case study ADC Refines Reliability for Syncrude Introduction and History Syncrude is the world’s largest producer of crude oil from oil sands, producing about 245,000 barrels of Syncrude Sweet Blend each day from the Athasbasca Oil Sands Deposit in Canada. One key to the company’s success has been strong and lasting relationships with third parties such as ADC. In 1988, Syncrude undertook a project to examine what it would take to grow the oil sands opera- tion. One part of this exhaustive plan was determining what type of voice and data infrastructure was required to support the future of a vastly expanded operation. It was determined that Syncrude need- ed to enhance the telephone system, create a fiber infrastructure, and migrate from mainframes to a PC networked environment. Vendors for everything from PCs and servers to fiber cabling for harsh cli- mates were selected. Syncrude implemented a pilot of the new LAN architecture in 1990 for a small group of 250 engi- neers across 15 locations who required voice and high-bandwidth data support for such applications as drawing storage. From this pilot Syncrude arrived at three key measures that were essential for moving the project forward—reliability, predictability and responsiveness. Over the following years, it was precisely these measures that helped Syncrude successfully roll out the new voice and data sys- tem to more than 80 buildings on the LAN and six additional locations on the WAN. Plant Expansion Presents New Challenges Fast-forwarding to year 2003—reliability, pre- dictability and responsiveness still drive how Syncrude designs, builds and operates its infor- mation systems and fiber network. The fiber net- work now supports not just telecom and busi- ness LAN applications, but also other informa- tion-carrying systems such as security and process control. All applications have dedicated fibers, yet fibers run in the same sheath with applications partitioned in the termination envi- ronment. Reliability is now critical with over a half dozen different applications sharing the same fiber network. As more applications were added to the fiber network, it was becoming clear that density and cable management were going to be issues. These issues took priority when the decision was made to expand operations to support a 50% increase in crude output to 350,000 barrels per day by 2006. This project was called UE-1. When faced with creating a high density yet manageable and reliable fiber network, Syncrude turned to its fiber termination equipment suppli- er of the past 12 years, ADC. Several products were proposed and soon incorporated into the project: the OMX ™ 800 optical distribution frame, FL2000 fiber panels, and FiberGuide ® raceway. The First Measure—Reliability From a design perspective, Syncrude thought managing fibers in high-density frames was going to be a challenge. Distribution frames needed to be flexible enough to handle fibers in a multitude of ways. With a modular design that offers 10 mounting positions for different configurations of termination, splice, and stor- age modules within the cabinet, the OMX 800 frame afforded Syncrude both density, up to 1,440 terminations in one 800mm x 300mm footprint, and flexibility in one package. "There are many vendors that offer high densi- ty," said Al Vonkeman, Team Leader, “You don’t replace infrastructure with the frequency that you replace electronics. That is why we chose ADC products from the beginning.” Round splice trays in the OMX 800 store up to 3 meters of slack, allowing the technician to roll the tray away from the frame for splicing Communications for Syncrude. "The real chal- lenge was getting high density with enough room to access fibers, route patch cables and store slack. ADC was able to deliver density with the cable management features we need- ed," he said. With such a high priority placed on reliability, enabling technicians to work on fibers without causing damage and outages was a concern. Features in FL2000 panels and OMX 800 frames such as angled retainers, defined routing paths and built-in bend-radius protection were critical. In addition, simple features in the OMX 800 such as modular splice trays added reliability, too. With this advanced feature, each splice module holds up to 3 meters of slack, allowing technicians to unroll splice modules and posi- tion them away from the frame for a proper work environment—ensuring higher quality splicing and increased reliability. Syncrude also implemented the FiberGuide ™ raceway and cable guide system to ensure secure routing of patch cords between frames and for fiber cabling between active equipment. Taken together, the advanced features of ADC fiber products afforded superior management fiber cables and patch cords—which contributes directly to the reliability of the network. The Second Measure— Predictability Meeting Syncrude’s requirements for predictabil- ity had many facets. First, by making the passive fiber infrastructure as reliable as possible with the OMX frame, troubleshooting and problem isolation is more predictable. In fact, Syncrude managers have always been able to prove that problems have not been behind the wall in the infrastructure. "You don’t replace infrastructure with the frequency that you replace electronics," said Levon Hovagimian, Advisor, Information Services and early planner of the Syncrude net- work. "That is