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Orange Business Services Wins Strategic Satellite Communications Contract with Petroleum Industry Leader BW Offshore
[September 02, 2014]

Orange Business Services Wins Strategic Satellite Communications Contract with Petroleum Industry Leader BW Offshore


PARIS --(Business Wire)--

BW Offshore, a leading global provider of floating production services to the oil and gas industry, has signed a 5-year, $12 million contract with Orange Business Services for an end-to-end satellite communication solution for its fleet of highly-specialized oil and gas production vessels. With a fleet of 14 owned Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels and one Floating Storage and Offtake (FSO) vessel, BW Offshore is the world's second largest contractor of floating production services.

Orange Business Services (News - Alert) is providing Maritime VSAT - a fully managed end-to-end satellite-based communication solution - which fully integrates BW Offshore's 14 vessels and two land-based locations into the Orange MPLS network. This solution offers BW Offshore personnel access to the exact same business applications, communication and entertainment services at sea as on land, no matter where the vessel is located. In addition, BW Offshore has agreed to invest in Session Internet Protocol (SIP) trunking - the use of voice over IP to facilitate the connection of a private branch exchange (PBX (News - Alert)) to the Internet - to enable the implementation of unified communications for its 2,000 employees regardless of their location.

From an administration point of view, the solution is in many ways pioneering. For years, BW Offshore had multiple VSAT providers with different contracts, quality of service and SLAs. The communication solution from Orange Business Services connects the floating and land-based personnel seamlessly in an end-to-end network with the same high performance, quality of service and security.

"By choosing the satellite-based solution from Orange Business Services, we avoid many of the challenges we sometimes faced with a multiple provider strategy, like high latency on VSAT links and poor application performance on vessels at sea," said Fritz Ekløff, Senior Vice President of Corporate IT at BW Offshore. "We wanted a single provider with end-to-end responsibility that could deliver service with predictable speed, quality and security. The solution is cost efficient and at the same time we get access to a wider portfolio of services than we had before."



"With the Orange maritime service, BW Offshore embodies the concept of 'office at sea,'" said Helmut Reisinger, senior vice president, Orange Business Services Europe, Russia & CIS. "As opposed to other VSAT providers, our satellite and land-based services are fully integrated. As a result, BW Offshore gets access to a secure, high-performing network from all sites, whether at sea or on land. By choosing an end-to-end solution, the company avoids using the public Internet which adds complexity and lowers overall control, quality and security. Orange Business Services supports BW Offshore with a unique blend of maritime and oil and gas industry expertise. In addition, Orange Business Services is the only global provider with its own local staff to install and support complex satellite networks all over the world, which is critical for a global company like BW Offshore."

About BW Offshore


BW Offshore is a leading global provider of floating production services to the oil and gas industry. BW Offshore is the world's second largest contractor with a fleet of 1F4 PSOs and 1 FSO represented in all major oil regions world-wide. The company also operates additional 2 FPSOs. BW Offshore has a long track record on project execution and operations, as well as a robust balance sheet and strong financial capabilities. In more than 30 years of production, BW Offshore has executed 38 FPSO and FSO projects. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Further information is also available on www.bwoffshore.com.

About Orange Business Services

Orange Business Services, the Orange branch dedicated to B2B services, is a leading global integrator of communications solutions for multinational corporations. With the world's largest, seamless network for voice and data, Orange Business Services reaches 220 countries and territories with local support in more than 160. Offering a comprehensive package of communication services covering cloud computing, enterprise mobility, M2M, security, unified communications, videoconferencing, and broadband, Orange Business Services delivers a best-in-class customer experience across a global landscape. Thousands of enterprise customers and 1.4 million mobile data users rely on an Orange Business Services international platform for communicating and conducting business. Orange Business Services was awarded four of the telecom industry's highest accolades at the annual World Communication Awards 2013 - Best Global Operator, Best Cloud Service, Best Enterprise Service and Best Small Business Service. Orange Business Services is the only seven-time winner of Best Global Operator. Learn more at www.orange-business.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook.

Orange is one of the world's leading telecommunications operators with annual sales of €41 billion in 2013 and has 161,000 employees worldwide at June 30, 2014. Orange is listed on the NYSE Euronext Paris (symbol ORA) and on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol ORAN).

Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trademarks of Orange or Orange Brand Services Limited.


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