Upstream Cio Magazine

Energy Solutions EnhancesSales, Marketing Teams ..............49

Integration of Production with Business Systems ..................3

Business Process Management Systems Study ....................5State of the Global Outsourcing Market ..................................6CFOs More Certain About Technology ....................................8Data Centers Becoming Too Hot To Handle ............................8Technology Leadership Program for Executives ....................9CompTIA Updates Certification Requirements ........................10Microsoft Unveils Unified Communications Road Map ..........11EMC Outlines Strategy For Securing Business Information ..12SAP Drives Evolution to Enterprise SOA ................................13

A Guide to Building Effective Business CasesBy Rob Jacoby, Senior Consultant, Deloitte & Touche ................14Intelligent Well Completions and the CIOBy Julie Martinez and Mike Konopczynski, WellDynamics................................................................................16Today’s Geeks Need to Have Soft SkillsBennett Ockrim, VP Professional Services and Solutions, Spherion ......................................................................20

Wireless Technologies Empower Plants, Mobile Workforce ........................................................................22-31

New System Saves 20% Marine Fuel Costs ............................32Handheld Meter Aids Diesel Maintenance ................................34Nexans Wins Valhall Subsea Power Cable Contract ..............34

VoIP: The Computer is Also a Telephone ................................36-41

Status of Two Well Log Projects................................................41Petris Acquires Maurer Drilling Software Suite ......................45Schlumberger Buys TerraTek ....................................................45Landmark Receives IT Services Contract from Energy XXI ..46IBM Creates Oil Sands Center in Alberta..................................46Fugro-Geoteam Buys Multiple Orca Licenses ........................46Shell Taps Octaga for Ormen Lange 3D Solution ....................47Schlumberger Acquires Quorum Technology..........................48SBM Offshore Expands Deal with AspenTech ........................48Emerson Awarded Horizon Oil Sands, Encana Contracts ......50IHS Acquires Petra from GeoPLUS ..........................................51Oracle, Open Text to Offer New ECM Solutions ......................51Digital Oilfield Opens Office in London ....................................52DecisionOne to Deploy Google Enterprise ..............................52Microsoft Establishes Interop Customer Council ....................53PEMEX to Implement Invensys on Nine Offshore Platforms ............................................................53Yokogawa Expands to Vietnam, Canada ..................................54More Company News ..................................................................55-58

Kevin Harper Rejoins Black & Veatch ......................................59Beth Perlman One of Infoworld Top 25 CTOs ..........................59dbaDIRECT Promotes Two Executives ....................................59Roxar Appoints Chief Financial Officer ....................................60More People News ......................................................................60

Emerson Enhances Smart Field Devices ................................61More Product News ....................................................................65-67

Crow’s Nest View of the CIO Cruise..........................................2

ROUNDUP

GUEST EDITORIALS

MARINE TECHNOLOGIES

August 2006

This Issue

TOP STORY COMPANY NEWS

PEOPLE NEWS

PRODUCT NEWS

EDITOR’S LETTERROUNDUP

MACRO TRENDS

2Reproduction by any means is illegal and punishable by fines of up to $50,000 per violation. Copyright ©2006 by Zeus Development Corporation.

Upstream CIO July 2006

UPSTREAM CIOis published monthly by

Zeus Development Corporation

Editorial Office:Editor: Jeanne Perdue

2424 Wilcrest Dr., Suite 100Houston, TX 77042

Phone: 713-333-5766Fax: 713-952-9526

Toll-free: 1-888-478-3282E-mail: [email protected]

Web Site: www.upstreamcio.comProduction Staff: Tamara Choate

Upstream CIO’s objective is to collect, analyze and disseminate meaningful

information pertaining to information technology development in the oil and gas

exploration and production industry.

Foreign and domestic subscriptions areUS$497/year. Texas residents,

add 8.25% sales tax.

To inquire about subscriptions or groupplans, please contact Mary Sumner at

713-333-5778 or via e-mail

[email protected]

Zeus Development Corporation’s mission isto provide a central source of information,expertise and critical analysis on a growinglist of emerging energy technologies and

markets.

©2006 Zeus Development CorporationISSN# 1528-2244

Reproduction by any means is illegal and punishable by fines up to $50,000 per viola-tion. Authorization to photocopy items forinternal or personal use, or the internal orpersonal use of specific clients, is granted

provided a fee of $2.00 per page per copy ispaid directly to the Copyright ClearanceCenter’s Transaction Reporting Service:

CCC, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923Phone: 978-750-8400Fax: 978-646-8600

Editor’s LetterUPSTREAM CIO

Crow’s Nest View of the CIO Cruise

What happens when you put a large number of CIOs on aluxury cruise vessel? No, this is not a joke (but if you comeup with a good punch line, please e-mail it to me).According to John Bostick, CEO, dbaDirect, if you happen to be on thatboat, you can get a very good idea of where things are going in the corporateinformation technology world. Bostick shared what he learned on this “cruiseto nowhere” with Upstream CIO.

Twice each year, about 500 IT managers and CIOs are invited – at nocharge – to board a cruise ship that cruises the Long Island coast during theday while the technical sessions are going on, then anchors three miles off-shore at night so the roulette wheels can spin legally. The cruise is sponsoredby vendors, who apply for the privilege of paying big bucks to attend and net-work with the target audience of their dreams in total decadence.

The keynote session, according to Bostick, included Patrick M. Lencioni,author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, and PeterElkind, co-author of The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise andScandalous Fall of Enron, who showed the movie that was made from his bookand stopped it often for a play-by-play discussion. The final evening featured a“tuxedo party,” Bostick reported.

Amid all that fal-de-ral and hoop-la, the CIOs onboard shared some reallyprofound revelations with our friend Bostick.

“The pragmatism was unanimous,” he reported. “There is too much ITwork to do, and too few people to do it. Since September 11, 2001, therewere three things CIOs worried about: cost, cost and cost. But now the bigtheme is ‘people who think in a critical business fashion to lead the IT initia-tives’ and grow the company’s top line. There has been a real turn-aroundtoward ‘I need critical business analysis.’ I personally think that IT in the ‘80swas led by energy marketing, IT in the ‘90s was led by geoscientists, but thenext generation of IT leaders in the oil industry will be those with criticalbusiness thinking.”

The second revelation was that IT leaders are deciding what is core to thebusiness and what is context, outsourcing the latter to world-class partners.One executive told Bostick, “It’s not about having a center in India; it’s aboutbeing able to do your business anywhere, having the right person to do it withthe right architecture to sustain that process.”

The third revelation was that IT leaders have mind-boggling access to cap-ital. “They have an open checkbook if the technology is for building thebusiness,” Bostick said. A fourth revelation was that the SOA concept is nothype at all. Bostick speculated that CIOs will be able to go online to eBay orGoogle to procure Web application components or to contract IT people witha certain mix of skills.

Well, after hearing all that, I am simply going to HAVE to get aboard thenext CIO cruise! Offering to be the panel moderator usually works….

www.dbadirect.com

Love, Jeanne

3Upstream CIOJuly 2006Reproduction by any means is illegal and punishable by fines of up to $50,000 per violation. Copyright ©2006 by Zeus Development Corporation.

During the month of June 2006, six producers of various sizes were interviewed at lengthabout the current state of their plans regarding integration between business and productionsystems. Upstream CIO and Advertas, a marketing research and consulting firm specializingin technology and energy clients, sought to determine how production data and correspon-ding technical applications are integrated into business systems. The interviewers also askedhow business data and applications were being made available to field operations personnelfor improved decision-making. The results reflect the comments of the six companies, whichvaried from super-majors to independents, as well as the Petrotechnical Open StandardsConsortium (POSC).

This study was financed by Information Builders, a technology company that has suc-cessfully implemented integration initiatives in other industries and seeks to betterunderstand specific challenges in the oil and gas sector. Interviewers used a common set often diagnostic questions, which enabled comparisons to be made. The results reportedbelow are a snapshot of the state of production data and application integration today, andpoint out the current technology gaps, as well as the requirements and business value forimplementing next-generation integration solutions.

The major producers surveyed all have digital oilfield initiatives that involve integrating tech-nical data with business processes. Their initial focus varies from subsurface to drilling toproduction and reservoir management. The small and mid-size companies are focusing moreon standardization initiatives, although the majors have completed such projects as well.

The majors share a similar workflow process (see Figure 1), where production data arestored in a data historian, then applications pull data from that historian for productionaccounting and allocation purposes, sending the results to the enterprise resource planning(ERP) systems for business reporting. The mid-sized and smaller companies are just nowbeginning to implement new technology to streamline their workflow processes. However,spreadsheets remain the engineers’ preferred tool for analyzing data.

With few exceptions, respondents agreed on a common set of challenges facing integrationsolutions, including:

Lack of standards and naming conventions;“Silos” of information;Quality and gaps in data;Large quantities of data;Lack of experienced people to interpret the data; andLack of a common integration framework.

Today’s challenges, gaps, inefficiencies and obstacles to successful integration have bothtechnical and cultural aspects. There is an increasing need for standard naming conventions forthe growing mass of data, much of which may be stored in multiple locations. Search toolsshould enable the desired data to be located, used by multiple functions, updated with addedvalue and then placed back for future use. In addition, the industry would benefit fromimproved methods of finding and cleansing data faster, eliminating workflow bottlenecks.Cultural “silos” are prevalent, but are beginning to be addressed through the establishment ofcross-functional teams with the support of upper management.

Integration of Production Operations with Business Systems:A Study by Advertas and Upstream CIO

Where do producersstand today?

What are the main integration challenges?

TOP STORYSurveys & Studies



There were four main areas where the companies interviewed saw significant business valuein integrating production and operations data with back-office business systems:

1. Improve Reservoir Drainage – Understanding the state of the well/field by monitoring changes in the mix of products over time (composition of oil, gas and water) will result in improved hydrocarbon recovery and discovery of additional reserves.

2. Efficiency and Productivity – Better management of assets as information on reserves replacement, operating efficiency and well productivity is made available.

3. Equipment Condition Monitoring and Reliability – Condition monitoring of critical equipment to reduce ‘trouble’ cost and improve effectiveness of maintenance, the combination of which will result in less downtime or increased asset utilization.

4. Supply Chain Integration – Improved forecasting and supply-demand balance by providing production information to all stakeholders, particularly those in supply chain functions.

When an apples-to-apples com-parison of fields can be made in“right-time,” normative analysis canbe performed and variances againsttargets reported, allowing for processchanges and aiding capital expendi-ture decisions. Most importantly,integration across functions providesthe automation of technical and busi-ness processes. Information onreserves replacement, operating efficiency, and well productivity are key. Without these,management operates under a handicap when it comes to field management. Large-scaledevelopments, such as deepwater offshore platforms with high production rates, can easilyrealize value from integration solutions. The four sources of value listed above can be expect-ed to result in at least marginal improvements on the order of 3% to 5%. Given the presentprice of oil and gas, even this level of improvement would mean over $1 million per day inadded value for a large platform.

For a copy of the white paper with complete study results, visit:www.ibi.com

What benefits would theright solution bring?

Providers Honeywell Invensys Siemens GE Allen Bradley

OSI / PI Aspentech

EnergyComponents eProduction Production Access

SAP JDE

Real-time production information is captured in the DCS / SCADA

Analog values captured in Process Historians

Historian to Production Accounting and Allocation aps

Data passes to subsurface to improve modeling

• Flows

Reports leveraged in performing s-curve statistics in finance and decline curve analysis.

Process / Workflow

Integration Path to Value

ERP

Data passes to field on…

• Status Checks

• PO’s

• Bo

Technology Usage Factor (1-5) Java 3.3 .NET 2.8 WITSML 2.3 Web Services 1.9 SOA 1.2

Companies interviewed were asked to rate their usageof these integration technologies on a scale of 1-5,with 1 being slight usage and 5 being wide usage.

Data passes tofield on…

Status Checks

PO's

BoM's

Cost…

Data passesto subsurfaceto improve modeling

Flows· Compositions

Reports lever-aged inperforming s-curve statistics infinance anddecline curve analysis.


Gartner recently released a Magic Quadrant report on business process management(BPM) suites. Gartner first identified BPM products that coordinated the interactionsamong people, systems and data in 2003, calling these “pure-play” products. However,today’s product suites represent the second generation of offerings, which enable companiesto see and manage their processes across organizational boundaries, give non-technicalmanagers hands-on control of those processes, and build in additional capabilities to sup-port collaboration between IT and business users.

According to the report, only a few of the BPM pure-play vendors have advanced theirproducts and strategies sufficiently to move into the Leaders quadrant (see Figure 1). IBM andCA have only recently entered this market, while Oracle, Microsoft and SAP have not yet com-pleted their architectures for BPM. The authors, Janelle Hill and Jim Sinur, noted that there areother BPM technology vendors that did not qualify for inclusion in this year’s Magic Quadrant,yet have strong products that users should consider when their requirements are not very com-plex. For inclusion, vendors only had to have seven out of the following 10 capabilities:

Human task support;Business process/policy modeling and simulation;Pre-built frameworks, models, flows, rules and services;Human interface support and content management;System task and integration support;Business activity monitoring;

Business policy/rule management support;Collaboration anywhere support;Runtime simulation, optimization and predictive modeling; andReal-time agility infrastructure supports.

“Clients may find it unusual to see IBM in the Visionaries quadrant,”the authors commented. “IBM is uncharacteristically early to this market.”

According to Hill and Sinur, users should anticipate churn in this marketthrough 2008 as vendors jockey for leadership. Because so many BPM tech-nology vendors are small companies with limited resources, no more than25 of today’s 150 vendors are expected make the transition to the BPMsuite market even by 2008. In addition to early BPM pure-play vendors,other vendors, most notably major software infrastructure vendors that werenot in Gartner’s earlier Magic Quadrant, will continue to enter this marketthroughout 2007 and trigger a significant degree of churn in BPM suiteleaders through 2008.

“BPM suites are still maturing,” the authors stated. “Therefore, organiza-tions that have already made investments in earlier generations of

BPM-enabling technologies should determine whether they have solved their BPM problemand potentially reassess their entire BPM technology strategy. They should monitor the evolution of this market and work with their vendors to promote a more integrated solutionusing their existing tools. If BPM problems are still acute despite earlier investments, then, inaddition to driving their current vendors toward creating a more integrated solution, usersshould evaluate the potential incremental value of a BPM suite to further address the enter-prise’s transformation to a process-driven culture.”

For the full report (ID# G00139775), visit www.gartner.com

Figure 1.

Business Process Management SystemsStudies & Surveys

MACRO TRENDS



State of the Global Outsourcing MarketOn July 12, Technology Partners International (TPI) released the TPI Index report for thesecond quarter of 2006, based on the company’s contract flow data as well as outside data.

Total contract value (TCV) for the first half of 2006 was $38 billion, or 3% higherthan the first half of last year. The Big Six still capture the majority (54%) of the outsourc-ing market, but India’s market share has risen from 1% in 2003 to 4% in 2005 and 5%during the first half of this year.

While annualized revenue for IT outsourcing has leveled off and started to declinesince last year, business process outsourcing (BPO) contracts are growing in both number

and value. The first half of 2006saw a record 92 BPO contractssigned, each valued at $25 millionor more, totaling $11 billion,according to TPI. About four ofthe 92 BPO contracts involvedmultiple processes, the rest weresingle process contracts, whichseem to be gaining in popularitythis year. The leading single-process area is Financial ServicesOperations. Multi-process BPOcontracts represented just over 7%of total contract value, down from13% of TCV share in 2005, and24% in 2004.

Large IT outsourcing deals (each valuedat $500 million or greater, including megadeals worth over $1 billion) are decreasingin contract duration, from an average of8.44 years from 2000-2004 to only 7.2years since 2005. In addition, the percent-age of contracts valued at more than $50million with 10-year terms or more hasdecreased steadily from 30% in 2000 toonly 11% so far in 2006. The shorter con-tract durations are impacting the value ofthe broader market for outsourcing deals.

The energy industry invested in only3% of the BPO contracts (each valued at over $25 million) to date in 2006,while last year it accounted for 19% of the big BPO deals. Financial services,document management and procurement services are gaining in popularity asbusiness processes to be outsourced.

Human resources outsourcing is decreasing in popularity in the BPO mixof services, mainly because of the transition from straightforward US payroll orbenefits administration to more complex, global services that combine severalHR processes, according to TPI. This is resulting in lengthening of the time ittakes to sign a contract.

www.tpi.net

Outsourcing & Offshoring

AccentureAffiliated Computer Services

Computer Sciences Corp.Electronic Data Systems

Hewlett-PackardIBM

The Big Six Outsourcing Service Providers



CFOs More Certain About Technology A recent survey of 1,400 CFOs developed by Robert Half Management Resources foundthat 40% of chief financial officers (CFOs) said they are more confident in their compa-nies’ technology capabilities today. About one-third of the respondents said they also aremore optimistic about the accuracy of their companies’ financial reporting.

Among public companies, 39% of CFOs polled feel most confident about the level ofinternal controls and corporate governance in their organizations, suggesting the impact ofthe Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

“Many companies have invested in technology over the past few years to update obso-lete systems and improve operational efficiencies,” said Paul McDonald, executive directorof Robert Half Management Resources. “The Sarbanes-Oxley Act has prompted public andprivate companies to better align their technology and finance functions. Replacing out-dated business software with newer systems has enabled firms to capture essential data formore accurate financial reporting, and thus meet critical accounting mandates.”

Staff loyalty also ranks high on the list of areas in which CFOs feel confident abouttheir businesses. “A competitive employment market has prompted many executives toenhance their retention efforts in order to increase job satisfaction and reduce attritionrates,” McDonald said.

www.roberthalfmr.com

Surveys & StudiesSarbanes-Oxley

“In which of the following areas are you more confident?”Technology capabilities 40%Accuracy of financial reporting 34%Loyalty of employees 28%Level of internal controls and corporate governance 21%Business growth opportunities 16%None 4%Don’t know/no answer 4%

- Multiple answers were allowed.

Data Center Management

Data Centers Becoming Too Hot To HandleMultiple racks of high-performance blade servers in data centers are consuming anunprecedented amount of electricity, converting much of it into heat that is running up airconditioning bills. The problem has become so serious that AMD, Sun Microsystems,IBM, HP and others have formed a coalition to find new ways to cool data centers andservers themselves.

“You have blade servers that are so powerful and run so hot that you put a rack of theminto the middle of a room and you have to clear everything else out to be able to cool them,”said Jeff O’Neal, director of Sun Microsystems’ Eco-Responsibility Initiative. Therefore SunMicrosystems is proposing a standard formula it calls SWaP, which stands for Space, Wattageand Performance, to compare data center performance. Benchmark performance of a bladeserver is divided by the physical amount of space a server rack holds and multiplied times the


watts per application. The higher the number, the better the performance. Today, there are about 20 different ways to measure a data center’s energy efficiency,

and Sun’s competitors are not keen on the idea of adopting a standard developed by a rival.Also, some data center operators don’t break out individual electricity costs when leasingspace, while others use a blanket formula based on square footage regardless of how muchenergy a particular server actually consumes. Many centers use 300 watts per sq ft, butactual values range from 50 watts to 800 watts per sq ft, depending on the type of serverand its usage.

“A single standard would be a good thing,” said Angelo Coppolino, product managerfor AT&T’s data center operations. “Today, it is all over the map. It’s hard to judge one(data center) against another.”

