communication performance across the port through rich-content experiences. Cisco Unified Communications was a key factor to enable the expected productivity levels of such a world-class hub for trade and logistics.
