Picture this: you board a drill ship, hundreds of kilometers offshore, in a foreign country, with one mission – deliver a fully functional IT environment, complete with: wired and wireless network coverage for nine decks and multiple drill floor cabins/offices, servers, storage, power, security appliances, and communications equipment, before sailing to the Philippines and drilling starts. Four days. No second chances. No delays.

Key Challenges

• Harsh, Isolated Environment: Salt, tropical heat, humidity, and constant ship movement test every piece of equipment.
• Tight Logistics: Miss the supply boat, and that missing switch or server could cost days.
• Limited Connectivity: Satellite links must be tuned for stability and optimized for business-critical traffic.
• Mixed Vendors & Legacy Gear: Integrating new wired and wireless networks and systems with different hardware and configurations.
• Power Stability: Shipboard power fluctuations can damage hardware – UPS sizing and runtime planning are critical.

How We Made It Work

1. Implementation Project on Paper (IPOP): Every port, cable, VLAN, and configuration is documented before stepping onboard. This blueprint became the offshore deployment team’s single source of truth, reducing guesswork and wasted time.
2. Constant Practice During Staging: We ran the entire deployment multiple times and multiple facilities onshore (in the Philippines and Malaysia) – racking gear, routing cables, loading configs – until it became second nature. This rehearsal phase eliminated surprises in the field.
3. Lessons Learned from Past AARs: Previous After Action Reviews gathered from past drill team campaigns shaped our approach.
4. Pre-configured Kits: Servers, firewalls, switches, and communications equipment were staged, tested, and labeled before transferring to the rig and leaving port.
5. Priority-Based Rollout: Core network first, then authentication, storage, applications, security controls, and user access.
6. UPS Strategy: Primary and contingency/backup UPS units were sized for both runtime and load, ensuring protection during generator transitions and voltage dips.
7. Remote-First Support: Offshore team handled physical work; onshore team managed advanced configs and monitoring.
8. Strict Change Management In a compressed timeline, every change must have a reason – no “while we’re here” tweaks that risk downtime.

The Result By combining disciplined planning (IPOP), repetitive rehearsal (staging), and the hard-won knowledge of previous AARs, we delivered a fully operational IT infrastructure in less than a week – on time, fully functional, and ready for operations.

In high-stakes offshore projects, the lesson is simple: Plan it. Practice it. Learn from the past. Then execute without hesitation.