CASE STUDY

National Gas Customer Profile

Natural gas transportation, storage and

Distributor Achieves distribution system

9,000 kilometers of pipeline

Pipeline Visibility 420 gas distribution sites

A national natural gas distributor Goals & Challenges

gains operational visibility and Real-time monitoring of distribution

service reliability.
stations spread across the country

Integration with a managed service

provider’s control center technology

Midstream oil and gas companies operate within complex environments.

Their industrial control systems (ICS) include dozens of equipment types
and cover vast distances. This makes it challenging to monitor, manage
Results
and secure pipeline systems that aren’t thoroughly documented or easy Visibility into natural gas surface station
to visualize. operations

Ability to monitor communications links

for service reliability

Confidence that agreed upon service

availability levels were being met
 Guardian
Delivers Operational Visibility into More Than 400 Field Sites

The Goal: Thanks to new technology, it’s now easy down to the site level, but needed to verify
to implement passive network monitoring the service reliability of their connectivity
Visibility
with automated visualization and asset provider to achieve that.
into Pipeline discovery. The same solution can provide
Operations early detection of operational problems
The Nozomi Networks solution delivered
the information needed to measure
and cybersecurity risks. However, to take
connectivity uptime at distribution sites. The
advantage of this, reliable connectivity with
operator is now able to determine whether
remote stations is needed.
contracted service levels are being met,
This was the challenge a North American and has the tools to improve operational
natural gas distributor was facing. They awareness and cybersecurity.
wanted visibility into pipeline operations

The Challenge: The gas distributor is responsible for lacked visibility into its network and had no
supplying natural gas to residential, ability to measure and monitor connectivity
Monitoring
business and industrial users across the status. It needed to find an efficient way to
Connections county. It operates more than 400 pipeline inventory and verify all physical assets on
to 420 Widely regulation and measurement facilities the network, and provide accurate reports
Dispersed Gas spread over 9,000 kilometers of mostly on connection service uptime to the gas
inaccessible terrain. Managing the integrity distributor.
Distribution
of the country’s critical infrastructure
Stations Project Requirements
– particularly the safety, efficiency and
reliability of its natural gas supply, is
Fast implementation of communications
paramount. To achieve that, the distributor link monitoring capabilities
needed real-time, ongoing visibility into its
site connectivity uptime. Proof that the operational visibility solution
could meet use case requirements within a
The natural gas company had contracted a lab environment prior to field deployment
managed service provider (MSP)/telecom
service provider (TSP) to take care of its Integration with MSP systems to monitor
distribution infrastructure. The MSP/TSP communications link service levels

CASE STUDY
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National Gas Distributor
 Nozomi Networks
Delivers Real-time Monitoring of Network Communications

Solution: Step One knowledge, believed they had the perfect

solution to the connectivity monitoring
Three Industry To build capability fast, the natural gas
problem. The SI had established a strategic
distributor partnered with a specialized
Experts partnership with Nozomi Networks in an
MSP/TSP. Its role was to maintain the
Collaborate communications infrastructure that
effort to provide comprehensive OT asset

To Deliver connected the 420 gas distribution stations

visibility, critical process monitoring and
streamlined IT/OT integration to their
Operation-Wide to a central control center.
customers. They were confident that the
Visibility As part of the service contract, the MSP/
Nozomi Networks OT and IoT visibility
TSP was required to provide proof that
and security solution would perform
the communications links met the quality
well against the connectivity monitoring
and availability levels agreed upon in the
requirements.
contract.
Step Three
Based on their deep expertise in
The MSP/SI project team launched a
developing customized automation,
Proof of Concept (PoC) simulating 20 field
control and telecom solutions for industrial
stations. Nozomi Networks Guardian™
systems, the MSP/TSP knew they could
R50s – ruggedized physical appliances
deliver an effective way to collect and
capable of withstanding temperatures
transfer data from the field to the main
from -40°C to +75°C, were deployed with
control center. What they lacked was
immediate results. Not only did the Nozomi
the means to monitor ongoing network
Networks solution quickly visualize the full
communications down to the site level.
ICS test network, within hours it delivered
Step Two
a detailed asset inventory and realtime
Another regional expert – a systems network monitoring across all 20 stations in
integrator (SI) with extensive business the trial.
process performance and ICS cybersecurity

The natural gas distributor needed visibility into its OT network to confirm that it was receiving the
service levels agreed upon. We looked to our partner Nozomi Networks for the functionality needed
to create a detailed asset inventory, and the specialized tools needed to monitor the organization’s
critical operational processes. Thanks to Nozomi Networks' innovative operational visibility and
cybersecurity solution, we were able to deliver the needed insight.