why we chose ADC products from the beginning. Why change something that is price competitive and works the way we expect," said Hovagimian. Another measure of predictability is found in Syncrude’s long-standing knowledge of ADC’s dedication to manufacturing excellence. "The quality of the products is consistent. Regardless of whether we order empty panels, pre-termi- nated panels or individual connectors, the quali- ty is always consistently high," said Bill Williams, a designer with Fluor Engineering who has worked with Syncrude for over 10 years. Predictability also entailed a measure of how fast service could be turned-up for new or existing locations. For example, rapid growth within the company requires that dozens of portable trailers be available to support operations. To support fast deployment, trailers are outfitted with a modular FL2000 fiber panel. The Third Measure— Responsiveness What has made this 12-year relationship so strong has been ADC’s responsiveness to Syncrude’s requirements. For example, it was determined that standard cable clamps in the OMX 800 fiber frame were not effective due to variability in the diameter of fiber cables. Cables were either too loose or wouldn’t fit into the standard clamp. In what has turned out to be normal operating procedure, ADC engineering had a solution and new part number ready to order the next day. "In all of our years working together, ADC has risen to every challenge we have posed, every anomaly that has occurred," said Hovagimian. "With the UE-1 project, we had issues with “Regardless of whether we order empty panels, pre-terminated panels, or individual connectors, the quality (from ADC) is always consistently high.” ADC Telecommunications, Inc., P.O. Box 1101, Minneapolis, Minnesota USA 55440-1101 Specifications published here are current as of the date of publication of this document. Because we are continuously improving our products, ADC reserves the right to change specifications without prior notice. At any time, you may verify product specifications by contacting our headquarters office in Minneapolis. ADC Telecommunications, Inc. views its patent portfolio as an important corporate asset and vigorously enforces its patents. Products or features contained herein may be covered by one or more U.S. or foreign patents. An Equal Opportunity Employer 1285070 3/04 Original © 2004 ADC Telecommunications, Inc. All Rights Reserved Web Site: www.adc.com From North America, Call Toll Free: 1-800-366-3891 • Outside of North America: +1-952-938-8080 Fax: +1-952-917-3237 For a listing of ADC’s global sales office locations, please refer to our web site. “ .ADC has risen to every challenge we have posed . we have never experienced that kind of consistent response to engineering changes from any other vendor.” how cables entered the frame, dressing of cables, operation of doors—with every issue, there was a near immediate response. We have never experienced that kind of consistent response to engineering changes from any other vendor," said Hovagimian. The Value of Standardizing on ADC Fiber Products All of these measures roll into Syncrude’s pen- chant for developing close relationships with ven- dors. The company pursues an open and upfront relationship with vendors across its entire busi- ness, actively engaging third parties on issues of cost, quality and service. Syncrude cherishes these relationships because, in the long run, the strength of these relationships has a significant impact on the profitability of the company. These select vendors enjoy tenure in exchange for quali- ty and cost effectiveness. Even before the UE-1 project, ADC solutions were the standard for how fibers are handled in the network. By standardizing on ADC, everything from design to installation and maintenance was made more cost-effective. Syncrude was able to take what could have been a highly complicated and error- prone network and make it simple through use of ADC’s diverse products and commitment to qual- ity, according to Hovagimian. "When you have relationships you can trust and count on, it streamlines delivery and reduces our costs," said Hovagimian. "We don’t have an army of technical people to review every nut and bolt. Standardizing on ADC allows us to use third parties to design and install while we enjoy the economies of scale of not having to manage diverse knowledge sets," he said. Conclusion By consistently meeting measures of reliability, predictability and responsiveness over the past 12 years, ADC has earned the trust and business of Syncrude. With so many internal customers to sat- isfy, reliability of the network was an absolute must. Even though other fiber products may have worked, ADC offered the best fit. The UE-1 proj- ect is a confirmation of the level of quality and support Syncrude has received from ADC and why excellent quality and support continues to be crit- ical to Syncrude’s ongoing success. Each OMX 800 termination module supports up to 144 adapters for high density with superior cable manage- ment. Modules can be ordered pre-terminated with IFC, OSP cable, or pigtails. . case study ADC Refines Reliability for Syncrude Introduction and History Syncrude is the world’s largest producer of crude. support for such applications as drawing storage. From this pilot Syncrude arrived at three key measures that were essential for moving the project forward reliability,