Today the cost of power to run and cool a server is more than the cost of the serveritself, according to industry experts. A 50,000-sq-ft data center can cost $2 million topower annually – that’s 50 to 100 times more than a normal office building. Work is beingdone to develop better air conditioning units for data centers, and there are also effortsunderway to include water-cooled units inside individual racks. But an even bigger thrust isin designing blade servers with better energy utilization. Intel, Sun, AMD and others com-panies are spending millions of dollars in R&D to develop cooler-running blade servers,turning their focus from performance to energy efficiency.

www.sun.com

Training Courses

Technology Leadership Program for Executives Due to opportunities presented by advancing technology, companies are seeking programsto help business leaders step up the pace of change.

To prepare business leaders to do that, Carnegie Mellon CyLab has partnered withTatum LLC and Inc. magazine to expand the reach of its Technology Leadership Essentialscertificate program for chief information officers (CIOs) in 35 US cities. Launched lastyear, the program is designed to address the need for a practical, hands-on course to helptechnology leaders become effective CIOs.

“The Technology Leadership Essentials program will teach leaders how to deliverstrategic technology initiatives at the speed of business,” said Dena Haritos Tsamitis, direc-tor of the Information Networking Institute and director of education, training andoutreach for Carnegie Mellon CyLab.

The new 12-course program combines Carnegie Mellon’s technology, policy and man-agement expertise and Tatum’s finance and technology leadership with Inc.’s news resourcesand case studies in high-velocity business growth. Course modules, offered twice monthlyover a six-month period, cover a broad range of IT issues, including risk management, dataprivacy issues and the challenges of outsourcing. The end product will be the most sought-after technology leadership training series for professionals.

“This program addresses a serious need in today’s competitive technology environment,”said John Koten, chief executive officer of Mansueto Ventures and editor-in-chief of Inc. maga-zine. “We are excited to offer Inc.’s expertise to help companies experiencing rapid growth findsolutions to their technology challenges and to help them achieve their financial objectives.”

www.inc.com/techessentials/index.htmlwww.cylab.cmu.eduwww.tatumllc.com



CompTIA Updates CertificationRequirementsThe Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), the world’s largest providerof vendor-neutral certification for IT professionals, announced it is updating its CompTIAA+(r) certification offering to reflect the evolution of skills required for individuals embark-ing on a career in technology and by the employers who hire them.

“Technology is constantly evolving and so are the skills individuals working with tech-nology must have,” said John Venator, president and CEO, CompTIA. “This requires us tocontinually evaluate and, when needed, update our certification products. In 2006 andbeyond, employers want a foundation-level certification that covers both technology essen-tials and the specialized skills required in different computer service and supportenvironments. With this update, CompTIA A+ continues to serve as the skills benchmarkfor entry into a technology career. Aligning this credential with specific job roles willincrease its value to employers, employees and students alike.”

The updated CompTIA A+ certification will continue to include two exams deliveredas computer-based tests in a proctored environment. One exam will cover core competen-cies in the latest hardware and software technologies, including a greater emphasis oninformation security skills, safety and environmental issues and “soft skills.” The secondexam will focus on how to apply the skills in specific job environments. Candidates andemployers will have the ability to select the second exam that best fits their employment

goals or employee needs, such as IT technician, remotesupport or depot technician.

Enhancement of the security component inCompTIA A+ exams reflects the fact that today’s entry-level IT worker encounters a host of security issuesrelated to applications, operating systems, communica-tions, procedures and physical environments.

The addition of soft skills to the exams is in line withthe need for IT workers to be able to interact and commu-nicate verbally and in writing in a clear and professionalmanner with co-workers, customers and partners.

“The role of the IT professional is more strategic fororganizations, and technical skills alone are no longerenough for most IT jobs,” said Neill Hopkins, VP skillsdevelopment, CompTIA. “More than ever, companiesvalue employees who can think strategically and com-municate effectively, as well as those who possess strongbusiness fundamentals. IT workers who understandhow to use technology to meet business goals – andwho can articulate this understanding – are golden inthe eyes of employers.”

The updated CompTIA A+ exams are scheduled foravailability in the third quarter of 2006. The currentversion of CompTIA A+ remains available worldwide.About 700,000 individuals in 190 countries holdCompTIA A+ certification.

www.comptia.org

Professional Certification


Microsoft Unveils Comms Road Map Jeff Raikes, president, Microsoft Business Division, unveiled the company’s vision, technol-ogy road map and partner framework for unified communications at a strategy event inSan Francisco. Microsoft’s approach will break down today’s silos of e-mail, instant messag-ing, mobile and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony, and audio-, video- andWeb-conferencing. Through software, Microsoft and its partners will put people at the cen-ter of communications through a single identity across all modes and integratecommunication into people’s everyday Microsoft® Office work processes.

“Unified communications will drive the next major advancement in individual, teamand organizational productivity in today’s 24x7, always-connected and increasingly mobilework environment,” Raikes said. “We believe that through software, we can transformbusiness communications (bringing down both its cost and complexity) by now integratingvoice communications with the familiar and powerful communications and collaborationexperiences provided by Microsoft.”

In support of this vision, Microsoft announced new and enhanced technologies thatwill be part of the Microsoft Office 2007 products. The company will bring together itspopular corporate e-mail offerings of Microsoft Exchange Server, which includes new uni-fied messaging capabilities, Microsoft Office Outlook®, and Microsoft Speech Server, withupdated versions of its real-time collaboration technologies and a set of new communica-tions devices to form a cohesive unified communications solution.

Raikes was joined onstage by Anoop Gupta, corporate VP, Unified Communications Group, Microsoft, to demonstrate key capabilities of the new and updated servers, services and devices:

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 – a real-time communication platform based on Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) standards that enables presence-based VoIP call management; audio-, video- and Web-conferencing; and instant messaging communication within and across existing software applications, services and devices;Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 – delivers a unified inbox that includes e-mail, voice mail and faxing functionality, as well as a new speech-based auto attendant that allows users to access their communications from any phone;Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 – a unified communications client that delivers a presence-based, enterprise VoIP phone; enterprise-grade instant messaging with connectivity to MSN®, AOL and Yahoo!; and one-to-one and multipartyvideo-, audio- and Web-conferencing. Available in desktop and Windows Mobile®-based versions;Microsoft Office Live Meeting – a conferencing service for collaboration, training and presentations using just a PC and an Internet connection; Microsoft Office RoundTable™– an audio-video collaboration device with a unique 360-degree camera that provides a panoramic view of everyone in the conference room as well as close-up views of individual participants as they take turns speaking.

“To achieve the productivity revolution we believe is possible with unified communica-tions, we need to provide deeper integration of communications modes within theprocesses we use every day,” Gupta said. “Ensuring all modes of communications are people-centric and presence-based will help people find and connect to the right person thefirst time using the most effective communication modes. Software will be the key to deliv-ering on this promise, resulting in a more powerful end-user experience, real productivity

Collaboration & Communication



EMC Outlines Strategy For SecuringBusiness InformationIn response to growing customer concern over data security, EMC Corp. has unveiled acomprehensive, information-centric approach to helping organizations secure their criticalinformation. The company also announced the EMC Assessment Service for StorageSecurity and the availability of digital rights management software through its recent acqui-sition of Authentica Inc.

With more than 55 million customer records compromised in just over a year in theUS alone, assuring data confidentiality and integrity has become a major challenge forbusinesses. In addition to avoiding the financial implications of a data-loss event, organiza-tions are challenged by information-specific compliance requirements imposed by industryand government regulations.

“Despite significant investments in security personnel, processes and technology, fewcompanies feel their information is truly secure,” said Dennis Hoffman, VP informationsecurity. EMC. “The evolving threat environment has made it abundantly clear that theinformation many companies consider to be their most important asset is increasinglybecoming a significant liability. And simply erecting physical security perimeters, such asfirewalls and antivirus gateways, ignores the fact that information lives and moves through-out its life.

“Companies need to understand their information and implement a risk-basedapproach to securing it that comprises both the information itself as well as the infrastruc-ture that handles it. With unrivaled capability and experience in helping companies managetheir information and protect it from loss due to disaster or operational failure, EMC is alsoideally positioned to help companies protect their information from theft or accidental loss.”

EMC has an integrated, four-part solution that secures information throughout its life-cycle. This strategy helps customers assess the security of their information, secure theirinformation infrastructure, directly protect their sensitive information and manage securityinformation and events to assure effectiveness and ease the burden of compliance. Assessing the current state of information security is the first step to securing sensitive data.The new EMC Assessment Service for Storage Security, based on the National SecurityAgency’s Information Assurance Methodology (NSA-IAM), evaluates the security postureof a customer’s storage area network (SAN), network attached storage (NAS) and contentaddressed storage (CAS) deployments in accordance with approved practices.

As part of the new service offering, EMC technology solutions personnel analyze stor-age platforms, networks, management systems, access controls, applications and variousother elements of the IT infrastructure to uncover potential security risks and proposeremediation for critical components. Completion of the service enhances compliance withregulatory mandates and internal policy, and it extends IT infrastructure security beyond

Data Security

enhancements, and compelling business value for our customers and partners.”Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 is scheduled to be released in late 2006 or early 2007.

Microsoft Speech Server 2007 will be available in late 2006. Communications Server 2007,Communicator 2007, Communicator phone experience, Live Meeting, RoundTable andthe IP-enabled business desktop phones featuring Communicator phone experience willcomplete Microsoft’s unified communications solutions and are scheduled to be availablein the second quarter of 2007.

www.microsoft.com


SAP Drives Evolution to Enterprise SOAAt SAPPHIRE® ’06, the annual SAP customer conference in Paris, SAP unveiled theindustry’s first services-enabled ERP suite designed to simplify and expedite users’ roadmaps to enterprise services-oriented architecture (enterprise SOA). Addressing more than5,000 customers and partners, SAP executives announced plans to help companies simulta-neously upgrade enterprise resource planning (ERP) functionality while also benefitingfrom new, composite applications that leverage the speed and flexibility of a services-basedapproach. The SAP Enterprise SOA Appliance is a composite application hub that facili-tates the exploration, distribution and deployment of hundreds of composite applicationsbuilt by system integrators (SIs), independent software vendors (ISVs), SAP and customers.

“SAP is focused on simplifying our customers’ evolution to enterprise SOA,” saidShai Agassi, president, Product and Technology Group, SAP. “Customers want a reliableand stable environment to manage their core processes while at the same time the abilityto innovate rapidly around that enterprise core. SAP’s strategy allows customers to focusconcurrently on the functionality gains from their ERP upgrade, while leveraging ourenterprise SOA appliance to unleash powerful innovation from new composite applica-tions, without disruption.”

Agassi also outlined SAP’s plans to offer its ecosystem of partners and customers a network co-innovation, enabling access to the thousands of current and planned composite

Services-Oriented Architecture

the perimeter to include all aspects of the storage environment.In February 2006, EMC completed the acquisition of Authentica, a leader in enter-

prise digital rights management technology, which enables users to control access and useof unstructured data and content, regardless of its location inside or outside the enterprise.This technology complements EMC’s Documentum Trusted Content Services, which fea-ture repository encryption, electronic signatures, mandatory access control, digitalshredding and other security features, as well as EMC’s Certified Data Erasure Services.

www.emc.com/securitywww.EMC.com

Major Security Breaches Rising

Want to read something that will scare you half to death?From January 1, 2006 to July 14, 2006, there were more than 128 major incidents ofstolen identity information, including names, birth dates, Social Security numbers, creditcard numbers, and other personal data. Most of these security breaches were due tostolen laptops, hackers, lost or stolen backup tapes, or dishonest insiders, and corpora-tions may be liable for the resulting damages.

At least 23 US states have passed laws requiring that individuals be notified of secu-rity breaches, and this can be quite costly. According to the list compiled by the PrivacyRights Clearing House, at least 88,984,872 identities were officially compromised in thepast two years, although the number affected may be much higher because numerousincidents listed “unknown” for the number of people affected. To view the list, visit:www.privacyrights.org/ar/chrondatabreaches.htm



applications from SAP and its ecosystem partners. The enterprise SOA appliance will belinked with the central SAP xApp hub through a live connection, providing customers witha continuous stream of innovation from hundreds of SAP’s partners who are creating com-posite applications, as well as tens of thousands of SAP customers.

“As the market moves to broad acceptance and completion of enterprise SOA, the pace ofinnovation will continue to increase, and our xApp hub will facilitate seamless discovery andaccess to this important next big wave of innovation,” said Agassi. “The xApp hub also pro-vides a very important channel for our partners to be able to expose their innovative, newproducts to the largest base of business customers in today’s market—the SAP customer base.”

SAP expects the SAP xApp hub to be available later this year, with additional details forth-coming at the company’s SAP TechEd technical education conferences scheduled this fall.

With its new, simplified graphic user interface (GUI) and optional access to SAPNetWeaver® Portal and Duet™ software, the cornerstone to SAP’s SOA road map ismySAP ERP 2005. During his SAPPHIRE keynote address, Léo Apotheker, president,Customer Solutions and Operations, SAP, said the latest release of mySAP™ ERP fullyleverages enterprise SOA, and he encouraged customers to take the necessary steps tostrategically align around enterprise SOA to drive business innovation and fuel growth.

“Customers have been carefully watching SAP deliver on its enterprise SOA road mapsince it was unveiled in early 2003,” said Apotheker. “Now, with the general availability ofmySAP ERP 2005, customers have the foundation to bring the benefits of real-time businessinformation and processes to information workers around the globe. Duet, which allowsinformation workers to access selected SAP business processes via Microsoft Office; ProjectMuse, which offers a simplified, alternative, rich client user interface to SAP; and our newmobile and voice-powered applications provide a variety of access options to customers dueto the flexibility afforded by enterprise SOA. There has never been a better business case forcustomers to invest in the future than with the fully services-enabled mySAP ERP 2005.”

“In order for companies to maximize the benefits of enterprise SOA, it is imperative thatcustomers take the first step right now in moving to mySAP ERP 2005,” said HenningKagermann, CEO, SAP. “With 300 product enhancements to the latest version of our ERPoffering, along with service enablement and intuitive user experiences for information workers,SAP’s best-in-class ERP will help customers to build a solid foundation for the future in coreoperational areas. SAP has the right road map and the right products to help our customersaround the globe build the strongest foundation to meet the changing needs of the business.The combination of mySAP ERP 2005 and the innovative power of the SAP ecosystem makethis the very best time for customers to take their first step towards enterprise SOA today."

www.sap.com

A Guide to Building Effective Business CasesBy Rob Jacoby, Senior Consultant, Deloitte & Touche

Developing a solid business case is a prerequisite for the vast majority of large IT projects.However, we have found that business case analysis often stops with the numbers and doesnot consider the broader picture underpinning an effective case.

Based on our experience, the most common misconception about business case develop-ment is that it is primarily a quantitative exercise. Financial and other quantitative datasupport a business case - but this data is not a case by itself. Instead, an effective business case

GUEST EDITORIALS

Rob Jacoby

Neglecting toengage constituentsin a timely manneris a likely indicator

of failure down the road.


is a well-articulated strategic argument for investment supported by defensible financial pro-jections. Like any other major organizational decision, the case for investment in technologyshould be determined by strategic fit, tactical realism (e.g., availability of internal resources),and political alignment - with financial metrics as one supporting pillar of the overall case.Here are some tips for putting together a case that addresses these areas of concern.

The single most important driver in developing an effective business case is consensus.An organization’s stakeholders represent a primary source to support the case. These stake-holders can also serve as an effective vehicle for advancing the business case to companyexecutives and the board. While one-on-one conversations cannot, by themselves, achievethe desired results of a quantitative business case, we have found that neglecting to engageconstituents in a timely manner is a likely indicator of failure down the road. This meansthat the core business case team cannot operate in a vacuum. Instead, they should seekclose business relationships across IT, Finance, product/regional divisions or business units,marketing, sales, service and executive management. By the time the final business case ispresented, none of the constituents should be surprised.

Within a quantitative business case analysis, there are a number of valid alternative cri-teria for evaluating a potential investment. In some cases, pure strategic alignment may bethe only factor that comes into play. This type of case can still be a rigorous exercise in logi-cal structuring, data gathering and careful presentation.

A “classic” financial case is driven by a discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis. DCFanalysis uses a consensus opportunity cost of capital to discount future cash flows to allowan apples-to-apples comparison of various projects. There are several lenses through whichDCF can be examined, of which net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR),and payback period are the most common. Generally, DCF analysis will help companies tomake decisions that increase cash flow, but may or may not align with management’s short-term interests.

The most common objection to DCF analysis is that it does not measure the impacton generally accepted accounting principles for a public company. If incentives are tied tocurrent-year profit and loss (P&L), as is often the case, the most highly anticipated futurecash flow in the world may still not make a compelling case for investment. Instead, mod-eling the P&L impact (including the effect of capitalization and tax shields frominvestment) may have a greater impact - and may well lead to a different decision.

The credibility of a quantitative case is usually only as strong as its weakest methodolog-ical link. This has two important implications for approaching business case development:

First, be certain to tie assumptions and data to universally accepted organizational standards. Use historical sales data and either product management’s or the finance department’s future projections for growth. Similarly, align financial analysis assump-tions such as discount rate/weighted average cost of capital, effective tax rate and amortization period with corporate standards. Second, emphasize credibility, placing less focus on comprehensiveness. Given the time and resource constraints faced by most business case development teams, it’s unrealistic to expect that any case will represent the full investment upside. It is better to focus attention and methodology on a finite subset of costs and benefits that help substantiate the case and are as “bulletproof” as possible within the organization.

Helping to prevent scope creep begins with the case for initial investment. Focus thequantitative analysis on a small number of key benefits and costs that can be tightly associ-ated with each other. This makes the case more defensible and allows for greater modularitywhen considering scenarios that may defer or exclude some initiatives. Put your moneywhere your mouth is. Take care that the metrics you choose for costs and benefits are meas-urable both before and after the project so that management can be confident that they canevaluate the impact of the investment easily after the fact.



Intelligent Well Completions and the CIOBy Julie Martinez and Mike Konopczynski, WellDynamics

The incorporation of intelligent well completions in the field developmentplan can provide increased knowledge and control of the assets to allow amore effective production and reservoir management plan. This will pro-vide greatly increased visibility of data as well as a powerful alignment ofIT functions with the business units.

An intelligent well completion (IWC) is a broad category of wells that contain permanentdownhole control valves and/or downhole sensors allowing real-time monitoring and con-trol. IWC technology, such as the WellDynamics SmartWell® technology, is used in bothproduction and injection wells, and is particularly useful in wells with advanced wellpathdesigns, such as extended-reach wells and multilaterals. It can be used to subdivide and seg-regate segments of the wellbore, allowing independent monitoring and control of fluid flowin each segment. This is particularly important in multi-layered or compartmentalizedreservoirs, or reservoirs undergoing secondary or tertiary recovery processes.

In production wells, the IWC provides valuable information in the control room andfor use by the petroleum engineer. Through the monitoring of the streaming downholeproduction data, well inflow (from the reservoir to the wellbore) and outflow (from thewellbore to the surface) can be managed proactively. This same information allows a reser-voir engineer to interpret the behavior of the reservoir and to optimize the flow of fluidsinto or from the reservoir in each wellbore segment, and to optimize production rates andultimate reserve recovery through improved reservoir management techniques.

IWC technology has the following benefits:It allows remote control, monitoring and management of multiple completions for production enhancements and optimization (fast loop decisions);

Aligning IT & Business

Also, recognize that time and resource constraints can limit your ability to measuremany of an initiative’s potential benefits credibly and proactively, even though they may belegitimate value drivers. Do not be tempted to include an ill-supported “stretch” benefitthat can bring the whole case crashing down.

