05 January 2007

SGJ Solutions after being approached by Macom Consulting to setup a fully Voip
based system for Songa Songa island were faced with an issue. A double hop VPN which everyone said would not support Voip.
We'll leave Mark Ashford of Macom Consulting to explain the rest.

There was a requirement to provide voice and data communications on Songo Songo Island, off the coast of Tanzania, for an on-shore drilling campaign.  As there are no land line facilities available, the only option was to install a VSAT connection with VoIP.  We decided to use the SNOM phone and the Vegastream VoIP gateway as we've used this previously in Central and South American locations .A C Band VSAT was installed on the island and setup with a 512K synchronous connection.  A Watchguard Edge was installed on the link to provide firewall protection and VPN capabilitiesA Vegastream was installed in the MACOM office since the client concerned did not have a UK presence.  The Vegastream was connected to a single ISDN2e connection, thus providing 2 voice lines. 

A VPN tunnel was then built between the MACOM office and the field location, the SNOM phones configured with a static IP address, then registered with the Vegastream unit in the UK.  An additional VPN was then built between Songo Songo Island and the clients main office in Dar es Salaam, as well as from the MACOM office to Dar es Salaam.  The Panasonic phone system installed at the office was then connected to UK Vegastream via a Linksys ATA, thus providing VoIP capabilities on the switch. With all this in place, not only could external calls be made from the drilling locations, but they could also be made back to the office in Dar, despite there being a double satellite hop involved, resulting in a 1200ms to 1400ms latency.The system has proved so successful, that it is being taken on by another client, for their drilling campaign, again off the coast of Tanzania.