NETWORK CONSULTING ENGINEER — Nozomi Networks Systems Integrator Partner

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National Gas Distributor
 Nozomi Networks
Delivers Real-time Monitoring of Network Communications

The Results: Completion of the successful PoC led to the understanding of the network structure
purchase of over 420 Nozomi Networks R50 and activity. Longer term benefits include
Network-Wide reduced troubleshooting efforts and faster
appliances for deployment at gas wells, tie
Visibility, Real- points and compressor stations. The MSP/ incident response.
time Monitoring TSP also bought two Nozomi Networks
Real-time Monitoring for Improved
and Scalability Central Management Consoles™ (CMCs)
Network Security
to deliver consolidated and remote access
to the ICS data from Guardian appliances
In addition to network communications,
deployed in the field.
Guardian is able to monitor gas pipeline
assets from different vendors. It displays
To achieve the desired level of operational
summarized data related to alerts, incidents
visibility, Nozomi Networks worked closely
and vulnerabilities, and shows indicators
with the MSP/TSP and SI to customize the
of reliability issues such as unusual system
integration between Nozomi Networks
variable values. This helps the MSP/TSP
appliances and CMCs, the communications
monitor individual site operations and
links and the main control center. And, to
report on communications link availability
ensure that the deployment team had the
levels.
knowledge and skills needed to manage
the solution long-term, Nozomi Networks
High Performance and Scalability Delivers
conducted several days of technical product
Fast ROI
training with members of the multi-
organization project team. Nozomi Networks was able to demonstrate
in the lab and in the field that the
The MSP/TSP now uses Nozomi Networks
R50 appliance solution scales without
Guardian appliances and CMCs to measure
compromising performance. It also adapts
and document the availability of its
easily to all site requirements, thanks
communications links. It shares monthly
to a variety of appliance module and
reports with the natural gas distributor
deployment options. Not only were the
to confirm it is meeting the agreed upon
natural gas distributor, MSP/TSP and SI
sevice levels. And, the natural gas distributor
able to quickly meet their goals, they also
is now confident that it is getting the service
achieved a fast return on investment with
it is paying for.
no risk to ongoing industrial processes.

Operation-Wide Visibility into Network

Future Plans
Structure and Activity
While deployment of over 400 Guardian
hanks to the Nozomi Networks Guardian
appliances continues, the natural gas
appliances, the MSP/TSP and SI are able
distributor and MSP/TSP have also turned
to immediately visualize the pipeline
their attention to exploring other ways to
distribution network. Access to key
tap into the advanced operational visibility
information such as TCP connections
and cyber security capabilities of the
and protocols used between nodes and
Nozomi Networks solution suite.
zones greatly enhanced the team’s

CASE STUDY
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National Gas Distributor
 The Nozomi Networks
Advantage

Securing the World’s Unifying Cybersecurity Partnering to Accelerate

Largest Organizations Visibility IT/OT Convergence

Accelerating your digital Innovating visibility and threat Deeply aligned with the OT, IoT
transformation by reducing detection across your OT, IoT, IT and IT partners you trust.
cyber risk. and cyber-physical systems.

What to Look for in an OT and IoT

Security and Visibility Solution
Technology advancements, such as those Comprehensive OT and IoT security and visibility
found in the Nozomi Networks solution, can Advanced threat detection
dramatically improve security and reliability.
Accurate anomaly alerts

When choosing a solution, look for the Proven scalability across thousands of sites
following characteristics: Easy IT/OT integration

Global partner ecosystem

Exceptional customer engagement and support

See the Nozomi Networks

Solution in Action
If you would like to see our solution in action, and experience how easy it is to work
with Nozomi Networks, please contact us at nozominetworks.com/contact

CASE STUDY
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National Gas Distributor
 Nozomi
Networks
The Leading Solution for OT and IoT
Security and Visibility
Nozomi Networks is the leader in OT and IoT security and visibility. We accelerate
digital transformation by unifying cybersecurity visibility for the largest critical
infrastructure, energy, manufacturing, mining, transportation, building automation
and other OT sites around the world. Our innovation and research make it possible to
tackle escalating cyber risks through exceptional network visibility, threat detection
and operational insight.

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All Rights Reserved.

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CASE STUDY
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National Gas Distributor