IT projects can involve inherent risk. While this risk, in theory, is captured in the dis-count rate used for cash flows, for practical purposes a business case should address riskmore tangibly. First and foremost, financial analysis will likely reveal certain risks of theproject. For example, it is an oft-repeated and generally accepted maxim that durationdrives risk in IT projects. Managers may therefore look more closely at the payback periodfor an IT investment and measure time to break-even. In order to help mitigate this risk, itis critical to conduct sensitivity or option analysis for IT projects. Preparing the businesscase for such projects may be much simpler if the ability to cycle quickly through scenariosand run sensitivity on key cost and benefit drivers is built into the model.

Finally, in addition to the “Type I” risks associated with going forward with a project, besure to also consider "Type II" risks - the risks of not proceeding with development. Theserisks may include competitive pressure, legacy maintenance or customer dissatisfaction, all ofwhich are important factors for management to take into account when making a decision.

www.deloitte.com

Copyright (c) 2006 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.


It enhances optimization through monitoring, reservoir characterization and adjusting production and injection wells based on forecasts (slow loop decisions);It reduces the total number of wells required to produce all the horizons; It reduces costly well intervention;It accelerates production and/or alternates production between zones to maintain a production rate plateau for an extended period of time;It exploits zones that were previously not economically or financially feasible for production; andIt works in conjunction with a variety of artificial lift technologies.

The first IWC was deployed by WellDynamics in the North Sea in 1997, and in thelast 8 years, WellDynamics has installed more than 213 such completions – 50% of theworld’s intelligent completions – in areas as diverse as the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea,the Middle East and the Asia Pacific region.

The logical question at this point is: “What will an IWC require of IT?” The short answeris: “Not all that much.”

IWC technology has three basic components: the downhole completion tools (hard-ware), the control system and the software. The complexity of the IWC control system andsoftware will be application-specific, and can range from fully manual systems to net-worked, fully automated data acquisition and control systems.

The downhole completion tools, despite the “intelligence” embedded in them, general-ly require no IT involvement. All IWC downhole hardware requires a control system towork; ideally an operator will also add the appropriate IWC software to maximize the ben-efits derived from having IWC wells. These two components do require IT involvement.The IWC control system is a combination of hydraulic and/or electric power units whichmonitor and control software with a GUI. The automated control system software, such as

IT Aspects of an IWC



IT and IWCOptimization Software

WellDynamics SDACS™, is designed to acquire and manage data from downhole sensorsand control the hydraulic power units and manifolds to actuate the downhole valves. Thecontrol system software can manage multiple wells and is installed on computer hardwareat the well site or on the production platform. Generally, it is placed on the local networkfor maximum effectiveness.

The IWC optimization software works at a higher level than the IWC control soft-ware. It monitors all the sensor readings from the control system software but also gathersadditional sensor readings such as wellhead pressure and temperature values and surfaceflowmeter readings. The optimization software proactively monitors and provides alerts,production and reservoir analysis calculations and optimization algorithms to generate rec-ommended changes to downhole choke positions. The optimization software can access thecontrol system software via OPC or the company’s database that houses the well’s informa-tion via ODBC. Generally, the IWC software is made available in the control room and toauthorized engineers and managers through the corporate network or similar enterprisewide application.

As depicted in Table 1, there are different levels of planning, support and impact forIT, based on the implementation of the respective components. An IWC using a locallyresident automated control system can provide the company with increased operationaleffectiveness, and a single operator in a field office can operate several IWC wells at once –up to an entire field – from a single location.

The option of networking the IWC control system adds tremendous benefits. The onlyadditional IT requirements involve the network aspects – planning and support – but onlyfor the client application of the control system. In general, the server application remains atthe field location. Limiting networking requirements to the client application reduces thecomplications and network issues normally associated with networking a new solution.

By networking the client application, the company benefits from global access and vis-ibility to the IWC from anywhere in the world, using proven and secure company networkresources and procedures. Providing this level of visibility and control to approved usersallows global expert petroleum engineers to monitor wells in real time, and if appropriate,control the IWC wells from thousands of miles away.

IWC optimization software provides the operator with some unique capabilities. By com-bining downhole data with surface data, IWC optimization software provides a powerful

Components of an IWC System


set of tools so that flow estimations and allocations between zones can be calculated withreasonable accuracy. This is very important for reservoir management purposes but also tomeet regulatory, accounting and contractual obligations (commingling of zones, unitizationrequirements, production reporting, etc.).

IWC optimization software also provides a proactive set of tools for determining thebest wellbore operation and parameters for the fast loop and slow loop decisions. Theseapplications can be locally res-ident or networked, like acontrol system software appli-cation. Unlike controlsystems, however, they aren’trestricted to having the serverapplication co-located withthe IWC field operation.Optimization software can belocally resident in the fieldoffice, or the production engi-neering office at corporateheadquarters. The optimiza-tion applications share thebenefit of network capability;in fact, optimization applica-tions, while designed forspecific IWCs, can pull datafrom any number of sources,including corporate databases,and can therefore be used withIWCs that utilize a manualcontrol system.

It is important for theright members of IT to beinvolved from the start inplanning for the IWC. IT’sparticipation doesn’t have tobe constant, but the net-worked aspects will beaccomplished more quicklyand effectively if the right ITstaff are involved along theway – actions that are essen-tial to effective businessalignment. Final integrationtesting must also include anIT presence to ensure success.

IWC users and IWC providersare leading proponents of theconcept of interoperabilityamong IT solutions. Thewidespread use of OPC (OLEfor Production Control) in

IWC and ApplicationInteroperability



IWC systems provides a solid basis for continued interoperability. To this end, a number ofoil and gas operators, software providers and service companies have come together to estab-lish a common standard for production data management and exchange. Modeled after thesuccessful industry WITSML standard for geophysical and drilling data, the production datastandard is called PRODML. With the pending release of the PRODML standards, theindustry will have another tool to implement interoperable systems.

Built on the globally accepted .XML standard, PRODML will provide a standardfor oil and gas production applications to work together. The calculated data from IWC optimization software can also be fed into other applications (production, fore-casting, planning, etc.), increasing the already tremendous value of optimization to abusiness unit.

IWCs provide a tremendous benefit to a company's production capability, operationaleffectiveness and booked reserves_all issues that directly impact the bottom line. IWCsand the associated optimization applications place little additional impact on an ITdepartment, but provide great benefits for the supported business units. The best IWCsolutions are networked, to provide global data visibility and IWC control, and withearly involvement in the planning phases, this can be accomplished easily. IWCs are alsoleaders in interoperability, and are early adopters of the PRODML standard to increasetheir success in this arena. This robust and reliable interoperability, combined with theproven IWC technology drive a true value proposition for IT, and from IT to the business unit.

www.welldynamics.com

The Bottom Line

Human Resources

Today’s Geeks Need to Have Soft SkillsBennett Ockrim, VP Professional Services andSolutions, Spherion

What are CIOs looking for in IT personnel thesedays?

CIOs are looking for well-rounded individuals whocan talk knowledgeably with all kinds of con-stituents to solve the critical business issues of theday. Geeks are not noted for their soft skills, butthese days they need to have an appreciation forand an understanding of the business in somedepth, and then be able to translate that into thetechnical realm. They need a consultativedemeanor, empathy, good verbal and written communication skills and be very good listeners.

INTERVIEW

Upstream CIO:

Bennett Ockrim

Ockrim:


They need a positive personality, although they need some skepticism for good measure.Not only do they need to understand the languages of both the business and IT, but itwould also help if they were multilingual. Mostly, they need to have a broad base of experi-ence so they can appreciate the ebb and flow of the business processes, as well as thepotential effects of the solution set.

How are CIOs going about the recruiting, interviewing and hiring process?

CIOs are doing more vetting and more behavioral interviewing. For example, they maygive the applicant a situational essay to write, or perhaps get the person to do a verbal casestudy. Some are even giving applicants an actual issue several weeks ahead of the interview,and the applicant will need to present a proposed solution to a group of constituents theywould actually be serving. This is much more “real world.” The CIO can see a person exer-cise his or her communications, listening and presentation skills. They are also doing morerole playing, so they can see the good, the bad and the ugly in all their glory.

How is the educational pipeline preparing this next generation of IT personnel to meetthese new requirements?

If you look at the formal education course catalogs, you will see that they have moresoft skills training courses, such as Business Writing and Interviewing Techniques. Also,internships are very valuable ways for college students to earn good pay and gain per-spective. After graduation, businesses must realize that they need to invest in theirhuman capital by offering retention programs, soft skills training and consultative skills training.

What is the supply and demand balance today in IT staffing?

Technical organizations realize that a tsunami is coming, and they are thinking about howto keep their talent pool full. Right now there is high demand for qualified IT staff, andthere is really high demand for the good ones with excellent soft skills. Companies need torecognize the demand for the talent they will need and start offering retention bonuses andreimbursing education expenses to keep the good employees they have. It doesn’t makesense to keep adding water to a barrel that has a leak in it. If staff members are happy withthe company’s investment in their soft skills and stay, then the couple of thousand dollarsinvested in those soft skills courses will be far more than offset by the service excellence tothe constituents the CIOs are serving.

What resources are available to help CIOs recruit and keep good staff members?

There are organizations that create programs for oil companies to address soft skills train-ing and retention, as well as coach them on hiring paradigms to help them make gooddecisions. Also, educational institutions and professional associations offer training pro-grams. It’s very shortsighted when training budgets are slashed. Today, if you look at thedemographic projections, companies need to “get religion” so that when the Baby Boomersstart to retire, they won’t be lacking the knowledge capital required. It’s a lot cheaper tokeep the ones you’ve got, so invest in your people. But companies are becoming moreenlightened; they are more flexible when applicants are negotiating for better work-life bal-ance using today’s technology, which offers more mobility. However, face-to-face is alwaysbetter than fax-to-fax or Treo-to-Treo.

www.spherion.com

Ockrim:

Upstream CIO:

Upstream CIO:

Ockrim:

Upstream CIO:

Ockrim:

Ockrim:

Upstream CIO:



ROUNDUP

Wireless Technologies Empower Plants, Mobile WorkforceThere has been an amazing burst of technology lately in the area of wireless tools formobile and field workers. In addition to new handheld devices with expanded features,new applications have been released to link the field folks to the office business processes.New wireless standards and architectures currently on the drawing board are going to resultin further advances in the near future. Very exciting stuff in this news roundup on wirelessand mobile technologies!

Mobile Devices

GPS Handsets Playing a Larger Commercial Role

According to ABI Research, one of the faster-growing areas in the commercial telematics mar-ket is the use of GPS-enabled mobile handsets for mobile resource management. Basic driverand load status information is actively sent via mobile phone to a centralized server so fleetmanagers may better organize their field workers and make their operations more efficient.

“Just a couple of years ago, handset-based commercial telematics services were a nicheapplication offered in North America by only one major carrier, but they are now becom-ing an increasingly popular and lucrative business for wireless carriers and ASPs alike,” saidFrank Viquez, ABI Research’s director of transportation research. Many of these services areoffered as an add-on component to an existing voice and data plan through such carriers asRogers Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless.

GPS-enabled handsets are ideal for small to mid-sized fleets looking for a simple andlow-cost means of communicating with drivers, determining their status for dispatching, timesheet reporting, navigation and exceptions-based alerts. However, Viquez cautioned, “Fleetmanagement services delivered by way of the handset are by no means a comprehensive solu-tion and can never replace embedded hardware.” Integrated in-cab hardware offers a deeperlevel of functionality for fleets, partially including remote diagnostics, driver hours-of-servicereporting, cargo monitoring, and additional choices in wireless communications links.

The handset-based market for commercial telematics is not as well established inEurope as it is in North America. This should not be a surprise, since only a handful ofGPS-enabled GSM phones are currently available in Europe. Instead, many commercialfleet services in the region from vendors such as TomTom, GPS-Buddy (Garmin) andNavman Wireless, focus on a dashtop navigation device as the main user interface, with anintegrated wireless modem and black box for wireless connectivity and some sensor integra-tion. For local fleets centered around a major geographic center and offering local delivery,utilities and field services, this is an optimum solution and capitalizes on the popularity ofportable navigation devices in the region.

www.abiresearch.com

With major corporate assets spread all around the world, how isa global energy company supposed to optimize the profitabilityof the overall business? Finding the right balance between keep-ing assets up and running for maximum production and takingdown the systems for preventive maintenance requires new toolsand technologies. Condition-based monitoring and real-timeperformance systems can help asset managers keep tabs on how

well their equipment is functioning. What are some of the latesttrends in asset monitoring and control systems? How are thesetools being integrated with 3D models and process simulators?And how are these plant and process controls being linked withback-office systems to provide an enterprise-wide view of thebusiness? Upstream CIO is hosting this workshop to showcasesome of the latest asset management technologies.

With oil and gas prices at record highs, it’s imperative toget new projects on stream quickly. Today’s online toolsand technologies enable parallel engineering and global collaboration to speed up project completion, eliminatemuch of the re-work, and make commissioning of newfacilities easier. Software for project design, cost estima-tion, scheduling and document control is being integratedwith 3D visualization and process simulation to provide aliving, virtual model that can be updated over the entirelifecycle of the project, from concept to abandonment. Newtools are available for determining the potential value ofnew project phases and also for managing a portfolio ofmultiple projects to maximize business profitability.

FFoorr mmoorree iinnffoorrmmaattiioonn,, ccoonnttaacctt RReebbeeccccaa MMaaiittllaanndd aatt rrmmaaiittllaanndd@@zzeeuussddeevveellooppmmeenntt..ccoomm oorr ccaallll 771133-333333-55777733..

Workshop: October 25, 2006

Workshop: October 24, 2006

Hosted by U p s t r e a m C I Oand

ZEUS DEVELOPMENT corp

Photos Courtesy of Mieko Mahi

Asset Management: Getting More from Your Installed Facilities

Project Management:Using Technology to Get to First Oil Faster

October 24, 2006

Asset Management: Getting More from Your Installed Facilities Jeanne Perdue, editor, Upstream CIO

Empowering and Enabling Managers to ManageAl Layton, sr. consultant, MRO Software Inc.

Maximizing Asset Performance: Balancing Availability and UtilizationMike Chmilewski, vice president, SCADA and Pipeline Business for InvensysProcess Systems

Asset Information Management: Engineering & IT Systems Combined for SuccessMurthy Divakaruni, VP & head, North America BD, Energy & Petrochemicals, Larsen & Turbo Infotech

AspenONE Combines Asset Monitoring with SimulationMike Strathman, VP industry consulting, Aspen Technology Inc.

How Condition-Based Maintenance Radically Reduces UnplannedShutdowns OffshoreFrank Vanderham, Ph.D., Manager, Equipment & Process Monitoring Solutions, Matrikon Inc.

October 25, 2006

Project Management: Using Technology to get to First Oil FasterJeanne Perdue, editor, Upstream CIO

Integrating Design, Scheduling and Document Control Around the GlobeKen Arnold, senior executive vice president, AMEC Paragon

Earned Value Management Made SimpleRuthanne Schulte, product director, Deltek

How an IT Project Management Office Brings More Value to the BusinessGerry Benard, Director Professional Services, Project InVision International

Enterprise Project Management For Global PortfoliosRuss Young, Sr. Project Consultant, QuantumPM

For the complete agenda log on to www.upstreamcio.com/am

Featured Speakers

Two Half-Day Workshops Houston, Texas Oct. 24-25, 2006 Lunch & Closing Reception



Faster Data With Bluetooth Wireless RadiosMoving RS-232, RS-422 and RS-485 serial data around the wellsite or plant floor is quick-er and easier than ever with Phoenix Contact’s new industrial grade Bluetooth wirelessdevices. The PSI-WL series is an interoperable set of license-free Bluetooth standard radios.These high-speed, Class I Div 2 approved radios offer connectivity to any Bluetooth-enabled device such as PDAs, PCs or other PSI-WL devices.

The PSI-WL-RS232-RS485/BT is a DIN-rail mount package that interfaces to RS-232/422/485 electrical formats. Modbus and additional industrial protocols are alsosupported. It features software-adjustable transmit power to extend the Bluetooth reach up to300 ft. It can be used as a simple wire and cable replacement in point-to-point applications orin point-to-multipoint configurations. One master will support up to seven slave devices.

The FHSS (frequency hopping spread spectrum) devices operate in the 2.4 GHz ISMband, making Bluetooth suitable for worldwide use in industrial machine-to-machine andremote diagnostics and programming applications where cable-based circuits are too incon-venient to install or alter.

www.phoenixcon.com


Honeywell Unveils Industrial Wireless Roadmap At its annual Users Group Symposium in Phoenix in June, Honeywell unveiled a cus-tomer-driven industrial wireless roadmap that will help users fine-tune plant operations andimprove plant employee productivity. The industrial automation and wireless provider out-lined its newest initiatives including secure network technology that extends applications toimprove compliance, safety and security, reliability and optimization.

“With increased economic pressures, the continuing advancement of cost-effectivewireless technology and with standardization on the horizon, it’s clear that we are at thetipping point for wireless to have a real impact in the plant,” said Jack Bolick, president,Honeywell Process Solutions.

Recent customer feedback showed that plant personnel are looking for a secure, reli-able, scalable, multifunctional, strategic wireless “cloud” for use in their facilities. Currently,many traditional wireless networks support only single devices. Today, several differentwireless networks have different security configurations and compete in the same band-width, leaving plants vulnerable to network failures.

The new network concept will support various industrial protocols and up to 30,000devices, such as tablet PCs, sensors, PDAs, pagers, walkie-talkies and cell phones. Otherkey network features include the same built-in cyber security technology that has garneredseveral awards for the Experion® Process Knowledge System (PKS) and a redundancy fea-ture that automatically routes critical information if a device fails.

“Customers are fueling the industrial wireless revolution and we plan to be right therewith them the entire way,” Bolick said. “Wireless applications and sensors expand theirability to gather and interpret data to improve plant performance. At the end of the day itcomes down to results. They want a wireless solution that not only provides advanced sens-ing but one that will help them make decisions that positively impact their overall businessobjectives, whether that is increased profit, productivity or safety.” Honeywell’s newest effort surrounding sensors will include:

“Go-anywhere” sensors with self-contained power; High-speed monitoring that can provide updates every second; and Longer battery life - up to ten years.

Honeywell currently offers wireless-enabled industrial solutions such as its award-win-ning XYR 5000™ wireless transmitters and mobile handheld devices such as IntelaTracPKS and the mobile Experion Station.

“The benefits of tomorrow's wireless technology stretch far beyond saving installationand wiring costs,” Bolick said. “These new advancements will help plant operators gatherfield data more easily, increase asset life through continuous monitoring, and improve thesafety of their most important assets - their people.”

www.honeywell.com/ps

Plant Automation

SAT Corp. released the next generation of its IntelaTrac solution at Microsoft’s WorldwidePartner Conference. The IntelaTrac Version 3.0 mobile task management and collaborativeautomation system has been migrated to the latest Microsoft .NET technologies to providea truly extendable mobile infrastructure for rapid deployment of additional capabilities andnew modules.

SAT Releases IntelaTrac Mobile Version 3.0

Mobile Workforce Automation



IntelaTrac V3.0 is built and certified for Windows Mobile 5.0-powered devices andsupports SQL Server 2005. Some of the features in the latest release include improved per-formance and scalability for enterprise-wide wireless deployments, further enhancement ofIntelaTrac’s ease of use through new Procedures on Demand (POD) to deliver the rightinformation to the right person at the right time, support of RFID Universal Data Format(UDF) for asset tracking and regulatory compliance, virtual log book for management ofchange task-tracking status and corrective action validation, and internationalization formulti-language deployments. Version 3.0 also includes a streamlined Work RequestInterface to help field personnel to make sure that work notifications get entered properlyinto Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) systems including SAP PM®.

