REDLINE COMMUNICATIONS ANNOUNCES COMPLETION OF FIRST PHASE AND EXPANSION INTO SECOND PHASE OF SHELL OIL JOINT VENTURE WIRELESS OIL FIELD PROJECT

— Petroleum Development Oman reports rapid return on investment with Redline’s rugged wireless infrastructure, expands project to include more wells —

Redline Communications Group Inc. a leading provider of broadband wireless solutions for machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, today announced the successful completion of the first phase and the launch of a larger second phase of a major wireless project for Shell Oil joint venture Petroleum Development Oman LLC (PDO).

In November 2010 Redline announced that PDO had selected Redline to supply a wireless communications infrastructure to meet their goal of having a full bi-directional communication-integration between the corporate layer and the field layers for their oil and gas fields.  Over 2000 of the 5000 oil wells in their Oman location are now connected wirelessly using Redline equipment to a centralized site where they are monitored and managed remotely, M2M in real-time, eliminating the need to have workers drive from well to well to collect critical operating information and make changes to optimize the system.

Redline’s RDL-3000 and AN80i broadband radios, powered by SmartLINK software, are the cornerstone of the PDO system.  They operate in point-to-multipoint configurations, allowing many units in the field to communicate over long distances to a smaller number of base stations which improves the cost effectiveness of the system.  The Redline technology has extremely large capacity which supports multiple types of machines communicating over the wireless network simultaneously.  SCADA systems, RTUs, video surveillance cameras and Wi-Fi hotspots are all connected over the wide area Redline network, with the more important communications such as control over the well heads getting priority treatment.

Data and information now flow seamlessly between more than 2000 oil wells and the central control location, providing a full picture of what is happening in the field and how it is impacting the finances of the oil field operator. In addition to connecting well heads, rigs and semi-mobile units are also now wirelessly connected using Redline products, allowing person to person communications and access to corporate systems regardless of location.

Redline products are especially well suited to the M2M needs of the oil and gas industry because they are powerful and flexible enough to accommodate the many different types and priorities of communications in an oil field, and they operate reliably in even the most extreme environments.  As the PDO oil field covers an area of 28,000 square miles of desert, ruggedized resilient equipment is critical.

“The Redline products have delivered on their promise of highly reliable performance in a challenging environment,” said Saeed Al Shidhani, PDO’s Head of IT Projects.  “Redline’s ability to operate without interruption in harsh conditions over extremely wide areas was key to delivering a rapid return on investment. We have seen immediate and significant improvements in performance and data throughput as a result of the wireless digital connectivity delivered by Redline and we plan to more than double the number of wells that are included in this system in the coming months.”

“We are pleased to see this major project deliver real and measurable improvements to Petroleum Development Oman’s oil field operation, and that the project continues to grow,” said Eric Melka, Redline’s CEO. “We are committed to partnering with PDO and others in the industry to create an entirely new and more effective way of managing oil and gas production. This segment has become the fastest growing of our business and we attribute this growth to our partnerships and our unique rugged M2M technology that we have designed specifically for the energy sector.”

Redline has made a major commitment to the oil and gas industry and the Middle East region.  They have recently opened an office in Dubai and have increased staffing in the region to support PDO and other oil and gas customers.

Redline Communications
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