Who, what, where--asset management for mining operations: nickel producer Inco Ltd. is keeping...

Mining companies have their work cut out for them as they track hundreds of people and vehicles moving through miles of tunnels. For Inco Ltd., one of the world's largest nickel producers with mining facilities in Canada, the U.K., Indonesia, and New Caledonia, the answer to tracking both miners and equipment was to develop a converged wireless communications network.

"Typically, the communications services required by an underground mine are supplied by multiple communications structures," says Peter Cunningham, Senior Specialist in Inco's Technology Department. "But