“By building Version 3.0 on Microsoft .NET technologies, we are now able to providenew functionality rapidly in the future to meet our customers’ expanding mobile workprocess needs,” said Donald Frieden, president and CEO, SAT Corp. “Our decision to archi-tect IntelaTrac Version 3.0 in Microsoft’s mobile platform allows us to take advantage of thenew capabilities of security, integration and customization enabled by the .NET CompactFramework and will allow clients to expand the use of IntelaTrac across their enterprisesknowing that their technical roadmap is reliable and protected now and into the future.”

“SAT’s IntelaTrac can help plant and field operators as they strive to improve equip-ment reliability, increase productivity and attain operational excellence. With the release ofIntelaTrac Version 3.0, SAT Corp. extends their position for providing a proven mobiletask management and collaborative automation system for process industry clients whowant to deliver best practices to their field workforces,” said Wil Chin, research director,ARC Advisory Group Inc. in Dedham, Mass. “IntelaTrac clients now have a true compositemobile application built on a world-class platform from Microsoft to deliver benefits acrossa broad range of plant functions including operations, maintenance, health, safety, environ-mental and reliability.”

www.sat-corp.com

Intergraph Corp. announced its oneMobile enterprise information application, which pro-vides an end-to-end, real-time information link between field service technicians and thecorporate back office, resulting in enhanced productivity and efficiency. In doing so, itincreases business productivity by shortening the time it takes to obtain information andact on that knowledge.

Until now, field personnel have had to rely on several applications to manage routinetasks such as taking readings, inspections, repairs and ordering parts. Intergraph’soneMobile geospatial resource management platform solves this issue by connecting inter-related systems, including geospatial information systems, procurement, mobile workforcemanagement and work process management all from within the vehicle in the field. WithoneMobile, field personnel can use one geospatial user interface (GUI) to receive multipletypes of work, view and redline facility map data, share resources across departments, andcommunicate with back-office applications. OneMobile supports workflows includingdesign, inspection, damage assessment, viewing, routing and dispatching.

“Until now, linking mobile workers with business-critical applications required com-plex mobile middleware, but with oneMobile, field service technicians can access aneasy-to-use interface that is compatible with their existing mobile platforms and expandstheir ability to accept, execute and report any type of field work,” said Jay Stinson, VP,Intergraph Utilities and Communications.

Intergraph Introduces OneMobile

Field Crew Communications


“Having a single robust platform that can manage multiple processes with an easy-to-use interface has been our priority in designing oneMobile. It will allow field crews to bequickly trained and operate more efficiently, respond faster to customer needs, and readilyadapt to changing field conditions,” said Stinson.

www.intergraph.com

GE Energy has a Field Force Automation solution that is powered by the ViryaNetScheduling solution. Customers have benefited from this mobile workforce managementsolution in terms of optimizing human resources, reducing travel time and overtime, andimproving customer service and satisfaction. This FFA solution can help companies reducetheir field service expenses by improving the assignment and execution of field work throughoptimization. The ViryaNet Service Scheduler is an advanced optimization and schedulingproduct that includes algorithms based on heuristic logic and mathematical principles.

“Many workforce management vendors say that they have optimization, but there are sig-nificantly different approaches within the market,” stated Jack McAvoy, VP Marketing,ViryaNet. “Whereas other products offer route optimization, which simply finds the least-costroute for a technician after service orders already have been assigned, ViryaNet offers day-aheadas well as same-day schedule optimization, which evaluates all potential assignments against theavailable and capable resources, including people (and their skills), parts and materials. It alsoprovides the least costly route of each technician across his service assignments.”

ViryaNet’s applications help companies improve workforce scheduling, dispatching,and activity reporting; customer contract and entitlement automation; and asset, logisticsand depot repair management.

www.viryanet.com

Field Force Optimization Solution

Mobile Workforce Management

Geographic Information Systems

Williams Selects MapFrame to Automate Workforce MapFrame Corp. announced that Williams has chosen its FieldSmart® software to automatetheir natural gas pipeline transportation and storage field workforce. FieldSmart will leverageWilliams’ ESRI GIS and integrate with their document management system to deploy aseamless mobile mapping and field automation solution. In addition, MapFrame will inte-grate aerial photographs of the Williams service territory into the mobile application.

“We needed a solution that would allow the field personnel to become involved withGIS,” said Rick Eierdam, project manager and supervisor, Williams. “Complexity of useand display performance has been a limiting factor for field participation. In order toachieve the stated company goals for GIS, a system was needed that would be extremelyeasy to use and allow data to be displayed quickly. Another major requirement was to beable to leverage our existing GIS and all the effort put into it. MapFrame was chosenbecause of the willingness to work with us, their expertise in developing field solutions, thesize and number of their customers/users and the positive feedback from all of their cus-tomers we interviewed.”

MapFrame’s FieldSmart View is the core map viewing application on which allFieldSmart applications are based. View will replace paper maps at Williams and provide aneasy-to-use interface for field workers to query, locate, navigate and redline GIS data.Layered on top of View will be FieldSmart Route. Route will provide Williams’ field workers



directions from point A to point B, highlighting the route on the map and displaying turn-by-turn directions in text. MapFrame’s powerful server component, Field Flow Manager™will handle data flow between the Williams office and field, driving an incremental updateprocess that will synchronize data and keep field maps and related data current.

FieldSmart’s interface allows the integration to Williams’ document management sys-tem. Documents accessible in the field will include alignment sheets and engineeringdrawings. MapFrame will also integrate aerial photographs of the Williams service territoryinto the mobile application, providing the field worker with a bird’s-eye view of a particularlocation and insight into the structures that surround the facility. MapFrame’s leading-edgecompression technology will extend the entire ESRI GIS, document management systemand aerial photographs into the field and onto the mobile device, eliminating the depend-ency on connectivity to access information and perform job functions.

More than just a map viewer, MapFrame's Enterprising Solutions™ integrate data fromcore systems such as GIS, CIS, dispatching and work management into a single, easy-to-usefield automation package. Unique compression and data flow capabilities allow organizationsto extend back office data, including the entire GIS, into the field and throughout the enter-prise. MapFrame's FieldSmart software brings greater efficiencies to the field, providingworkers with fast access to the latest maps and customer information in both wired andwireless environments. Updates made both in the office and from the field are automaticallydownloaded on a daily basis, reducing mistakes and improving productivity.

www.mapframe.com

Salesforce.com Introduces AppExchange MobileSalesforce.com Inc., purveyor of on-demand customer relationship management (CRM)applications, announced the next generation of mobile applications with AppExchangeMobile, through the acquisition of Sendia Corp. for $15 million in cash. The combinationof the AppExchange on-demand platform with mobile technology from Sendia willmobile-enable more than 60 on-demand applications that are currently available on theAppExchange. Using AppExchange Mobile, all current and future AppExchange partnerswill be able to extend their on-demand applications quickly and easily to any mobile devicewith no extra development cost or complexity.

AppExchange Mobile breaks the wireless application logjam and reduces challengesassociated with developing mobile applications. Today, technology providers have to devel-op applications across multiple platforms and multiple operating systems for use withmultiple carriers, causing extended development, testing and QA cycles. AppExchangeMobile provides a new model: now developers can write an application once on theAppExchange on-demand platform and have it run on any mobile device, as well as anyWeb-enabled PC, without additional coding.

“AppExchange Mobile solves key issues for both our customers and our partners. Ourcustomers are eager for ways to extend their on-demand applications to the mobile work-force, and developers need a painless way to address this major opportunity,” said MarcBenioff, chairman and CEO, Salesforce.com. “AppExchange Mobile is democratizingmobile applications, further extending the power, creativity and freedom of the on-demandmodel and the Business Web to our customers and partners on the move.”

AppExchange provides a single enterprise platform to manage and run all applicationswith central administration, a consistent security model, single data model and a consistentexperience for users. Since its launch in January 2006, customers have installed more than7,100 applications. The new mobile version provides critical features for mobile development

Application Service Providers


including over-the-air management, highly secure and reliable data transfer, and support for awide variety of handheld devices such as BlackBerry, as well as Intel’s Centrino, PalmOS andWindows Mobile (beta).

“The AppExchange platform has enabled partners worldwide to develop and publishon-demand applications quickly and easily,” said Jim Balsillie, CEO, Research in Motion.“AppExchange Mobile allows these same partners to mobilize their native AppExchangeapplications while leveraging the existing BlackBerry security and wireless connectivityarchitecture. Customers and partners alike will benefit from the breadth of new applica-tions made available for BlackBerry via AppExchange Mobile.”

www.salesforce.com

Microsoft to Acquire Whale CommunicationsMicrosoft Corp. has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Whale Communications Ltd.,a leading provider of secure access products, including secure sockets layer (SSL) virtual pri-vate networks (VPN) and Web application firewalls. Whale’s solutions provide remoteaccess, deep content inspection and granular access control, enabling businesses to protectcorporate applications and data when accessed remotely by mobile workers, partners andcustomers. The acquisition will give Microsoft’s customers a broader range of choices forproviding secure access from more locations and devices.

“Our customers are faced with balancing the need to protect their data and networkinfrastructure with the connectivity needs of an increasingly mobile work force,” said TedKummert, corporate VP, Security, Access and Solutions Division, Microsoft. “We are com-mitted to providing a comprehensive, secure access platform that helps customers easilyextend and manage the reach of their information systems. The acquisition of Whale’scomplementary technologies is a key part of meeting that commitment. Whale is a pioneerin Windows®-based SSL VPN and Web application firewalls that help protect and providemore secure access to high-value business applications while tightly integrating with criticalIT infrastructure.”

Whale’s Intelligent Application Gateway and Application Optimizers will add compre-hensive application-layer filtering capabilities to Microsoft® Windows Server™ andMicrosoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server (ISA Server), which provide site-to-siteand remote access VPN and application publishing. Together, these technologies offerremote workers simplified access from more locations and a broader range of devices,including PCs, Internet kiosks and mobile devices. When used with Windows services suchas Active Directory®, the solution enables IT administrators to better control and enforceinformation usage guidelines through customized policies based on device, user, applicationor other business criteria.

“We built our company and technologies around the key customer requirement ofsecure, anywhere, anytime remote access to business applications,” said Roger Pilc, CEO,Whale Communications. “We’re excited about what this acquisition will mean for our cus-tomers given Microsoft’s focus on providing policy-based secure access to information assetsfrom beyond the corporate network.”

www.microsoft.comwww.whalecommunications.com

Application Security Technologies



ISA’s SP100 Industrial Wireless Standard

Honeywell, Adaptive Instruments, Endress Hauser, Flowserve, OMNEX Control Systems,3e Technologies International (3eTI) and Yokogawa announced they have joined theInstrumentation, Systems and Automation Society (ISA) SP100 working group to supportthe committee’s efforts to create an open, industrial and multi-functional wireless standard.This industry group will work towards a joint solution that will enable industrial plants touse a single wireless network architecture to support a wide range of applications, fromlow-rate monitoring to process control to wireless worker functions.

These industry group members are developing a network structure based on existingwireless technologies to meet current and future customer requirements. The SP100 com-mittee has identified needs for managing just a few devices, or up to tens of thousands ofdevices residing on a single, scalable, wireless plant network. Plant operators can use thissystem to perform multiple, simultaneous tasks, including low- and high-rate monitoring,control functions as well as tasks performed with handheld Wi-Fi devices. The networkarchitecture will provide integrated end-to-end security that will guard against cyberthreats, as well as enable companies to reduce the number of disparate wireless networksused at a plant, thereby reducing operational costs.

“Today, wireless networks serve a single function, which means industrial plants needone network to support handheld devices, another network to support process sensors, andso on,” said Jack Bolick, President, Honeywell Process Solutions. “Customers are telling usthey want a single wireless network to manage multiple functions across their plants becauseit improves productivity. Through this industry group, that’s what we will provide.”

Industrial wireless has many complex issues when compared to traditional wired offer-ings and needs a comprehensive solution to be successful in the long run. Therefore, theindustry group members are drawing from their current wireless industrial plant experiencesas well as extensive research to select the best wireless technologies that will provide an open,standard environment for industrial vendors to develop interoperable products. Thus, cus-tomers will have the ability to choose from many products they want to use in their plants.

“With unlicensed radio frequencies having limited wireless bandwidth, and the use ofwireless networks growing, there are greater risks of collisions and interference causingcommunication disruptions,” said Robert Gooch, director of emerging technology,Flowserve Valve Division. “A comprehensive standard must address this as well as meetingend-user requirements today and into the future, including end-to-end security, powermanagement, overall reliability, scalability and multifunctional capabilities.”

“The industrial requirement is an open standard which ensures users utilize the tech-nology for an extended lifecycle. The goal is a single, general purpose, industrial wirelessstandard which can support multiple applications,” said Satoru Kurosu, VP marketing,Yokogawa Industrial Automation Business, “and we’re making it easier for industrial plantsto plan for future operations.”

The industry group will develop this solution within the ISA-SP100 committee, whichwas chartered last year “to establish standards, recommended practices, technical reportsand related information that will define procedures for implementing wireless systems inthe automation and control environment.” SP100 committee members will have theopportunity in the next few months to vote on the elements to standardize this solution.The group will also cooperate with associations like the HART CommunicationFoundation (HCF) and others to ensure a single wireless network architecture for use inindustrial plants.

www.isa.org

Standards Organizations


Symbol Technologies Bridges Wi-Fi, RFID GapAt INTEROP 2006 in Las Vegas, Symbol Technologies Inc. announced plans to bring tomarket its innovative Wireless Next Generation (Wi-NG) architecture to help businessesdeploy and centrally manage wireless voice, data and infrastructure devices throughout theradio frequency spectrum. The architecture enables the consolidation of Wi-Fi, RFID,VoWLAN (Voice over Wireless LAN), mesh and WiMAX networks in the industry’s firstintegrated RF switching platform, laying the foundation for the next generation of produc-tivity applications.

Symbol’s Wi-NG architecture will apply the same innovative concept of centralizedwireless switching to RFID for improved security, manageability and scalability. By 2009,the RFID market is expected to reach $2.5 billion, according to ABI Research, and theenterprise WLAN market will grow to $2.9 billion, according to Synergy Research Group.Rather than continue to build separate networks, Symbol will help customers consolidateboth to create a RF switched domain that integrates both environments. Businesses will beable to deploy an integrated RFID system with the proven security and scalability of a Wi-Fi network. Additionally, Wi-NG will give businesses the ability to expand their Wi-Finetworks beyond the four walls with a centrally managed mesh network, as well asenhanced security, management and wireless integration features.

“With a rich history of experience and innovation in wireless and mobility, Symbol isuniquely positioned to forecast what is next for the enterprise and change the face of thewireless industry,” said Anthony Bartolo, VP and general manager, Wireless Infrastructureand RFID Divisions, Symbol Technologies. “Wi-NG is the blueprint to build a fourth-gen-eration network, and represents the next step in Symbol’s enterprise mobility strategy —enabling organizations to capture data, move the information with applications onSymbol’s Wi-Fi network, and securely manage the entire system.”

For companies such as BP, RF switching can ease the manageability of various wirelesstechnologies used for business operations. “At BP, we believe technology can make a signifi-cant impact on the enterprise. We focus on a few technologies with immediate impact thatwill also benefit long-term business needs,” said Mike Haley of BP’s digital and communi-cation technology team. “The integration of current and emerging RF communications forlarge industrial sites could yield greater efficiencies for business operations.”

The cornerstone of the Wi-NG architecture is the modular Linux-based operating sys-tem that provides a separation between infrastructure, services, applications andmanagement layers. It includes integrated RF management features to monitor and managewireless devices throughout the spectrum to ensure maximum up-time and peak perform-ance of the network system, as well as to plan, evaluate and monitor the Wi-Fi network.Symbol’s RF management with Wireless Intrusion Protection System (Wireless IPS) enablesbusinesses to extend location-based services throughout the enterprise, and quickly locatedevices and disarm potential threats, providing 24x7 protection against unauthorized accessand malicious attacks on the Wi-Fi network.

The Wi-NG architecture also enables Layer 3 roaming to handle multi-floor or large-scale campus-wide deployments. Layer 3 roaming is achieved without compromising theperformance, connectivity and device power conservation required for business-criticalwireless application deployment. This allows mobile users to maintain connectivity as theyroam throughout the enterprise for a seamless voice and video application deployment.

Additionally, Symbol’s Wi-NG will serve as the foundation for Fixed-MobileConvergence (FMC) for the enterprise, providing persistent connectivity to dual-mode cellular/Wi-Fi handheld devices. Wi-NG will enable FMC by supporting current and

Wireless Architecture



emerging broadband wireless technologies, including 802.11n, WiMAX, GPRS, EV-DO,and integrate multiple Wi-Fi networks in a LAN. Dual-mode VoIP phones will switch backand forth seamlessly between the Wi-Fi network and the cellular carrier for the user to takeadvantage of the best available connection.

Later this year, Symbol’s award-winning WS5100 wireless switch will be the first prod-uct to leverage the Wi-NG architecture. The WS5100 wireless switch will offerswitch-assisted 802.11 mesh networking, allowing businesses to use their access points tosecurely extend the perimeter of wireless coverage to locations previously too expensive orphysically difficult to wire.

www.symbol.com/wireless

New System Saves 20% Marine Fuel CostsLike everybody these days, offshore vessels are experiencing the challenges of rising fuelprices. Traditional technologies for increasing maritime fuel efficiency have only monitoredor reported engine performance and fuel consumption to the captain and crew. A recentlypatented technology called FuelTrax™, developed during the past three years by ControlDynamics International of Houston, is proving to reduce fuel consumption on marine ves-sels by 20% or more by calculating the optimum fuel usage dynamically for each vessel.

There are three modes of automatic optimization with FuelTrax:Best speed – uses the least amount of fuel if you’re in a hurry;Best economy – uses the least amount of fuel if you have plenty of time; and Best trip – uses the lowest average throttle setting, usually somewhere in between best speed and best economy.

There are sensors in the fuel lines to each ship engine, as well as sensors at the bottomof each fuel tank. Sensor data are sent to the FuelTrax unit, a seaworthy box in the engineroom. Data are then processed and sent to the wheelhouse or bridge so the captain canview the display on a 15-in. monitor. On-board wheelhouse monitoring allows vessel oper-ators to make necessary throttle adjustments that reduce fuel consumption.

“Applying fundamental principles of physics, specifically Newton’s Third Law ofMotion, the FuelTrax system uses real-time measurements of fuel consumption and speedin order to account for overall vessel condition,” explained Anthony George, CEO andfounder, Control Dynamics. “Using proprietary technology, FuelTrax then determines theoptimum throttle settings for maximum fuel efficiency.”

Fuel savings rates of 15% to 30% have been demonstrated on numerous vessels for sever-al operators. This new technologyprovides vessel operators with crucial fueland engine data, such as individual andcombined engine burn rates, historicalfuel usage by day, “distance to empty” inmiles, “time to empty” in hours, individ-ual and combined engine run times, fueltank levels and discrepancy alarms.

The program also helps keep every-one honest when it comes to fuel storageand transfer accountability. A Nigeriancustomer that could only account for

Fuel Usage Optimization

MARINE TECHNOLOGY


50% of its fuel supplies purchased the program to help root out rampant fuel theft. Complementing the on-board fuel optimization technology is a fuel management system

called FuelNet™. This Web-based technology gives office managers the ability to monitor theperformance of their fleet from any location using a secure Internet portal that maintains a his-tory of fuel performance for individual or multiple vessels. Using state-of-the-artcommunication technologies, vessels broadcast all information collected onboard via low-orbitsatellite to a secure data center, which can be accessed via a password-protected website and canbe viewed from any PC connected to the Internet. As a result, online access to vessel location(GPS) and engine performance data significantly reduces delays for fuel reports and creates afaster, more efficient channel of communication between the home office and the vessel.

