The North Sea is a web of busy shipping routes, wind farms and subsea infrastructure. Laying new cables, clearing explosives, placing wind turbines: none of it happens without detailed knowledge of the seabed. Maritime service provider N-Sea delivers exactly that. Their specialised vessels collect huge volumes of data with advanced sonar and survey systems. But how do you store hundreds of terabytes per project without drowning in a mess of files and hardware?
Maritime data explosion calls for a smarter storage strategy
N-Sea biedt geïntegreerde totaaloplossingen voor onderzeese infrastructuren en assets voor de offshore energy sector. Ze voorzien in alles wat hierbij komt kijken: surveys, UXO detectie- en verwijdering, inspectie, reparatie en onderhoud (IRM), bouw en ontmanteling en data-management. N-Sea verwerkt per project terabytes aan gegevens. Die hoeveelheid data blijft bovendien hard groeien.
A key part of the new architecture is a 'hot-warm-cold' storage model, which segments data based on the required data classification. N-Sea stores its most current data in the colocation environment at the Eurofiber Cloud Infra data centre, after which it's synced to the on-premises environment at its office in Dordrecht. This 'hot storage' is meant for ongoing projects and real-time data processing.
Explosive data growth
N-Sea delivers integrated solutions for subsea infrastructure in the offshore energy sector: surveys, UXO detection and removal, inspection, repair and maintenance, construction, decommissioning and data management. Every project produces terabytes of data. And that number keeps climbing.
Manual offloading and expensive consultancy
Growing data streams pushed N-Sea up against its storage ceiling. Manual data offloading to the cloud became unavoidable: a 3-month process that brought extra work and operational risk. As the existing storage solution neared end of life, N-Sea had to bring in external consultants more and more often. Higher costs, deeper dependency.
That forced a strategic choice: reinvest in a traditional on-site setup, or move to private cloud.
Flexible infrastructure with smart data tiering
N-Sea chose the private cloud concept from Eurofiber Cloud Infra. "What N-Sea needed was a tiered solution that grows with their data streams and doesn't limit them in future expansion," says Jos Hoogers, Senior Enterprise Cloud Account Manager at Eurofiber Cloud Infra.
At the heart of the new architecture is a hot-warm-cold storage model, with data segmented by classification.
The most current data sits in the colocation environment at the Eurofiber Cloud Infra data centre, synced with the on-premises setup in Dordrecht. This hot storage handles live projects and real-time processing.
Object storage environment
Finished projects move to the warm storage layer: an object storage environment from Eurofiber Cloud Infra, used for further analysis and trend research. A technical SLA takes management off N-Sea's plate. Billing runs per terabyte per month. The cold storage layer, the third tier, automatically shifts older data to Oracle Cloud Archive Storage for long-term retention.
"Offloading data used to eat up a lot of hours, time we could have spent better," says Adriaan Holleman, Head of IT at N-Sea Group. "Now it runs without us having to watch it, and we've got a grip on our data ecosystem plus more room to innovate."
The benefits
- Scaling without capital investment. Storage capacity grows along with demand, no big hardware spend, so N-Sea can stay focused on its core work.
- Lower, more predictable costs. N-Sea pays only for the capacity it actually uses. No surprise hardware bills, no external consultants.
- Less IT management. Automation cuts manual work, which lowers the risk of errors. The IT team spends that time on innovation and process improvement instead.
- Better data security and compliance. "Clients demand speed and availability, but also guarantees that their data is stored safely," says Hoogers. "With this solution we manage data in a controlled way and meet compliance requirements, without compromising on what users need."
- Smoother, safer data exchange now runs through a streamlined storage structure, with no risk of inconsistencies or loss. N-Sea can focus fully on its core business, with infrastructure that moves with the company's growth. With Eurofiber Cloud Infra, the path is clear for a future without storage obstacles, however rough the waters get.
