ABERDEEN-headquartered Pirie & Smith, dynamic positioning (DP) and marine surveyors to the marine and energy sectors, has signed an agreement with Vessel Technology (VT) for the distribution and rental of VT equipment in West Africa.
The agreement between the two North east Scotland-headquartered companies covers VT’s network storm testing products and services and will complement the existing services provided to clients by Pirie & Smith.
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The network storm testing is performed with specialist equipment which uses VT’s DPSS®NET system to test the redundancy philosophy and safe operation of DP vessels, specifically in relation to their DP network systems.
A network storm occurs when a device on a computer network transmits an abnormally large amount of specific data which can swamp other devices and cause them to crash or become unresponsive. The potential repercussions of a network storm in a DP system can lead to loss of position and other serious issues.
Causes can include hardware malfunction, incorrectly configured Ethernet hardware, human error, network design and software issues.
Richard Smith, strategy manager for Pirie & Smith, said: “This agreement allows us to build on our relationship with VT and extend the services that we have performed together in relation to network storm testing. We are receiving a growing number of requests from operators for this type of verification testing on DP system networks as part of Vessel Acceptance, and the agreement means we can hold equipment locally in our operating regions to support clients where and when required.”
David Milne, managing director at VT and a leading expert in network storms and electronic systems, said: “Network storm testing is an area gaining a great deal of focus with more people becoming aware of the potential effects of net storms on DP network systems. As the impacts of net storms become more widely understood, the distribution of our equipment into the market will allow better access to our services in partnership with our distributors, such as Pirie & Smith.”