Data is stored indefinitely in three separate locations so historical data can be minedfor trends for each crew, vessel and fleet.

“FuelTrax is a tool, not a magic wand,” George told Upstream CIO. “The captain needsto use it, engaging the optimization algorithms when cruising. We give captains hands-ontraining during sea trials, as well as a manual and a CD with video footage.”

Control Dynamics offers a gradual way to ramp up usage of this new technology. TheFleetStart™ program introduces FuelTrax on one to three vessels and allows the customerto experiment with the technology. Then the FleetOut™ program rolls out the technologyacross the entire fleet over a 2-3 year period.

“This is not a onesie-twosie thing,” George told Upstream CIO. FleetOut is the best forthe customer, because it allows companies to manage fuel optimization across the entire fleet.”

By reducing fuel consumption, there is a concurrent reduction in CO2 emissions, so com-panies that are striving to reduce their environmental footprint or carry on emissions tradingcan benefit from publicizing their documented FuelTrax conservation results. Some shippingoperators are sharing the fuel cost savings with their clients, giving them password access toview the fuel savings over the Internet with FuelNet.



Nexans Wins Valhall Subsea Power Cable Contract Nexans and BP are making history with the first “power from shore” project. BP’s Valhallfield in the Norwegian North Sea will be the world’s first offshore oil field to receive all itselectricity from land, with no need for on-platform power generation equipment.

In a contract worth about €98 million, Nexans will manufacture, deliver and install292 km of HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) maritime cable and a separate fiber-opticsubmarine cable as well as all the associated equipment both at the land station and on the

Offshore Power Systems

Handheld Meter Aids Diesel MaintenanceA new engine peak meter from Kistler has been designed to simplifycondition monitoring and preventive maintenance of large marinediesel propulsion engines. The enhanced data storage capacity andpowerful processing provide statistical analysis of peak combustionchamber pressure over 100 cycles plus an averaged pressure/timecurve for accurate combustion analysis. Two areas of memory pro-vide storage for 20 records each to make use in confined spaceseasier and minimize errors when data is being evaluated on a PCusing the software supplied.

The enhanced functionality and evaluation software makes thenew engine peak meter ideal for monitoring cylinder pressure oflarge marine diesels to identify loss of compression so that correctiveaction to be taken as part of planned, out-of-service maintenance,

rather than as an emergency repair. The evaluation software facilitates simple representationand recording of both numerical data and pressure/time combustion curves before and aftermaintenance and adjustment.

The handheld meter has a large LCD screen which, combined with the intuitive oper-ating procedure, provides an easy-to-use instrument suitable for use in the engine room orthe workshop.

The Type 2516A engine peak meter is supplied as a complete kit, with choice of pres-sure sensor, PC data analysis software, cables and accessories, in a protective carrying case.

www.kistler.co.uk

Condition-Based Monitoring

Together, FuelNet and FuelTrax give captains the tools they need to optimize vessel fuelsavings and managers the tools they need to monitor their fleet's fuel consumption and inven-tory from the home office. This complete vessel control system, called NauticalCommander™, enables more effective vessel utilization and reduces operational costs by opti-mizing fuel consumption.

Nautical Control Solutions (NCS), an affiliate of CDI, was established to focus engi-neering talent and efforts on the development and production of the FuelTrax and FuelNetproducts. NCS provides automated control solutions specifically designed to optimizemarine performance, and will be launching additional and complementary solutions to theFuelTrax and FuelNet platforms over the balance of this year.

www.fueltrax.comwww.controldynamics.com

Three-Day ConferenceSeptember 20-22, 2006Boston Marriott NewtonBoston MA USA

Speakersinclude:

4Gas B V

AESCorporation

Canadian GasAssociation

ConnecticutLight & Powerand YankeeGas

Downeast LNG

Duke Energy

El Paso GlobalLNG

ExcelerateEnergy

Levitan &Associates

New EnglandConference ofPublic UtilitiesCommissioners

Repsol YPF

Statoil NaturalGas, LLC

Suez LNG NA

TransCanada

Transco

U.S. EIA

LNG's Future Impact on USNortheast & East - CanadianGas Flows

LNG's Future Impact on USNortheast & East - CanadianGas Flows

For complete agenda, more information, or to register, visit www.lngexpress.com/NEor contact Rebecca Maitland, (713) 333-5773.

Will US.Northeast and Canadian Southeast gas consumers dodge the winter chill again this year?Last fall, the region braced for cold-weather price shocks as natural gas prices hit all-time highsafter the hurricanes. Fortunately, the winter turned out to be the third mildest in recent memory.Space-heating demand from residential and commercial customers, which represent about two-thirds of the total market, fell 13% from the previous year. By March, Boston city-gate gas priceshad dropped 40% to $10/MMBtu. The emergency passed.

In other markets, however, U.K., Japanese and Korean consumers were not so lucky.Northeasterners could view firsthand how plunging temperatures tripled spot prices for those less-fortunate consumers.

Preliminary forecasts for this winter predict temperatures will be 10% colder in theNortheast. Unfortunately, the N.E. gas market is growing more fragile as industrial consumersleave the region. Industrial gas consumption has fallen from 13% of the market to less than 10%.

In their place, electric-power demand has soared - doubling gas-fired-power demand in fiveyears. Power plants, however, cannot be curtailed as easily when winter temperatures plunge, asthey supply residences and essential government services.

More gas supply and storage would help, but new sources have been hard to come by. USand Canadian production is flat. Plans for new LNG import terminals have been blocked or stalled.The Northeast is faced with growing residential, commercial and electric-power demand, but limitedalternatives for supplies.

To discuss these issues and possible solutions, this three-day conference features presen-tations and discussions led by speakers from all of the major pipelines, gas utilities, governmentregulators, LNG importers and insightful analysts. We hope you can join us for this important event.



platform. The subsea power link forms part of a re-development of the Valhall field,including a new production and hotel platform.

The subsea cable will be a 150 kV DC cable with an integral return conductor, similarto the cable Nexans delivered for the Moyle Interconnector project in 2001, which linksNorthern Ireland and Scotland. The fiber-optic cable will be bundled to the power cableduring installation. Nexans is carrying out this project on a turnkey basis and will alsoinstall and bury the cable. The installation work will take place in 2008 and 2009 using thecable-laying ship C/S Skagerrak. For protection against external damage (such as fishingboat activity), the cable will be buried to a depth of around one meter into the seabedusing Nexans’ CapJet system.

Historically, platforms obtained their power from diesel or gas generators located onthe platforms themselves. Currently, there are gas turbines producing power for the existingValhall platforms, but these are very expensive both to build and run. The new “powerfrom shore” solution requires a minimum of maintenance and is profitable from a finan-cial, safety and environmental viewpoint. By using power from land-based generationinstead of a gas turbine, BP will save around €35 million in investment costs and a further€5.5 million in annual operating costs. The new concept also minimizes the danger of firesand explosions; the working environment is improved by reducing the noise and vibrationlevels. The emissions to air will be reduced by 300,000 tonnes of CO2 and 250 tonnes ofNOx per year compared with a combined gas turbine power plant.

www.nexans.com

ROUNDUP

VoIP: The Computer is Also a TelephoneInternet telephony is not just for consumers with lots of friends and family in foreignlands; it’s also for businesses that want to cut the cost of international communications. Forexample, Skype estimates that business customers currently make up 30% of its more than100 million registered users.

There are a lot of new technologies coming out using Voice over Internet Protocol(VoIP), and companies are starting to integrate VoIP with other technologies, such as Wi-Fi and instant messaging (IM). Here’s a roundup of some of the latest news.

VoIP Services

Fusion Launches Free ‘Net Phone Service, CreatesInternet Area Code

Fusion Telecommunications International Inc. has launched a free VoIP service under itsglobal Efonica brand. Efonica subscribers can now call each other at no charge using theirexisting landline or mobile telephone numbers to and from any combination of PCs,Internet phones and regular telephones (with a simple adapter), connected to a broadbandor dial-up Internet connection. To facilitate calls, the company has developed the world-wide Internet Area Code™. Subscribers dial the prefix “10”, then dial familiar phonenumbers as they normally would, rather than clicking on user names, as is common withother free VoIP services.

Voice Over Internet Protocol


SpectraLink Wireless IP Telephony At Interop Las Vegas 2006, SpectraLink Corp. displayed its NetLink Wireless Telephones aspart of a demonstration of VoIP integration into enterprise network and security systems.The NetLink handsets were shown operating over a standards-based Wi-Fi network tied toa Digium Asterisk open-source IP PBX platform.

At the conference, the InteropLabs, the world’s only real-time, live interoperability testbed for the latest networking technologies, showcased solutions to real engineering chal-lenges in a live, vendor-neutral, standards-based arena, giving attendees the opportunity totest-drive new products and technologies based on performance, not marketing claims.

SpectraLink contributed the only enterprise-grade Wi-Fi handsets available that sup-ported the SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) VoIP protocol as well as the Wi-Fi Alliance’ssecurity specifications WPA/WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access) and the Alliance’s quality ofservice (QoS) specification WMM (Wi-Fi Multimedia).

NetLink Wireless Telephones operate as client devices on wireless LANs utilizing theIEEE 802.11b (Wi-Fi) global standard, allowing converged mobile voice and data applica-tions on a single wireless infrastructure. SpectraLink Voice Priority (SVP), a quality ofservice mechanism, is employed on the wireless LAN to ensure excellent voice quality withminimal impact on data throughput. NetLink Wireless Telephones integrate with the best-selling PBX systems, and support proprietary VoIP protocols as well as SIP and H.323 forenterprise wireless VoIP solutions.

Wireless VoIP Handsets

“We believe that the introduction of the worldwide Internet Area Code marks a signifi-cant development in the VoIP industry,” said Roger Karam, president, VoIP division,Fusion Telecommunications. “We’ve simplified the way subscribers call each other. Duringa brief sign-up process, subscribers register their landline or mobile numbers as theireNumbers™, and within seconds, they can call each other for free. They simply dial theInternet Area Code ‘10’ before the eNumber to enjoy high quality voice calls at no cost. It’sthat easy, and the call connects immediately. Because Efonica supports the current dialinghabits of consumers worldwide, customers should adapt to Efonica seamlessly.”

The free Efonica service includes caller ID with name, call waiting, three-way calling,call forwarding, call transfer, call hold and do not disturb. Subscribers can use the servicethrough their PCs by downloading a free computer-based telephone, or “softphone,” fromthe Efonica website, or with one of the many compatible hardware devices that do notrequire a PC.

“The service we introduce today avoids many of the flaws found in competitors' offer-ings,” said Matthew Rosen, president and CEO. “Efonica employs superior proprietarytechnology that eliminates the need for a PC and allows subscribers to call each other usingtheir existing phone numbers, which provides for universal accessibility and remarkableease of use. The transmission quality is exceptional, the architectural design is more securethan other peer-to-peer offerings_and the basic service plan is free.”

Fusion targets users around the world who have traditionally been underserved andburdened with high calling costs, particularly for international calls. “The fact thatEfonica's free service works with dial-up is especially relevant in emerging markets world-wide,” Rosen added. To enhance the communication experience for a fee, Fusion will offerEfonica Plus, which includes voice mail solutions and the ability to call any landline ormobile number throughout the world.

www.fusiontel.comwww.efonica.com



Polycom, Skype Team to Deliver Mini Speakerphone

VoIP Speakerphones

Polycom Inc., provider of collaborative communications solutions, and Skype™, the globalInternet communications company recently bought by eBay, announced an agreement todeliver integrated, high-quality communications solutions for businesses that use Skype.

The first joint product from this alliance is the Polycom Communicator™, a Skype-certified, co-branded USB speakerphone that leverages Polycom’s renowned AcousticClarity Technology™ to deliver hands-free, full-duplex (two-way) voice communication forSkype voice and video conversations, without echoes or feedback.

Intel Unveils VOIP Phone Adapter

Intel has introduced the Intel® 600SM PCI Phone Adapter that allows businesses to makeVoIP calls easily and seamlessly from desktop PCs using existing telephones.

The new phone adapter offers a complete solution, including hardware, software and serv-ices. Aimed at simplicity and ease of use, the product features an Analog Telephone Adapter(ATA), which works seamlessly with a variety of industry-leading VoIP service providers.

The Intel 600SM PCI Phone Adapter allows users to enjoy the many benefits of VoIPwhile using the telephone that they already own and know how to use, thereby creatingopportunities to lower costs, increase productivity, improve collaboration and enhanceaudio quality.

The new phone adapter is a great application for dual-core technology found in theIntel® Core™2 Duo processor, which is uniquely suited to handle the performancedemands of VoIP applications by improving system responsiveness during VoIP calls andpreserving good call quality.

www.intel.com/products/desktop/adapters/600sm

VoIP Telephone Adapters

“In demonstrating our NetLink handsets at the InteropLabs, we continue to show oursupport for industry standards,” said Jill Kenney, Exec. VP, Sales and Marketing,SpectraLink. “It is critical to our customers and channel partners that we maintain interop-erability with whatever VoIP and Wi-Fi solutions they choose to deploy.”

SpectraLink also demonstrated a softphone application using SpectraLink RadioProtocol (SRP), a thin-client protocol developed specifically to provide optimal perform-ance and voice quality over converged wireless networks. The softphone application can berun on voice clients such as Wi-Fi-enabled PDAs and smartphones. SRP enables third-party devices to make and receive telephone calls via the enterprise PBX over a broadbandconnection to a SpectraLink NetLink Telephony Gateway connected with the PBX at thecustomer premises. The NetLink Telephony Gateway’s unique digital interface technologymakes it possible to extend the advanced features and functions of a company’s phoneswitch, such as call transfer, conferencing and voicemail integration, to the end-user device.

“This demonstration shows the value of SpectraLink’s PBX integration capabilities indelivering mobile voice solutions beyond our market-leading Wi-Fi handsets,” said JohnElms, SpectraLink president and CEO. “What we’re offering is far more extensible than amulti-mode cellular product. Today, we are furthering our commitment to delivering busi-ness-class wireless voice to nearly any communications device deployed within the enterprise.”

www.spectralink.comwww.interop.com


VoIP Hardware

First Ruggedized IP Phone System The first rugged Internet Protocol (IP) telephone, designed to withstand rigorous condi-tions in the oil and gas industry, is now available from Coleman Technologies Inc. (CTI).As a Cisco Advanced Technology Partner, CTI has introduced the new 7960ENVIROXtreme Rugged Phone to extend the functionality of Cisco 7960 IP Phone sys-tems for heavy-duty performance, while providing 100% compatibility.

The new 7960 ENVIROXtreme IP phone system prevents saltwater corrosion, sand,

The Polycom Communicator complements the new Skype for Business offering,providing an affordable and portable personal speakerphone solution that deliversbusiness-quality, high fidelity, wideband voice communications. It delivers a best-in-class user experience with outstanding voice quality, integration with Skype software,and portability. In addition to the core speakerphone capabilities, the PolycomCommunicator also offers high-quality audio output for webinars or digital musicfrom a laptop or desktop PC. It has a built-in stereo headset port for private conversa-tions. Convenient call function buttons enable users to launch Skype on theircomputer and control volume, mute, and pick-up and hang-up calls. About the size ofa PDA, the speakerphone connects to a computer via an integrated USB cable thatalso provides power.

“Skype is making inroads into business environments that require business-qualitysolutions,” said Will Stofega, research manager, VoIP services, IDC. “The PolycomCommunicator delivers the full range of wideband voice quality for the Skype applica-tion, and the experience is excellent. The hands-free design and tight integrationmakes the Polycom Communicator easy to set up and use.”

Polycom recently celebrated its tenth anniversary as a publicly traded company andthe shipment of the two-millionth SoundStation conference phone, the award-

winning, triangular-shaped conference phone that has become an icon for voice conferenc-ing in businesses around the globe. Polycom also offers a Computer Calling Kit option forits SoundStation2™ and SoundStation2W™ conference phones, enabling those phones towork with Skype.

“Personal and group collaboration is a critical communications need in this world ofdistributed workgroups. Skype’s unique offering, broad global user base, and growing adop-tion within business environments is a natural fit for Polycom’s leading communicationsand collaboration solutions,” said Robert Hagerty, chairman and CEO, Polycom. “We arepleased to launch our first Skype Certified hands-free, wideband USB speakerphone, whichleverages our expertise in real-time voice communications and is a logical extension of ouraward-winning voice communications product line. The Polycom Communicator's deepintegration with Skype provides customers with unrivaled quality and performance in apersonal PC speakerphone.”

Skype for Business makes it easy for companies to manage communications easily,reduce costs, maximize security and improve productivity. It includes the Skype forBusiness website, a resource dedicated to business support, and the Skype for BusinessControl Panel (formerly named Skype Groups) to simplify management of grouped usersand pre-paid services.

www.skype.bizwww.polycom.com

Polycom CEO Bob Hagerty displays the new PolycomCommunicator, a Skype-certifiedmini speakerphone for online call-ing. (Photo for Polycom by CourtMast).



Microsoft Launches Windows Live Messenger

VoIP & Instant Messaging Systems

harsh temperatures, moisture and other damagingconditions from interfering with communicationsby delivering a single-wire, secure voice and datasolution with a sealed enclosure and waterproof,rubberized-silicon keypad. Internal and externalshock mounts provide shock and impact resist-ance, and a sealed cable housing prevents waterand dust from entering connectors. Ideal in remote locations such as offshore rigs and

oil fields, the ENVIROXtreme withstands storagetemperatures of -4°F to 140°F (-20°C to 60°C),operating temperatures of 14°F to 104°F, (-10°C to40°C), and relative humidity of 10% to 95% (non-condensing). A locking handset is standard on allunits. The system meets MIL-STD-810F require-ments for extreme environments and is FCC Part15 compliant. Security is provided by Cisco CallManager, and

the DHCP/TFTP IP address is client or staticallyconfigured. Microsoft NetMeeting and H.323 compatibility are standard. An EIA/TIA RS-232 port is included for security access or line expansion. Power is supplied by +48V DCfrom a wall adaptor or Power-over-Ethernet. Constructed of durable ABS plastic, thephone can be used with any SIP-enabled IP telephony system.

www.ctiusa.com

Putting VoIP Calls on Virtual Hold

Call Center Management

Virtual Hold Technology has developed a software suite that provides an enterprise VirtualQueuing solution for help desks and contact centers. Rather than wait on hold, customerscan choose to hang up the phone, maintain their place in the calling queue and receive acallback just as promptly as if they had remained on the line. Customers also can use theInternet to place their phone number in the contact center’s calling queue, receiving a call-back when it’s their turn, or they can schedule a convenient callback time. The VirtualHold solution interoperates with Avaya Communication Manager IP telephony and con-tact center software to help businesses increase the operational effectiveness of their contactcenters and improve customer satisfaction by providing positive customer experiences.

“We help businesses embed secure, reliable Intelligent Communications into the veryfabric of their organization so employees and customers have ready access to informationregardless of where they are and how they prefer to communicate,” said Eric Rossman, VP,developer relations and technical alliances, Avaya.

www.avaya.comwww.virtualhold.com

Microsoft Corp. has released Windows Live Messenger, one of the first of more than 20new Windows Live services to launch globally over the course of the year. Windows LiveMessenger goes beyond the traditional instant messaging (IM) service, enabling people to


ROUNDUP

connect and share, with free PC-to-PC calls and inexpensive calls from a PC to phonesaround the world, video calling, and easy file sharing with Sharing Folders.

