NetAscendant helps Oryx Midstream Services implement the right IT infrastructure, cybersecurity and management processes to support its rapid growth.

Oryx Midstream Services provides crude oil logistics services for producers in the Permian Basin. Based in Midland, Texas, Oryx was founded as a “greenfield” operation with the construction of the Oryx Trans Permian Pipeline beginning in 2013. The company is now one of the largest privately held midstream crude operators in the region, with approximately 1,200 miles of in-service and under-construction pipeline and 2.1 million barrels of storage.

 By 2018, Oryx had about 80 employees. The company needed professional IT services to support its growing operations, but wasn’t large enough to hire in-house IT staff. It made more sense to partner with NetAscendant.

“NetAscendant came on board and helped us coordinate getting people set up on devices. They also handled patches and updates, and made sure we had the right security software in place,” said Josh Ham, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Oryx Midstream Services. “Over the past three years, it has become a daily interaction with them on a number of levels. They support personnel in our corporate office and field offices, manage the servers and systems that control our pipelines, and help us determine how to broaden our IT capabilities so that we can continue to grow.”

The NetAscendant team has helped Oryx modernize its IT environment with a scalable solution that can support increasing numbers of users. NetAscendant became Oryx’s IT department, providing responsive, expert help and business-enabling technology services.

Establishing the Foundation

One of the first steps was to implement a well-defined, hands-off computer procurement and deployment process. This ensured that new employees were outfitted with the IT tools they needed to become productive quickly. NetAscendant also helped set up the network in multiple field offices as well as the Houston office.

“We made two acquisitions at the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019,” Ham said. “One was a small entity acquired from a larger public company, and NetAscendant was helpful in separating out the IT requirements and integrating them into our system. The other acquisition was a small private company that didn’t have much in the way of IT. NetAscendant helped us set them up so they could be integrated.”

Oryx has relocated its corporate headquarters three times to accommodate the growing number of employees. NetAscendant assisted with each of those moves, and ultimately installed the data center in the new, expanded office suite. This included cabling, firewalls, switches and Wi-Fi, along with a new Cisco voice over IP (VoIP) phone system that provides communications and interoffice connectivity. 

“We have 135 employees now, which is small to some big to others, but we don't have any internal IT person to get something like a phone system set up,” Ham said. “NetAscendant acts as our IT group, helping us with major projects such as getting the network and phones installed to the smallest of support requests. We’ve yet to stump them — they always help us figure things out.”

The Cloud and Security

NetAscendant has also helped Oryx take advantage of cloud-based solutions, ranging from Microsoft 365 for email to a cloud server environment for infrastructure and industry applications. Oryx also uses the cloud for data storage and file-sharing, but NetAscendant recognized the risk of potential downtime and data loss.

“The NetAscendant team advised us that our cloud storage platform doesn’t have a backup system,” said Ham. “They implemented a solid backup and disaster recovery solution that would enable us to access our files if the cloud platform were to go down.”

Of course, cybersecurity is top-of-mind for companies in the oil-and-gas sector. Malware, ransomware and other threats can cause costly downtime and even disrupt vital pipeline infrastructure. NetAscendant has implemented a multilevel security strategy that combines the controls needed to protect Oryx’s data center, cloud platforms and end-user devices. 

“We had an attempted virus attack on our system, and the measures NetAscendant put in place managed to catch it,” Ham said. “It’s worrisome that an attempt was made, but it also made us feel a lot better knowing that we have the right systems in place.

“We’re about to undertake a third-party assessment to identify any remaining gaps in our cybersecurity. NetAscendant is helping us interview the assessment companies, and will help us respond to whatever the report reveals. They’ve also helped us fill out the application for cyber insurance, and answer the insurer’s questions about the security tools we have in place.”

Expert Help

Ham says that Oryx still has no plans to hire in-house IT personnel. The NetAscendant team has well-defined methodologies for efficiently handling support requests, and has been able to keep pace with Oryx’s growth. Partnering with NetAscendant provides Oryx with expert services from experienced professionals with strong business acumen as well as technical knowledge.

“Nobody in our organization has said, ‘NetAscendant is overwhelmed. They can’t handle it and we don’t feel like we’re getting the response we need.’ We’ve never had any conversations like that,” Ham said. “It’s been such a good relationship — why would we make a change at this point? The NetAscendant team has public company experience and they understand what growth means. They understand acquisitions and divestitures. They know our business because they’ve seen it from all angles.”

That understanding has been developed over a long relationship. The NetAscendant team is more than just outsourced IT support — they have become an extension of the Oryx team.

“We’ve been working with the same people since they started. NetAscendant doesn’t have a lot of turnover,” Ham said. “When the folks in our office need IT help, they know the person who is going to provide that support. It’s a great relationship and could not have gone better for us.”