Vodacom Business says it has deployed a private mobile network for South African energy and chemical company Sasol at its synthetic fuel facility in Secunda, Mpumalanga as an alternative to Wi-Fi.
According to Vodacom, who announced the rollout last week, using Wi-Fi to connect the facility’s 3,000 workers would have required a huge amount of infrastructure across the site, which is time-consuming, costly and inefficient.
The private mobile network integrates Vodacom's network infrastructure with Sasol's systems, which Vodacom said enables real-time and remote monitoring, improves safety and compliance, streamlines asset management, boosts collaboration and optimises overall operational efficiency.
A private network also gives the Sasol facility greater control, customisability, increased security, reduced latency and higher reliability, which is crucial for Sasol’s mission-critical communications requirements, said Peter Malebye, managing executive at Vodacom Business.
"Our MPN solution … delivers the scalability and reliability required to ensure continuity for its mission-and business-critical applications," Malebye said in a statement.
"As part of Sasol's digitalisation journey, there is a focus on utilising technology to improve processes that impact safety and efficiency across our facilities," says Victor Bester, Sasol’s executive VP of operations and projects. "This initiative allows us to accelerate these efforts through improved connectivity and control of the mobile network deployed at our Secunda production facility.”