“Windows Live is all about giving consumers the tools and services they need to be incontrol as they stay connected to the people they care about, on top of the informationthat is important to them, and better protected across all their online activities,” saidMartin Taylor, corporate VP, Windows Live and MSN, Microsoft. “The launch ofWindows Live Messenger represents a significant ‘down payment’ on the Windows Livevision and an important milestone for the business. Consumers have helped shape the serv-ice during our beta process so we could deliver an experience that unifies their onlinecommunications experience across voice, video, sharing and more.”

Access to the full array of Windows Live Messenger capabilities is available at theWindows Live Messenger Web site, http://get.live.com/messenger/overview

As the next generation of MSN® Messenger, the widely used instant messaging serv-ice, Windows Live Messenger goes beyond text IM to help people connect and also acts asa window to the Internet, connecting people to e-mail, blogs, search and other WindowsLive services with one click of the mouse. Features of Windows Live Messenger include:

Video Calling – powered by Logitech International, this free, synchronized audio and video service allows users to view and talk to others through their PCs in full-screen video using Microsoft Lifecams.Windows Live Call – powered by Verizon Web Calling service, users can connect with people beyond the PC via affordable outbound local voice calls to almost anywhere in the world over the Internet using cordless phones designed by UnidenAmerica Corp. and Philips. Motorola Inc. also announced its plans to sell Windows-Live compatible cordless phones later this year.Sharing Folders – as easy as dragging and dropping a file to share with colleagues on their Windows Live Messenger Contact Lists, which are integrated and accessible across Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Mail and MSN Spaces. More than 25 million customers are already taking advantage of this feature.Integration with Windows Live Search, Windows Live Local, Windows Live Mail and MSN Spaces.

http://get.live.com/messenger/overview

Status of Two Well Log Projects

Digital Well Logs

Drillinginfo is nearly finished with its scanning of nearly 850,000 Texas paper well logs,and A2D has scored a third underwriter for its Gulf of Mexico well log processing projectto make 25,000 digital well logs “Workstation Ready.” Once they are digitized, well logscan be lined up digitally next to each other for comparison using RIS-View software fromDigital Formation.

Data Repositories

Drillinginfo Data Bank Drillinginfo is working diligently on the DI Data Bank, scanning and depth-registering anenormous quantity of paper well logs throughout the state of Texas (obtained through theBureau of Economic Geology). Upon completion, all members who joined Phase I of the



well log initiative will have unlimited access to all of the images. Users can either print theimage or use the depth registration functionality to develop cross-sections, formulate top pre-dictions or contour entire fields. Furthermore, all of the well log’s search functionality will beintegrated entirely into the Drillinginfo system so users can locate the well logs they seek bysearching for field, abstract, depth or formation within any county or any district in Texas.

Drillinginfo’s BEG Well Log Initiative has scanned, straightened and depth-registered apreviously unindexed collection of donated well logs housed in nearly two thousand boxes.This has required some 100 man-years to date, and is expected to eventually require 125man-years to complete. Initiative Members ended up providing some 53% of the overallestimated cost to perform this work, with the remainder borne by Drillinginfo. The collec-tion is a treasure trove of well logs, many with annotations and scout cards. The DI DataBank is an ever-expanding database in which members are allowed to share proprietarydatasets ranging from Scout Cards to LAS Curves. DI Data Bank Members who did notjoin Phase One in 2004 must pay an introductory fee and will be required to donate spe-cific amounts of information to join the trade bank (all users are required to pay a smalltransactional fee for each info swap).

“For a membership contribution of $18,500.00, Sanchez O&G has gained access tothese well logs for a cost of $0.02 per well log, or less than 1% of the hard cost of per-forming this work,” said Allen Gilmer, president, Drillinginfo. “We have scanned virtuallyall of the logs legally available to us, some 850,000 at final count. Some 621,000 of the850,000 are available on the website at the current time. Those remaining will be up byyear-end. The minimum resolution of our scanned logs is 300 dpi, and match the qualityof the originals. Our log scan quality is as high as the best and higher than most otherscanned well log providers. Contained in our collection is both the scanned log and thestraightened log, which was used to create depth registration files in Neuralog, Petra andGeographix formats. All in all, over 10 terabytes of scanned well log data will be con-tained in our database.”

Hardly any of the well logs scanned had any sort of API designation, which meanttheir locations were not currently mapped in the Drillinginfo system. When performing asearch, the original operator, the lease name, the well number, and the depth are noted, andfor added utility a “header” link is included that will pop up a graphic image of the paperwell log header.

“We took on the added task (which was not originally included in the Initiative con-tract) of locating and assigning API numbers where possible,” Gilmer said. “This projectalone is estimated to take 42 skilled man-years, thus doubling our investment in this dataset. A significant problem associated with not having API numbers is that many of thegeology/geophysics applications require that the well log file and associated depth registra-tion file be named by API or similar unique well identifier (UWI).”

Drillinginfo partnered with Neuralog to develop the NeuraWellTool (NWT) to allowusers to download multiple well logs at a time along with well header, location, well testand production information, which is automatically annotated on downloaded logs. Thetool also allows users to pick and hang horizons as well as perform simple net pay calcula-tions. Users can also perform quick depth registration themselves on the logs for use withinNeuralog products, as well as import their own logs into the NWT for correlation/annota-tion work. Neuralog sells this software for $3,500 per single user license, but it is a freedownload for Drillinginfo members.

“We are currently in the beta test phase of our well log curve digitization business,”Gilmer said. “In keeping with the Drillinginfo business model, the cost for this servicewill be radically cheaper than what is currently available while providing a high quality product.”

www.drillinginfo.com


Log Processing

A2D Secures Third Underwriter for GOM Project

A2D Technologies, the well log data subsidiary of TGS-NOPEC, has secured a thirdunderwriter for its Gulf of Mexico Workstation Ready digital well-log processing project.The US Minerals Management Service (MMS) and Hydro Gulf of Mexico LLC joined thisproject as underwriters in March 2006. With the third additional party’s pre-funding, A2Dhas closed early participation options for the program.

The Workstation Ready project will convert all Gulf of Mexico (GOM) deepwater andkey shelf well logs to the industry-recognized Workstation Ready (WSR) format. Raw LASlogs will be researched to ensure completeness, processed and verified to high quality assur-ance standards and delivered to the user in a standardized format that allows for efficientloading into interpretive applications.

Processing of the GOM WSR project is expected to take 30 months. Together withA2D’s existing inventory of log data, the number of WSR wells will exceed 25,000. Thethree underwriters may designate higher-priority wells for their operations, and receive thedata at a cost savings.

“Acquisition of A2D’s Workstation Ready well log data is an important tool that willprovide us with high-quality data when evaluating expansion in the Gulf of Mexico,” saidScott Griffiths, Sr. VP and COO, Hydro Gulf of Mexico LLC.

“This dataset is a strategic asset for the entire industry, as is underscored by the partici-pation of both commercial and government interests,” stated Dave Kotowych, President,A2D Technologies. “A2D is working to replicate this model in other highly active explo-ration regions worldwide.”

www.a2d.comwww.tgsnopec.com

Digital Well Log Viewers

Lining Up Logs for Comparison

Once well logs have been digitized and made workstation ready, the real work begins. Welllogs must be checked and correlated with other well logs in order to get a complete pictureof the reservoir. To make this easier, Digital Formation developed a software program calledRIS-View (Reservoir Integrated System Viewer). This Windows®-based flexible file viewersupports the follow file formats:

LAS LBS LIS (many flavors) ASCII (many flavors)

Users can quickly view multiple digital well logs, lining them up next to each other forcomparison using one of several plot templates provided or custom designing a new plottemplate using Wizards that guide the user through the creation process. There is no limitto the number of tracks or curves used on a template. Tracks can be annotated with forma-tion top information where desired, and tadpole plots can be included on the samepresentation. The user may also create forms to present information as either a header ortrailer to the log. Customization is made easy through several options that allow placementand sizing of multiple forms on a template.

“Many users of RIS-View are employing the software to verify the data they havepurchased is applicable, correct and what they needed to get the project done,” saidMichael Holmes, president, Digital Formation. “The versatility of RIS-View allows them



to quickly open the applica-tion and import a file. It is aneasy and effortless way to verify their data.”

RIS-View also has theability to be automated so it willlink to other applications. Userscan have RIS-View run in thebackground of another applica-tion and perform the logfunction upon menu command.

“The users of RIS-Viewhave found that the ability touse unlimited numbers oftracks, curves, color fills andcurve states gives them flexibil-ity in verifying their data,”Holmes said. This combined

with RIS-View’s ability to export EMF images gives the user the ability to output to anyWindows-supported printer or plotter for printing in either black and white or full color.Through the use of EMF images, the user also has the option to include this output inWord documents for reports, PowerPoint presentations or any other Windows-based prod-uct that will import the EMF format.

www.digitalformation.com/risview.htm

For more information contact Rebecca Maitland at (713) 333-5773 or [email protected]

North American LNG Demand: Updating the 5 and 10-Year ForecastsAugust 23-24, 2006Hilton Houston Post Oak Hotel, Houston Texaswww.lngexpress.com/im

Photo Courtesy of Suez LNG NA

While almost every forecast has predicted arising tide of LNG imports, the opposite hasbeen happening. Imports have fallen from ahigh 28 cargoes in July 2004 to 10 in March2006. Yet, US gas consumption hasremained flat at 60 bcfd. Unless trendschange, LNG's share of US markets will fallbelow 2% in 2006, which has not occurredsince 2002 when gas sold for $2.95. Thisconference will consider what has led tothis and when and if LNG imports will riseto levels predicted by so many analysts andgovernment leaders.


COMPANY NEWS

Petris Acquires Maurer Drilling Software Suite

Application Service Providers

Petris Technology Inc. has acquired the software and support assets of the MaurerTechnology software owned by Noble Technology Services, a division of Noble Corp.Under the terms of the agreement, Petris will assume worldwide responsibility for thedevelopment, sales, service and future development of the Maurer drilling and completionsoftware, continuing to use the Maurer brand name.

There are currently 18 programs in the Maurer software suite to help engineers designwellbore trajectories, design and verify casing strings, minimize casing wear, design cementjobs, analyze torque and drag, verify wellbore hydraulics, plan for well control, determinepore and fracture pressures, determine wellbore stability and numerous programs for coiledtubing design and completion programs.

Petris has had a long relationship with Maurer, having offered this software via its“applications on demand” service, PetrisWINDS Now!, and through the Society ofPetroleum Engineers’ E&P Software Toolbox.

“Our integration technology platform, PetrisWINDS Enterprise, will help take Maurersoftware to the next level of interoperability, performance and ease-of-use,” said JimPritchett, president and CEO, Petris.

www.petris.com

Schlumberger Buys TerraTekGeomechanics Analysis

Schlumberger has acquired TerraTek Inc., a provider of geomechanics measurements andanalysis. TerraTek’s Salt Lake City office will become the Geomechanics LaboratoryCenter of Excellence for Schlumberger Data & Consulting Services, offering rockmechanics evaluations, unconventional gas reservoir analysis, large-scale drilling and com-pletions performance testing, and log-to-core integration. Customers will benefit fromunparalleled services that can reduce reservoir risk and uncertainties by delivering moreaccurate reservoir characterization.

“By integrating their knowledge of applied geomechanics core evaluation with ourexpertise in petrophysics and geomechanics, we will enhance the value of our services, par-ticularly in the unconventional gas reservoirs that will produce a greater proportion of futureworld supply,” said Chris Hopkins, president, Data & Consulting Services, Schlumberger.

www.slb.com



Landmark has been awarded a two-year contract by Energy XXI to provide total upstreaminformation technology outsourcing, hosting and consulting services. Energy XXI is anexploration and production company focused on acquiring and exploiting producing oiland gas reserves.

Under the agreement, Landmark is providing Energy XXI with a comprehensive portfo-lio of technology and services, including data loading, application hosting, datamanagement, disaster recovery, geophysical and geological software, production optimizationsoftware, field development consulting services and onsite information technology services.

“By outsourcing these services to Landmark, we can focus on our core business with-out having to support local infrastructure, data management and IT staff,” said JohnSchiller Jr., chairman and CEO, Energy XXI.

www.lgc.com

Research & Development

Seismic Acquisition Software

IBM is investing $1.4 million in 2006 to establish the IBM Oil Sands Center of Excellenceto address the business challenges of efficiently extracting petroleum from Alberta’s oilsands. Because construction project risks and operational costs are much higher than inconventional oil exploration, oil sands projects can benefit greatly from the effective use ofadvances in information technology.

Located in Calgary, the Center will help reduce operational risks associated with oilsands projects by developing industry-specific business and technology solutions. Thesesolutions will improve the efficiency of many aspects of oil sands development projects,from construction and project management to labor productivity, process optimization andenvironmental management.

“Extracting and refining oil from the oil sands is a knowledge- and technology-inten-sive process,” said Victor Doerksen, Alberta Minister of Innovation and Science. “Newinvestments that support the application of technology in the oil sands are important inensuring long-term industry success.”

IBM works closely with a number of companies involved in oil sands projects andplans to partner with other technology companies and key industry players at the Center.“We’re inviting oil sands companies and industry stakeholders to work with us at theCenter to create new and innovative solutions for this burgeoning industry,” said GraemeBate, a partner with IBM Canada’s chemical and petroleum industry.

www.ibm.com

IBM Creates Oil Sands Center in Alberta

Landmark Receives IT Services Contractfrom Energy XXI

IT Outsourcing

Fugro-Geoteam Buys Multiple Orca Licenses Concept Systems Ltd. (CSL), a subsidiary of Input/Output Inc., announced that Fugro-Geoteam AS has agreed to purchase multiple licenses for the OrcaTM command and controlsoftware package for marine seismic acquisition. Orca is the first of a new generation ofintegrated command and control systems designed to harness the complex data workflows


found onboard modern seismic vessels. Purpose-designed to incorporate the latest tech-nologies, Orca manages all aspects and stages of the navigation and seismic data workflowsfor vessel operators, enabling them to operate more safely and more efficiently during com-plex survey operations while delivering processing-ready data to their customers. Theculmination of more than 300 man-years of software development, Orca offers reduceddowntime with increased functionality, flexibility and operational efficiency.

“Over the next several months, we shall be installing Orca on our three, soon-to-be-launched super-capacity vessels: the Geo Atlantic, Geo Barents and Geo Celtic,” said HansChristian Vaage, acquisition manager, Fugro-Geoteam. “These vessels will operate with thelatest available technology and we include Orca as a natural progression of this.”

The three vessels will operate with some of the largest streamer spreads available and willbe made ready for steerable streamer systems. Orca will enhance Fugro’s efforts to deploylarge numbers of tightly spaced streamers and optimize repeatability in 4D programs.

Concept Systems and I/O’s Marine Imaging Systems Division are currently working totightly integrate Orca with I/O’s compass birds, DigiRANGE IITM acoustic positioning sys-tem, and DigiFINTM streamer control system. When complete, this marine solution willinclude steerable streamers and an acoustically braced streamer network that will maximizespatial sampling in marine acquisition and improve the repeatability of 4D programs.

www.csl.co.ukwww.fugro.geoteam.no

3D VisualizationReal-Time Data Management

Shell Taps Octaga for Ormen Lange 3D SolutionOslo-based Octaga AS has been selected by Shell to develop 3D real-time solutions for itsOrmen Lange project, Norway’s biggest producing gas field. Octaga has a proven produc-tion optimization platform that will be customized with functionality specified byoperators and maintenance personnel. The CAD model of the process plant represents anenormous amount of data that is continually updated, and this puts special requirementsfor handling large models on the viewing technology.

When Shell takes over as operator for Ormen Lange in October 2007, the companywill also operate the land-based process plant at Nyhamna, on Norway’s northwest coast. Insuch a large and complex processing plant, there is a need for efficient tools for real-time,3D data visualization that can supplement existing CAD tools. Such advanced viewingtools can exploit existing CAD data assets for simulation of operations and maintenanceprocedures, inspection and training. The intention of using these tools is to save time andreduce costs in planning and executing maintenance and operations.

“The unique aspect of this project is that the new viewing product will provide a simpli-fied and intuitive interface with high visual quality for viewing the complex CAD data,” saidTor Guttorm Jensen, project manager, Shell. “This will be achieved without the need for post-production or loss of critical property information. With its high performance, high-qualityrendering technology, extensive user-interface toolkit, and flexible and adaptable viewers,Octaga is well positioned to provide Shell with its 3D viewing needs for Ormen Lange.”

The joint product will be based on Octaga Modeller, a unique parametric 3D technol-ogy that is being used in engineering and construction. A new version of Octaga Modellerwith this extended functionality will be released in Q4 2006 and be of interest to similarprocess plant projects worldwide.

www.octaga.com



Schlumberger Acquires Quorum Technology Schlumberger Information Solutions (SIS) and Quorum Business Solutions announcedthat SIS has acquired the rights to the Quorum Volume Management (QVM) software.QVM is a comprehensive, field operations data management application with multipleproven heavy-oil volume management installations in North America and a large scalebrownfield installation in Asia.

Under the terms of the agreement, SIS acquires all rights to the QVM software solu-tion as well as key development personnel. SIS will develop its next-generation productionvolumes management solution upon the QVM technology foundation and will partnerwith Quorum to integrate with accounting workflows.

“The Digital Oilfield can only be delivered through the integration of innovative tech-nologies that span the entire oilfield life cycle,” said Olivier Le Peuch, president, SIS. “Theacquisition of the QVM technology supports our vision of the digital oilfield by expandingour portfolio beyond conventional industry offerings to include production operations,engineering, management and accounting.”

“Quorum is focusing its efforts on delivering best-in-class back-office software solu-tions and will retain the portfolio of production and revenue accounting tools,” said PaulWeidman, CEO, Quorum. “We are excited to partner with Schlumberger to offer for thefirst time in our industry the ability to streamline business processes all the way from fieldoperations through production accounting.”

“SIS is well on the path to delivering a comprehensive next-generation production solu-tion to its customers and is investing in a number of technologies to accelerate these efforts.The QVM software is compatible with our next-generation technology framework and isopen-standards based. The Quorum partnership will accelerate our strategic initiative to delivera complete production offering that integrates with back-office operations,” said Le Peuch.

www.slb.comwww.qbsol.com

Production Volume Management

Simulation & Optimization Applications

SBM Offshore Expands Deal with AspenTech SBM Offshore, owner and operator of floating production storage and offloading systems(FPSOs), has signed a multi-year license agreement to expand its use of Aspen Technology’sengineering solutions. The new agreement provides access to applications including AspenHYSYS and the Aspen HYSYS Upstream™ option, which are key components of the inte-grated aspenONE™ for Oil & Gas solutions. SBM will use the applications to support thedesign and optimization of new and existing oil and gas production facilities.

This latest commitment builds on the earlier agreements signed by several SBMOffshore Group companies (GustoMSC, SBM-Imodco and Single Buoy Moorings) inwhich they adopted Aspen HYSYS as their standard simulation platform. The new agree-ment enables SBM to expand its usage of the tools to support a range of other applications,including Aspen HYSYS dynamic simulations and the design of heat transfer equipment.

“AspenTech’s simulation applications are specifically designed for our industry,” saidMike Wyllie, chief engineer, SBM. “Providing our engineers with flexible access to moretools will enable us to make better design and investment decisions, in addition to increas-ing our engineering efficiency on upstream projects.”

www.sbmoffshore.comwww.aspentech.com

When the Freeport LNG terminal is completenext year, it will be one of the most-advanced andlargest receiving and regasification facilities in theworld. With a peak sendout capacity of 1.75 bil-lion cubic feet per day (12 million metric tons peryear) and an ultimate capacity of nearly 4.0BCFD, it is truly worthy of being Texas’ firstmajor gas import facility.

