South African petroleum giant, Engen, has completed a R660 000 upgrade to its computer network infrastructure at its Durban refinery, in a bid to expand its bandwidth capability to meet projected demands of users with data intensive applications. Engen`s Durban refinery processes in excess of 100 000 barrels of crude oil per day and is of significant strategic importance to the South African petroleum industry. The upgrade was jointly designed by Engen and systems specialists at DNS Group subsidiary DNS Networking (KwaZulu-Natal) branch. It includes a new FDDI fibre optic ring for its CAD (computer aided design) office linked to the campus local area network (LAN) at the refinery site via a Digital Gigaswitch. "The focus of the upgrade - which includes six additional Compaq DeskPro 4000 CAD workstations and dedicated Compaq 6000 file server - is on the design office as its CAD functions are central to many future expansion projects at the refinery," says Engen`s process systems specialist Greg Rhodes. "For example, Engen has recently installed a pipeline corrosion management software system which links directly into the CAD system. It`s function will be enhanced by the capacity improvement brought about by the upgrade." The upgrade project will increase the number of PC-based workstations on the refinery`s network from 230 to more than 400 - close to its current design maximum of 500. "The project also includes the replacement of existing co-axial cable by a UTP Category 5 structured wiring system in 15 key areas, located within the refinery and its control centres, covering more than 220 network points or nodes," says Rhodes. A project which will impact on Engen`s computer infrastructure is the current installation of a sophisticated access control, time and attendance system which will be linked to the Engen network. Future plans include the linking of the Durban site to Engen`s Island View depot and its Cape Town head office (and its IBM mainframe). "We have not ignored the benefits of Internet technology," notes Rhodes, who expects Engen to have comprehensive remote access and Internet and intranet facilities operational by year end. "We are currently piloting an intranet application for our Quality Assurance department," he explains. "This involves the capture and translation to HTML of more than 4000 documents which will soon be accessed on-line by authorised personnel. "Once the core infrastructure is in place, further databases will be added and made accessible to a broader audience on a refinery-wide basis." Rhodes says that further expansion of the intranet concept is planned.
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