Project:Historic Wines of the Cape
Date:March 2013
Project leaders:Damon Palframan, Chris Lynch
Equipment:2 x PTP250 and 1 x PTP500
Project cost:R240K
The story
Historic Wines of the Cape is the services arm of La Motte Wine Estate and Leopard's Leap Family Vineyards operated under the guidance of owner Hanneli Rupert-Koegelenberg and CEO Hein Koegelenberg.
The challenge
The brief was to connect various business locations situated in the Franschhoek, Paarl and Drakenstein areas. Data, VOIP and video streaming for security cameras needed to run across the three sites, seamlessly.
Video streaming requires a high bandwidth to create a perfect image without buffering. Therefore, a connection that could provide in excess of 50Mbps was essential to the installation.
Separating the three sites, although only a few kilometres apart was a rugged and varied landscape, which included rolling hills and tall trees, all of which would face a challenge for a leased line service which is the cabled alternative.
The solution also needed to be adaptable should the business increase its premises further and need to add on additional buildings or locations.
Our solution
In order to deliver a near perfect stream between the sites and a high bandwidth connection, APC decided on two x Cambium Networks PTP250 links and one x PTP500 full link. The solution would provide in excess of 50Mbps across all three sites.
Planning for the project took just two months, which included seeking permission from the nearby L'Ormarins Farm's Vodacom tower. Mounting three radio units on the tower allowed the sites to be connected, seamlessly.
The result
The quality of the connection between the locations resulted in reduced travelling between the sites as personnel could use videoconferencing and survey the sites, independently.
The high-speed connection allowed files to be shared between the sites without the use of disks or paper copies. Videoconferencing allowed meetings to take place, wirelessly rather than in person, reducing travelling time and increasing productivity.
The use of VOIP also ensured all the sites could communicate as a significantly reduced cost, compared to that of a traditional alternative.
Speaking about the cost savings, APC Solutions Technical Director, Chris Lynch, comments: "A leased line alternative can cost in excess of three times the amount of a wireless solution. In this case, connecting the three sites with a leased line alternative through the varied landscape would not have been possible within the given timeframe. APC's solution was planned, deployed and installed in just two months."
Historic Wines of the Cape was referred to APC by L'Ormarins wine estate, where APC installed a link in 2012 and due to its success, the estate recommended APC to its connections within the industry.
Historic Wines of the Cape chose Cambium over the incumbent connectivity supplier (Radwin), which they previously used to connect to another site, Leopard's Leap Family Vineyards, neighbouring the La Motte farm.
APC's solution was competitively priced but also provided high quality, superior performance. Speaking about the installation, Lynch comments: "It's always flattering to receive a referral, especially in a new territory where we are still establishing our name. HWC's project required three links, some of which were non line of site due to the rugged and varied landscape of the area. Using the nearby tower allowed APC to provide a seamless link that could be monitored remotely by our team under a comprehensive SLA. Having the link in place allows the team to work remotely from each location or stay at their designated site and still access data, review video surveillance or use the integrated VOIP system for tele or videoconferencing.
"The successful link has also secured a possible future project, including a further link to Dennegeur, a workers' village of the Rupert family in Franschhoek. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Historic Wines of the Cape and installing future links."
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