Freeport LNG features several unique revolution-ary innovations that make its design one of akind. The first is a massive air-tower vaporizationsystem that will use a water-glycol closed loop towarm LNG into natural gas vapor. This systemwill save upwards of 15 million cubic feet per dayin fuel gas, and its only emission is millions ofgallons of rainwater condensation.

To back up the ambient-air vaporizer system, Freeport is also building a fleet of eight state-of-the-art submerged com-bustion vaporizers to provide 100% redundancy.

Another major design innovation of Freeport LNG is its massive unloading dock and turning basin that will be one ofthe first capable of accepting the new Q-MAX 250,000-cubic-meter cargo ships, the largest in the world.

The marine offloading system is linked to two 160,000-cubic-meter full-containment tanks, the walls of which aremore than eight-feet thick.

Moreover, the LNG will flow from the dock to the tanks via a revolutionary new vacuum-jacketed piping systemdesigned to transport the liquid with minimal heat influx.

On top of these and other innovations, Freeport has also taken great measures to ensure the facility causes minimaldisruption to the residents and wildlife on Quintana Island. The developers have taken such precautions as using low-impact lighting and creating nature sanctuaries at the same time as installing state-of-the-art security and surveillancesystems.

We hope you will join us for what promises to be one of the most interesting facility tours you’ll see this decade. Thetour will leave from Houston October 4th and be guided by Bill Henry, vice president. Registration is $397. Seating islimited. For more information, see www.lngexpress.com/freeport or contact Rebecca Maitland at 713-333-5773.

Freeport LNG Terminal TourOctober 4, 2006 Quintana Island, Freeport, TXwww.lngexpress.com/freeport

Schedule - October 4, 20069:00 AM - Board bus in Houston, Leave for Quintana Island

10:15 - 12:45 AM - Arrive at Freeport LNG Terminal, Tour guided by Bill Henry, vice president

1:00 PM - Lunch

3:30 PM - Arrive back in Houston

To register or for more information, visit www.lngexpress.com/freeport or contact

Rebecca Maitland, (713)333-5773.



GIS SystemsDigital Automation

Emerson Awarded Horizon Oil Sands,Encana Contracts Emerson Process Management has been awarded a contract by Canadian Natural ResourcesLtd. (CNRL) to automate the first phase of its $9.4 billion Horizon Oil Sands Project,located 75 miles northwest of Fort McMurray, Alberta. Under the contract, Emerson willlead the automation of facilities that recover and upgrade bitumen into sweetened syntheticcrude oil. The contract is for the first phase of the Horizon project, which will allowCNRL to produce 110,000 b/d of synthetic crude oil. Phase 1 of the project is scheduledto start production in the second half of 2008. In all, three phases are planned for the proj-ect, raising total production to 232,000 b/d upon completion in 2012.

“Risk mitigation was a primary concern of the Horizon project team,” said Bob Wing,project coordinator, CNRL. “We chose Emerson and the PlantWeb digital plant architec-ture based on experience in oil sands projects and proven global engineering expertise.Emerson project members will join our Automation Integration Team to ensure an efficientintegration of our 10 segregated process areas into a single control room.”

Specifically, Emerson will develop specifications for the CNRL project that will beused by all engineering and procurement contractors (EPCs) to ensure consistency andleverage best practices. The Horizon project encompasses 12 different EPCs locatedaround the world. The specifications will guide engineering design, hardwaredesign/layout, and configuration and connection of the digital automation systems thatare part of PlantWeb. Emerson engineers and EPCs are currently performing detaileddesign engineering and system configuration.

PlantWeb architecture is an innovative digital approach to integrating plant-wide oper-ations for optimum process control, operational excellence and management information.A network of intelligent transmitters, analyzers, valves and equipment monitors delivercontinuous process and equipment “health” information. Plant personnel will use the infor-mation to operate and maintain all automation technologies for optimum performance.

Emerson was also awarded a separate contract by EnCana Corp. to apply itsPlantWeb® digital plant architecture to automate EnCana’s new Steeprock natural gas pro-cessing plant, located in northeast British Columbia, Canada. The digital PlantWebapproach will integrate basic process control and a smart Safety Instrumented System.

EnCana’s Steeprock Facility will be designed to process 190 MMscf/d of raw gas. Theplant will consist of two amine plants and a Claus Process facility to extract elemental sul-fur. The construction goal for plant start up and commissioning is winter 2006/2007.

Emerson’s PlantWeb will integrate process control and smart Safety InstrumentedSystem (SIS) solutions based on the architecture’s DeltaV™ digital automation system,AMS™ Suite predictive maintenance software, and intelligent HART® field instrumentsthat include Emerson’s Fisher® valves with FIELDVUE® digital valve controllers andRosemount® transmitters. Emerson’s smart SIS integrates use of digital intelligence toautomate proof testing, including partial valve stroking, to enable continuous and on-demand diagnosis of safety loop sensors, logic solvers and final control elements to ensurethey perform on demand. The resulting high reliability of safety systems reduces the risk ofplant trips and helps keep plants up and running.

www.emersonprocess.comwww.cnrl.com

www.encana.com


Oracle, Open Text to Offer New ECM Solutions Open Text™, provider of enterprise content management (ECM) software, will offer con-tent management solutions on the Oracle® Content Database infrastructure software. Thispartnership extends Open Text’s recently launched enterprise solutions framework andbuilds on the decade-long database integration that Open Text has had with Oracle.

Open Text already offers a scalable and comprehensive document and e-mail manage-ment solution as well as a range of solutions for regulatory requirements like Sarbanes-Oxley(SOX). Open Text also plans to offer its content-enabled industry applications, such asaccounts payable and loan origination, on Oracle Content Database. Finally, Open Text willextend Oracle’s products with existing technology for imaging, IDARS*, records manage-ment, archiving and search. With these solutions, users will be able to access and managecontent from Oracle, Siebel, PeopleSoft and JD Edwards applications, as well as futureOracle Fusion Applications. This integrated solutions environment is further expected toprovide all Oracle users with a unified approach to solving their basic content management,ECM and compliance needs while putting them on the road to Oracle Fusion.

The increasingly complex demands of regulatory compliance require consistent, enter-prise-wide content management policies and technology. At the same time, the need to

Mergers & Acquisitions

IHS Acquires Petra from GeoPLUSIHS Inc., purveyor of oil and gas information, software and consulting services, has acquiredthe assets of GeoPLUS Corp. of Tulsa, OK. GeoPLUS has a PC-based software family,PETRA®, which is a popular platform used by oil and gas companies to analyze subsurfacedata from oil and gas wells. This acquisition will enhance the decision support tools IHScustomers use to analyze the information in its exploration and production databases.

“The addition of PETRA to the IHS family means IHS can offer a more complete setof integrated data and tools for finding and producing oil and gas,” said Ron Mobed, presi-dent and COO, IHS Energy. “Both IHS and GeoPLUS share a vision of E&P projects thatare always up-to-date. We plan to streamline the flow of IHS data into the PETRA deci-sion support tools, which will then accurately reflect the most current development anddrilling in an area. This will enable faster and lower-risk decision making by our customersas they compare, evaluate and select new assets to drill, based on the latest information.”

“PETRA customers have identified enhanced data loading and project updating as areas forimproving productivity because finding, loading and updating data still take too much of theirtime, which can be better spent on evaluation — actually finding and producing oil and gas,”added Tom Whitwell, president, GeoPLUS. “Good geological analysis starts with good data,and PETRA customers identify IHS as their preferred data supplier. So this is a strategic fit thatserves the needs of the mutual customers previously served by both IHS and GeoPLUS, andhelps customers derive greater value from the critical information IHS delivers.”

The PETRA software and customer service teams will remain in Tulsa, focusing onenhancing functionality and ease of use, while an IHS data integration team will focus onshort- and long-term plans for enhancing the flow of IHS data to PETRA. IHS will also main-tain PETRA’s longstanding support of data formats for a variety of data and software suppliers.

www.ihs.com/energywww.geoplus.com

Enterprise Content Management



Digital Oilfield Inc., a software solutions company that optimizes financial and operationalprocesses between energy companies and their suppliers, announced its expansion to theUK with an office located in London, England. The UK staff will focus on sales and sup-port of Digital Oilfield’s software solutions in Europe, Africa and the Middle East(EAME). Based on increasing demand in the EAME region, Digital Oilfield’s new officewill provide greater access to prospective customers as well as an increased level of supportfor existing customers operating in the region.

Cameron Davis has been appointed as the Regional Manager for EAME, and joinsDigital Oilfield with more than 15 years of international oil and gas technology experience.Davis began his career as a geophysicist, has held a number of overseas regional managerpositions with Landmark (a Halliburton company) and was most recently responsible forLandmark’s business relationship with BP in the EAME.

www.digitaloilfield.com

Enterprise Content Search

DecisionOne to Deploy Google EnterpriseSearch engine vendor Google has selected DecisionOne, North America’s largest independenttechnology support services firm, to join the Google Enterprise Professional program, whichextends the power of Google search and helps customers derive more value from their Googleenterprise search deployments. As a Google Enterprise Professional partner, DecisionOne willprovide installation services for Google’s small, medium and large business customers.

“DecisionOne now provides companies purchasing Google’s enterprise search technologyand solutions with a local, reliable, cost-effective way to install their appliances,” said GeoffreyDrayton, VP Business Development, DecisionOne. “We have more than 45 years of experi-ence in providing commercial enterprises throughout the US and Canada with affordable,high-quality technology support services. Partnering with Google to bring their world-classsearch experience to the enterprise is a great complement to DecisionOne’s core capability.”

The Google Enterprise Professional program includes developers, consultants and inde-pendent software vendors that provide value-added services for Google enterprise products.Google’s enterprise search products offer a company’s employees the same quality searchexperience across all their corporate information as people get with Google.com.

improve productivity and provide rapid access to information requires industry-specificcontent management capabilities to be completely integrated with business applications. Byusing Oracle Content Database as an underlying infrastructure, Open Text can quicklymeet its customers’ needs on both fronts. Oracle Content Database and Oracle RecordsDatabase are options for Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition and are the first contentand records management solutions capable of managing the wide range of diverse data andmetadata in a single database.

“Open Text’s decision to offer content-based solutions on top of the Oracle ContentDatabase platform fully validates our strategy for managing unstructured information inthe Oracle Database,” said Andy Mendelsohn, Sr. VP, Database Server Technologies,Oracle. “Our complementary products should provide customers with a powerful andcomplete set of solutions to their content management problems.”

www.opentext.com/oraclepresswww.oracle.com

Global Expansion

Digital Oilfield Opens Office in London


Microsoft Establishes Interop Customer CouncilMicrosoft Corp. has formed the Interoperability Customer Executive Council to identify areasfor interoperability improvements across its products and the overall software industry.Customers are working in increasingly heterogeneous IT environments and asking for a greaterlevel of interoperability from their IT vendors. Microsoft is committed to building bridgesacross the industry to deliver products to its customers that are interoperable by design.

“We design our products with interoperability in mind so our customers can connect toother platforms, applications and data easily,” said Bob Muglia, Sr. VP, Server and ToolsBusiness, Microsoft. “The Interoperability Customer Executive Council will help us prioritizeareas where we can achieve greater interoperability through product design, collaboration agree-ments with other companies, standards and effective licensing of our intellectual property.”

The council will meet twice a year in Redmond, WA, and will have direct contact withMicrosoft executives and product teams so it can focus on interoperability issues that are ofgreatest importance to customers, including connectivity, application integration and dataexchange. Council members will include chief information officers (CIOs), chief technolo-gy officers (CTOs) and architects from leading corporations and governments.

The adoption of disparate systems over time is a reality, so businesses are looking at inter-operability in IT deployments to drive down costs and increase their access to information.

“Within the different architectures of Societe Generale IT, we are convinced that thebest way to design flexible and adaptable IT solutions to answer the needs of our differentbusiness lines is to use technology designed with a commitment to interoperabilitybetween products, hardware, software and applications,” said Olivier de Bernardi, groupCTO, Societe Generale. “With this in mind, we are quite interested to participate in thisnew program launched by Microsoft.”

Microsoft is making long-term investments in interoperability. In February 2005,Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates introduced “interoperable bydesign,” a concept based on Microsoft’s industry leadership in expanding the use ofExtensible Markup Language (XML) and delivering technology that empowers customersby working with the applications and solutions they already have in place. Over the past12 months, Microsoft has broadened its investments in interoperability and collaboratedwith both partner and competitive software and hardware companies when improvinginteroperability for shared customers.

www.microsoft.com/interop

Safety Instrumented Systems

Interoperability

PEMEX to Implement Invensys on Nine Offshore Platforms Invensys Process Systems will supply 11 Triconex safety instrumented systems (SIS) as part ofan operations, safety and security upgrade in major offshore projects for Petróleos Mexicanos(PEMEX). At the Ku Maloob Zaap oilfields off the coast of Campeche State, Mexico,PEMEX Exploration and Production Northeast Marine Region (PEP) is undertaking a signif-icant upgrade and expansion of its drilling and production infrastructure. Triconex emergencyshutdown systems and fire and gas safety systems will be installed on nine platforms.



The 11 Tricon TMR (triple-modular-redundant) control systems will be deployed at crit-ical sites in five different complexes throughout the extensive Ku Maloop Zaap offshoreinfrastructure. The systems will provide emergency platform shutdown functions to protectsix production platforms and one linking platform in the network. Triconex fire and gas sys-tems will also protect three production platforms and one crew platform that houses about 70workers. The systems monitor a variety of parameters against preset safety limits, includingplatform equipment status, detection for smoke, hydrogen, toxic gases and combustion gases,control of fire suppression equipment, alarm management and manual shutdown controls.

TMR architecture employs three isolated, parallel control systems and extensive diag-nostics integrated into one system. The system uses two-out-of-three voting to providehigh integrity, error-free, uninterrupted process operation with no single point of failure.The Tricon controller’s redundant control functions and diagnostics are embedded andtransparent, and the system behaves as a single control device to the engineer or operator.The Invensys implementation also includes engineering and programming services, localassembly, acceptance testing, training and commissioning.

www.triconex.comwww.pemex.com

www.invensys.com

Global Expansion

Yokogawa Expands to Vietnam, CanadaYokogawa Electric Corp. announced its plans to establish a subsidiary in Vietnam that willprovide engineering and maintenance services to increase the competitiveness of its indus-trial automation and control business in this country, which is experiencing sustained rapideconomic growth. Prompted by the rapidly increasing world demand for oil and naturalgas, many oil and gas development projects, including the construction of new chemicalplants, are currently underway in Vietnam.

In 2003, Yokogawa established a representative office in Hanoi that has been develop-ing the Vietnamese industrial automation and control market in cooperation with localsales representatives. To further expand this business, Yokogawa considers it essential tohave facilities and personnel for providing engineering and maintenance services in thismarket. Yokogawa Vietnam Co. Ltd. is being planned for this purpose.

Located in Hanoi, this wholly owned subsidiary will be led by President Shuji Moriand is expected to commence operations in August 2006 with an initial staff of 25, poten-tially growing to 60 employees in 2008.

Yokogawa also announced that its Calgary, Alberta, Canada office is now an incorpo-rated division of the company known as Yokogawa Canada Inc.

“We are pleased to be able to officially launch this branch of the company,” said JohnBowron, president, Yokogawa Canada. “Yokogawa has always believed that a commitmentmade is a commitment kept. We promised when we opened the office a little over a yearago, that we would continue to build the infrastructure required to meet the rapidly grow-ing demands of the Canadian marketplace. Our incorporation of an office in this countrywill allow our Canadian operation more autonomy and agility to support our customersand their individual needs in products, project engineering execution and performanceservices in the fastest growing region of North America.”

Yokogawa’s clear strategy of targeting vertical and geographical markets has spurred agrowth of nearly 60% in the global market in the past six years.

www.yokogawa.com


Reservoir Simulators

Roxar Signs Vietnamese Software Contracts Roxar announced it will provide its flagship reservoir simulation solution, Tempest™, toHoan Vu Joint Operating Co. and Hoang Long Joint Operating Co. in Vietnam. Thedeals are the first commercial contracts for Tempest in Vietnam and will allow geologistsand reservoir engineers at both companies to make informed decisions relating to thestructure, type and economic potential of the fields they are operating to ensure produc-tion is maximized. These fields are Vietnam’s offshore Block 9-2 (operated by Hoan Vu)and Block 16-1 (operated by Hoang Long).

Roxar’s Tempest software suite comes with state-of-the-art modeling and simulationcapabilities, including the ability to simulate a wide range of physical processes within oneprogram, such as black oil, compositional, dual porosity, steam, coal bed methane andpolymer injection.

Roxar CEO Sandy Esslemont said: “We are delighted to be announcing our first com-mercial sale of Tempest in Vietnam today. Vietnam is one of the fastest growing oil and gasproducers in South East Asia, with the country’s estimated resources currently standing at6.5 to 8.5 billion barrels of oil and 75-100 trillion cubic feet of gas. With much of its pro-duction coming from fractured, offshore basement reservoirs, it is essential that accurateand robust models are fully simulated to reduce risk and uncertainty. With Tempest, HoanVu JOC and Hoang Long JOC will be able to look forward to a greater understanding oftheir reservoirs and maximized reservoir performance for years to come.”

Roxar is also proposing a detailed training program to provide both operating compa-nies with the necessary skills to make best use of Tempest. The focus of the training will beto develop an increased awareness of the importance of incorporating all data when con-structing geological and simulation models, and the need to adopt a multi-disciplinaryapproach. Tempest includes a unique method for modeling naturally fractured reservoirsusing a Single Grid Dual Porosity approach that can halve the run time compared to con-ventional dual porosity models, as well as a Tensor Permeability option that can be used todescribe complex heterogeneous reservoir systems. A new version, Tempest 6.3, whichincludes parallel processing capabilities, will be launched later this year.

www.roxar.com

Business Process Management

Lombardi Software Selected By BearingPointLombardi® announced it has been selected as a Business Alliance Partner by BearingPointInc., one of the world’s largest management and technology consulting firms. As a memberof BearingPoint’s alliance program, Lombardi’s TeamWorks® BPM software platform maybe used in BearingPoint’s global management and technology consulting solutions andservices to customers across its Commercial, Public and Financial Services business units.

Lombardi also announced that BearingPoint has joined Lombardi’s new PremierCertified Partner program, a tier of select partners that have consultants certified in theTeamWorks platform, and that have delivered numerous, successful, large-scale customerimplementations with the software. As a requirement of the program, more than 150BearingPoint personnel have been trained by Lombardi on TeamWorks across the US,Europe and India.

“BearingPoint is teaming with Lombardi and its exceptional BPM software technologyto further enhance our offerings as we continue to develop high value-add solutions that



produce tangible returns for clients,” said Greg Reh, managing director, BearingPoint.“Our two companies have already developed vertical solution sets in Oil and Gas and LifeSciences, and we are actively working in other verticals to generate go-to-market solutionsfor our clients and prospects.”

Lombardi and BearingPoint are also co-developing Business Transformation Projectapproaches that include the TeamWorks BPM platform as a core technology, coupled witha variety of specialized resources and best practices for process reengineering, strategic plan-ning, organizational change management, Business Process Competency Centers (BPCC)and architectural alignment projects.

