Upgrading existing wireless infrastructure for salt suppliers from the mainland to the coast of Mexico

Exportadora de Sal is one of the main producers and suppliers of salt for the chlor-alkali industry in the Pacific basin, and is engaged in international dry bulk shipping services via a fleet of vessels of all sizes. It operates in the Mexican town of Guerrero Negro and Cedros Island, on the west coast of Mexico. Over the years, the salinity of the area had greatly affected the functionality of outdoor equipment and machinery used by Exportadora de Sal. This included security cameras and legacy wireless units. In addition to this, the company’s scattered operations needed to be reliably connected in order to protect its heavy investments and keep business flowing without interruption.

Exportadora de Sal recognised that it needed a more reliable and future-proof wireless platform in order to improve existing connectivity and deliver quality services. To achieve these objectives, it undertook extensive market research to identify the most suitable and cost-effective wireless solution, seeking the assistance of Excel Distribuidora, a leader in wireless video surveillance solutions in Mexico. The latter turned to InfiNet Wireless, having already worked with its solutions and impressed with the performance and reliability of InfiNet’s units deployed for other end users in the country and CALA region.

Ultimately, InfiNet Wireless deployed a comprehensive platform consisting of both “point-to-point” and “point-to-multipoint” links, providing wide coverage across several sites of Exportadora de Sal, all connected with at least 300 Mbps, compared to the previous 50 Mbps they were used to. The company’s mobile and nomadic units were also seamlessly connected to the central processing and machinery sites, thus enabling all terminals to be connected to the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) application, wherever they are located, and at any point in time. InfiMonitor, InfiNet’s centralised network management application which is used to monitor and manage the entire wireless infrastructure, was also implemented to ensure full visibility of the wireless links and continuous operation of the network with zero downtime.

Not only was the deployment of the InfiNet solution straightforward and cost effective for Exportadora de Sal, the transmission capacity of the wireless links throughout and across the operations far exceeded their expectation. As well as transmitting voice and data services, the InfiNet platform also enabled the collection and delivery of high-resolution video streams from various cameras dotted around the sites, allowing Exportadora de Sal to dynamically monitor all its remote sites and areas. The company’s operations and management teams can now follow progress and workflow from more areas than ever before, significantly increasing the safety of its employees, customers and expensive assets.

“We were looking for a reliable solution, with a proven track record of high performance and stability. It quickly became evident through the formal bidding process that Excel Distribuidora and InfiNet Wireless ticked all the relevant boxes and were the best choice for our mission-critical project. The cooperation now means we have more eyes on the ground and we are able to connect our business units for faster decision making and productivity. Thanks to the reliability of InfiNet Wireless’ solutions, and to Excel Distribuidora’s knowledge and experience in our local market, we are now able to provide our customers with excellent service and ensure a higher degree of safety in all of our remote operational areas,” said Lic. Luis Antonio Castro Leree and Ing. Refugio Ledezma, respectively IT and Operations managers at Exportadora de Sal.