Oman Gas Company adopts Cisco's IP telephony to link main office and 5 regional offices

The new system enables easy connectivity to the remote sites of the company

Muscat, 26 November, 2005 – Oman Gas Company (OGC), the largest owner and operator of gas transportation facilities in the Sultanate of Oman, has recently adopted Cisco IP Telephony Solutions to link its head office with the company's five regional ones, including the remote Sohar office. The fibre optic connection between various locations of OGC eliminated the need for co stly and potentially redundant expansion of its current PABX capacity while improving network flexibility and achieving higher connectivity rates.

"OGC was in the process of creating a corporate WAN using its current PABX capacity to link its five regional offices. However, forecasted demands called for a secure, scalable and reliable solution which only a Cisco IP telephony suite could offer. Cisco's IP Telephony solution will support OGC's requirement and boost the company's performance by providing an effective cost efficient communication infrastructure," stated Hussam El-Gammal IT and Telecom Manager , Oman Gas Company .

Commenting on OGC's migration, Samer Al Kharrat, General Manager, Cisco Systems for the Gulf Region, said, "Through the implementation of a cost effective communications network across multiple sites, OGC has brought several merits to its operation, not only by enhancing productivity and flexibility of overall work internally but also increasing the company's responsiveness to meet the market's growing energy demands."

With the implementation of Cisco IP telephony solutions, the head office and regional offices of OGC can be assured of an enhanced single communication infrastructure for transmission of data, voice, and video traffic, delivering the business benefits of a converged network to enterprise-level organizations. Cisco IP telephony solution delivers several benefits, including ease of deployment, lower cost of ownership and provides an efficient and reliable communication mechanism. The new solution is extremely useful for mobile users who travel to the headquarters because the company provides a hot office space to allow them to connect to the corporate network.

"As a key industry player in the regional energy sector, OGC required a robust cost effective communications network that is scalable, flexible and secure. Cisco IP telephony has enabled seamless connectivity and improved efficiencies in the hugely strategic industry sector in the Sultanate," he added.

The implementation of the IP Telephony solution by OGC has resulted in efficient management and utilisation of communication resources and has significantly enhanced the overall productivity at the company. The next step for OGC is to start implementing XML applications on the IP telephony network to increase user efficiency and operational benefits.