TeamWorks is built on open standards and provides ongoing process visibility and con-trol, increasing the speed and flexibility with which organizations can manage processactivity and decision-making. TeamWorks includes a rich, cohesive, Eclipse-based modelingenvironment for building all aspects of a business process, a highly collaborative Web-basedwork portal for process participants, and provides industry-leading optimization technolo-gies for analyzing and improving business processes.

www.lombardi.comwww.bearingpoint.com

Seismic Data Processing

Petrobras Awards Large Contract to CGG in Brazil CGG do Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has been awarded the major part (60%) of athree-year, $12 million contract by Petrobras to process up to 30,000 sq. km of seismicdata. The contract includes 2D and 3D, land and marine, and pre-stack time and depthmigration. Processing of these data will commence in June 2006.

CGG opened its data processing center in Rio de Janeiro in April 2005 and has beenworking in Brazil since 1961. CGG do Brazil currently employs 25 national staff and hasan aggressive recruitment and training plan focused on geophysical staff and IT profession-als. CGG has installed a powerful state-of-the-art IT infrastructure with the latest PCcluster technology, disk-to-disk processing, geodesktop environment and 3D visualizationsystems, fully integrated into CGG’s global network.

“We are very proud to be awarded this important contract and we are looking forwardto maintaining our position as the premier provider of processing services to Petrobras,”said Jean Charot, managing director, CGG do Brazil.

www.cgg.com

Full-Wave Seismic Imaging

GXT Wins Major Onshore Imaging Project GX Technology Corp., a seismic imaging services provider and a subsidiary ofInput/Output Inc., has been awarded the largest full-wave imaging project in the compa-ny’s history. Southwest Branch Co., an operating subsidiary of the Chinese energy andpetrochemical firm Sinopec, selected GXT for a comprehensive interpretive imaging pro-gram at the largest gas field in western Sichuan Province, China. The contract directs GXTto identify high-potential, drillable prospects based on seismic data that were previouslyacquired using I/O’s VectorSeis® digital full-wave sensors.

“This is an excellent example of our full-wave solution strategy coming to life,” said BobPeebler, president and CEO, Input/Output. “We were involved in this project from the begin-


ning, helping to design the survey and to select the technologies that would be needed to imagethe numerous fractured gas reservoirs in the area properly. The data was acquired using I/O’sSystem Four™ outfitted with VectorSeis. At times during the survey, the contractor had nearly20,000 live seismic channels in operation. This provided the sampling density needed to proper-ly illuminate the reservoir. There is tremendous excitement throughout our company aboutwhat insights we will be able to provide to our client using this high-density, full-wave data set.”

A full suite of processing steps will be applied to resolve subtle properties within thereservoir zones, including mapping fracture density. In addition to applying its advancednoise attenuation algorithms to extract broadband, high-resolution P-wave data, GXT willimage the converted (shear) waves, map sub-surface anisotropy using AZIM™, and analyzeshear wave splitting in the reservoirs to determine fracture orientation and intensity.

“We are convinced of the benefits of full-wave imaging in this area,” said XuXiangrong, president, Southwest Branch. “Several years ago, we conducted a pilot test thatshowed multicomponent seismic data would be useful in characterizing fractured gas reser-voirs in Sichuan. This gave us the confidence to undertake a full-scale acquisition program.The raw data looks promising. GX Technology demonstrated that they had the necessarycapabilities to deliver against the imaging objectives we had set. In order to meet its increas-ing energy needs, China is committed to deploying state-of-the-art technology.”

As part of this project, GXT has also been requested to undertake advanced geophysi-cal and reservoir analyses that build upon the acquired seismic data, such as determiningreservoir porosity and permeability, evaluating gas saturation, and mapping sedimentaryfacies and sequence stratigraphy. The integrated seismic data sets will ultimately be used toselect new well locations and to identify other exploitable targets throughout the basin.Initial imaging work will begin immediately, with final results of this processing and reser-voir characterization project expected to be delivered in the first half of 2007.

www.i-o.com

Geographical Information Systems

Intergraph Selected By Nanjing Gas Intergraph Corp. announced the successful phase one implementation of its G/Technologygeofacilities management application at Nanjing Gas, the largest of 25 Chinese companiesthat have joint ventures with the utility giant, Hong Kong China Gas Co., also known asTowngas. The phase one milestone encompasses using geospatial technology to streamlinenetwork operations, including maintenance, repair and replacement.

Nanjing Gas is the first gas industry provider to deploy Intergraph’s G/Technology platformin China. It is implementing the G/Gas suite of geofacilities management applications, whichare based on gas distribution industry best practices and are a key enabling technology withinIntergraph’s Geospatial Resource Management (GRM) environment of integrated systems.

Five other Chinese gas suppliers have also adopted Intergraph’s software to modernizetheir gas transition and distribution operations using geospatial technology, thereby benefit-ting from centrally managed information systems and enabling comprehensive informationprocessing and effective resource and asset management.

“Intergraph’s G/Technology provides a proven, powerful solution to meet the NanjingGas’ unique needs,” said Huang Jianhua, vice general manager, Nanjing Hong Kong andChina Gas Co. Ltd. “G/Technology’s open technology, high performance and demonstrat-ed gas network modeling capabilities have resulted in dramatic improvements at NanjingGas, and gas suppliers across China are taking notice.”

www.intergraph.comwww.towngas.com



Process Modeling Solutions

Honeywell Signs Unisim Deal With Linde Honeywell has signed a major agreement with Linde AG, Linde Engineering Division, forits UniSim™ Design Suite. As a leading international engineering and contracting compa-ny, Linde Engineering designs and builds turnkey process plants for a wide variety ofindustrial users and applications. The UniSim Design Suite enables advanced process mod-eling and will help Linde engineers create steady-state and dynamic models for plantdesign. Linde’s Engineering Division will use the system for process design projects acrossthe world. As part of the contract, Honeywell will also enter a joint development programwith Linde in order to further improve the engineering efficiency.

“Honeywell's UniSim Design Suite and the joint development program are ideally suit-ed to Linde's needs, providing what we believe will be the best in future simulation softwarefor process design of our olefin, hydrogen and synthesis gas plants," said Dr. Gabriele Engl,manager, Information Systems, Process Engineering, Linde Engineering Division. “UniSimDesign will allow our engineers to improve process calculations and more easily determinethe most economical and reliable plant design. One of the key reasons we chose Honeywellwas its flexibility in meeting our requirements. Honeywell provided a strong, experiencedteam throughout the bidding and evaluation process and proved that it had the support anddevelopment infrastructure in place to handle current and future Linde needs.”

UniSim Design Suite is part of Honeywell's family of simulation software and engi-neering services designed to improve performance throughout the lifecycle of a processingplant. Based on the HYSYS® intellectual property acquired from Aspen Technology,UniSim Design provides a powerful tool to help engineers create optimal process designsbased on critical business objectives.

www.honeywell.com/ps

Global Expansion

Oracle to Establish Global Support Center in China Oracle China (registered as Beijing Oracle Software Systems Co. Ltd.) plans to establish anOracle Global Support Center (GSC) in the Northeastern Chinese city of Dalian. As oneof 18 Oracle Global Support Centers around the world, the Dalian facility will serve as amulti-lingual service desk to provide local-language technical assistance to Oracle customersin mainland China, Taiwan and Korea. Oracle plans to expand the provision of supportservices from the Dalian Global Support Center to customers from other markets in theAsia Pacific region in the future.

Located at the Dalian Software Park, the new support center's staff will handle cus-tomer inquiries and requests for technical support, and will have competencies in Oracleapplications such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and Oracle Fusion Middleware andDatabase software. Using a collaborative model, the support center will leverage Oracle'ssupport team around the world to provide customers with superior support.

Dalian's rising reputation as a preferred customer support hub stems largely from the city'sattractive environment in terms of infrastructure, multilingual talent, government support andintellectual property protection. According to the Dalian Software Park management, morethan 20 foreign and Chinese companies have established support centers in the city.

www.oracle.com


Kevin Harper

PEOPLE NEWS

Black & Veatch announced that Kevin Harper has rejoined the company’s EnterpriseManagement Solutions (EMS) Division as a principal consultant. Harper will reunite withthe company’s R.J. Rudden Associates group and provide management consulting servicesto EMS’ growing client base.

Harper has 25 years of experience, including senior management responsibilities, busi-ness development, client relationships, project management and training programsdevelopment. His consulting experience has included strategic and business planning,mergers and acquisitions, resource planning, organizational development, utility rate-making and regulatory policy analysis. He holds an MBA from the Harvard GraduateSchool of Business Administration and a BS degree in engineering design and economicevaluation from the University of Colorado.

www.bv.com/consult

Kevin Harper Rejoins Black & Veatch

Beth Perlman One of Infoworld Top 25 CTOsInfoWorld magazine has selected Beth Perlman, Sr. VP and CIO of Constellation Energy, asone of the top 25 CTOs in 2006. Nominated by OutlookSoft, Perlman was recognized forher outstanding achievements in implementing and managing innovative technology thatenables Constellation Energy to meet business objectives.

Constellation Energy is using OutlookSoft’s Performance Management solution tostreamline reporting throughout the enterprise and to serve as a central repository for allbudgeting by the business units. After OutlookSoft’s successful deployment at corporate, itbecame the enterprise application for budgeting, financial planning and analysis. Positiveresults include increased flexibility in reporting, less time spent compiling information,more time spent analyzing and better strategic planning. By consolidating several reportsinto one and implementing a standard for presenting financials to corporate, OutlookSofthelped to reduce Constellation Energy’s monthly close process.

“I am honored to be recognized by InfoWorld for the work my team and I have done tosupport the transformation of Constellation Energy into a healthy and successful energy com-pany,” Perlman said. “OutlookSoft has played an integral role in helping us meet our aggressiveIT goals and improve our overall business and finance operations. We regard them as a valu-able technology partner and greatly appreciate the nomination for this esteemed award.”

www.InfoWorld.comwww.constellation.com

Beth Perlman

dbaDIRECT, a pioneer in data infrastructure management, has promoted two key execu-tives as a means realigning the company’s service delivery model and provide new managedservice offerings.

Randy Sebastian has been promoted to the new position of VP Service Delivery, andDiane Sichel has been promoted to the new position of Director of Client Services.Sebastian and Sichel will be responsible for customer service operations, freeing up CTOMark Vorholt to focus on expanding dbaDIRECT’s technology base and rolling out newmanaged service offerings. Currently, the company remotely monitors and manages morethan 3,000 corporate databases for Fortune 1000 and Private 500 companies.

www.dbadirect.com

dbaDIRECT Promotes Two Executives



Gary Matyas Joins Geotrace

Norwegian solutions provider Roxar AS has appointed Even Gjesdal as the company’snew chief financial officer. Gjesdal brings more than 12 years of corporate finance andauditing experience to his new role, in which he will oversee finance, accounting, IT andlegal services at Roxar. He has an extensive background in the oil and gas sector as wellas in corporate finance and auditing. He has been an employee of Roxar for three years,initially as group controller and since January 2006 as acting chief financial officer.

Prior to joining Roxar, Gjesdal held the position of chief financial officer of BjørgeASA, where he was heavily involved in several mergers and acquisitions. He began hiscareer at PricewaterhouseCoopers in auditing and consultancy services and has a BA degreein economics from the Norwegian School of Management in Oslo.

www.roxar.com

RigNet Strengthens North Sea ManagementRigNet Inc., provider of managed communication services for drilling rigs, announced twomore appointments to its management team to strengthen its North Sea region operationsand accelerate growth throughout the Europe and Africa region.

Trygve Hagevik has been appointed VP, Europe and Africa, based in Stavanger,Norway. Hagevik joins RigNet from Schlumberger Network Services, where he served assales manager. He has held sales and business development positions for such companies asAmerican Express and Alcatel.

Alan Walker also joins RigNet as general manager, UK. In this position, he will man-age the day-to-day operations as well as capitalize on the region’s growth opportunities.Walker comes to RigNet from Schlumberger DMS where he held senior system engineerand business development positions.

www.rig.net

Roxar Appoints Chief Financial Officer

Gary Matyas

Gary Matyas has joined the Geotrace team as director, Latin American operations. Matyashas been working within the exploration industry since 1976, and within the seismic indus-try since 1980. After a relatively short period of time in Houston, he will be based in Riode Janeiro, Brazil.

www.geotrace.com

Website of the Month:www.EnergyImages.comMieko Mahi is one of the best energy industry photographers in the world, with qualityright up there with National Geographic. On her website, there is an inventory of morethan 8,000 photographs of oil and gas facilities and people available for immediate view-ing, purchase and downloading. Mahi's freelance photography company is going to belisted in the Houston Business Journal's list of the fastest-growing woman-owned businesses in Houston.


PRODUCT NEWS

Automation Technology

Emerson Enhances Smart Field Devices,Coriolis Flowmeters; Extends VibrationMonitoring To Hazardous Work Areas Using the enhancements to the international standard Electronic Device DescriptionLanguage (EDDL), Emerson Process Management is boosting the functionality of itsHART® and FOUNDATION™ fieldbus devices to drive richer graphical user interfacedisplays that enable users to improve operations and maintenance. The Emerson deviceswith enhanced EDDL will drive new displays that use familiar dialog boxes to present text,dynamic variables, pictures, charts and archived data in a consistent, familiar format.

“Use of the enhanced EDDL technology provides human interface consistency and ease ofuse for diagnostics and asset management both in the control room and in the maintenanceshop, enhancing safe and productive plant operation,” said John Berra, president, EmersonProcess Management. “By design, the enhanced field devices are fully compatible with theindustry’s installed base of more than 20 million field devices using EDDL technology.”

Sophisticated devices with hundreds of configuration, calibration and diagnostic para-meters, such as control valves, radar level gauges and variable frequency drives, will greatlybenefit from the new user interface enhancements. EDDL is the only common technologyendorsed by all of the Fieldbus, HART, Profibus and OPC Foundations. The interoperabilityof the language gives users the freedom to choose best-in-class automation products fromsuppliers of choice, knowing devices and hosts will work fully and seamlessly together.

Emerson also announced next-generation MVD™ (multivariable digital) technology andsensor design innovations that set new industry standards for accuracy, stability and versa-tility of the company’s Micro Motion® Coriolis flowmeters. These advances deliverbreakthroughs in entrained gas measurement performance and patented self-verificationtechnology that allow in-situ assessment of meter calibration of the company’s MicroMotion® ELITE® Coriolis flowmeters.

This next-generation MVD technology boosts Micro Motion Coriolis flowmeter accu-racy and overall meter stability to a level that eliminates the need for field zeroing.Previously, the Micro Motion ELITE meter with ± 0.10% accuracy provided the mostaccurate Coriolis measurement available. Now, the patented MVD technology delivers ± 0.05% mass and volume flow accuracy, and up to ± 0.0002 g/cc density accuracy – a factor of two improvement compared to other Coriolis meters.

For applications where precise measurement is critical, such as chemical dosing andhigh-value custody transfer, the new Micro Motion ELITE is the clear choice for the mostaccurate and consistent measurement.

Identifying and measuring two-phase (gas and liquid) flow is difficult for flow meas-

Coriolis FlowmetersUpgraded



urement devices, often producing large metering errors or requiring an additional invest-ment in air eliminators or flow conditioning devices. As part of next-generation MicroMotion technology, increased processing speeds and unique Coriolis sensor design are com-bined to solve this process dilemma, enabling accurate measurement of flows withentrained gas that include bubble flow, slug flow, and empty-full-empty batch applications.

Micro Motion meter verification capability assesses and tracks flow tube integrity overtime, enabling users to predict and plan for meter replacement when it is most convenient.Emerson’s new patented self-verification technology modernizes practices with real-time,on-demand and in-place assessment of the performance of Micro Motion ELITE Coriolismeters. Further cost savings, increased plant availability, and enhanced safety and environ-mental compliance are achieved when the flowmeters are integrated into the PlantWeb®

digital plant architecture.

Emerson Process Management now makes vibration monitoring of rotating equipment pos-sible in hazardous areas of oil and gas operations. Two new safety-rated versions of the CSI2130 Machinery Health™ Analyzer are available for evaluating the condition of a broadrange of equipment types, and both comply with the rigorous international safety standardsestablished by Factory Mutual (FM), Canadian Standards Association (CSA) and theEuropean (ATEX) standards.

The safety-certified versions of the CSI 2130 retain all functions of the machinery healthanalyzers commonly operating in other areas. They are capable of gathering large amounts ofdata and reducing it into accurate diagnostics and actionable information. The collected dataare uploaded for analysis and trending to the AMS™ Suite: Machinery Health™ Managersoftware, a component of Emerson’s PlantWeb® digital plant architecture.

Dynamic balancing and laser shaft alignment, which can also be done in hazardousareas using the new versions of the CSI 2130, typically require hot-work permits for haz-ardous environments. Originally released as a high-function, dual-channel data collectorand analyzer, the CSI 2130 is now available as a lower-cost single-channel data collectorand as a single- or dual-channel standalone vibration analyzer. Both meet the rigorous safe-ty standards described above and integrate with Emerson’s PlantWeb architecture.

www.emersonprocess.com

Vibration Monitoring inHazardous Areas

When used with the CSI 2130 Machinery Health Analyzer, the triaxial accelerometerdelivers excellent measurement quality and faster data collection in the field.

Photo courtesy of Emerson Process Management


Supercomputers & Clusters

Seismic Processing Solutionfor ClustersParallel Geoscience Corp. has implemented its SPW seis-mic processing solution suite for use on MicrosoftWindows Compute Cluster Server 2003 in order to pro-vide customers with updated support and features thatenhance their experience in moving rapidly from raw seis-mic data to drilling decisions.

Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003, an integrat-ed, standards-based compute clustering platform built ontop of Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions, isMicrosoft’s official entry into the world of high-performance computing (HPC).

The SPW product is breaking the speed limits ofexisting desktop solutions for solving complex seismic pro-cessing problems. In development and use since 1988,SPW is a full suite of 2D and 3D seismic processing toolsfor processing data from raw field records to final migrat-ed, interpretable seismic data volumes. By taking fulladvantage of distributed parallel computing hardware in adesktop environment, exploration teams can shorten thecycle time from seismic surveying to drilling decision.

“By working with Windows Compute Cluster Server2003, we feel confident that our SPW product will provideusers a stable, high-performance, seismic processing solu-tion with enhanced functionality and significant additionalvalue,” said Dan Herold, VP, Parallel Geoscience Corp.

www.parallelgeo.com

Traditionally, integration between the engineering technicalservices at a plant and operations or maintenance has beenad-hoc at best, even nonexistent in many cases. Applicationslike SmartPlant Instrumentation have solidified that integra-tion in the instrumentation domain, resulting in reducedcosts in engineering as well as operations and maintenancethrough better information access and management.

The SmartPlant offering for operations and maintenancecan expand these proven benefits across the rest of the assetdomains, including 3D models, isometrics and piping,

Project Cost Management Software

Decision DynamicsAnnounces Oncore Decision Dynamics Technology Ltd. announced the avail-ability of its Oncore real-time project cost managementsoftware for use by oil and gas companies, utilities andtheir contractors. Oncore (formerly known as TimeIndustrial) is the first application that tracks labor, equip-ment, materials and other costs for capital projects,

Operations & Maintenance

Intergraph AnnouncesSmartPlant for O&M

operations and maintenance by line item, provides robustanalytics for complex calculations such as comparative con-tractor performance, and makes all information available ina central repository in real time.

These features provide real-time visibility into projectstatus, help prevent overcharges, flag cost or schedulingproblems to allow timely corrective action, and eliminatelengthy reconciliation of contractor invoices and timesheetsto contract terms. Other benefits include reduced post-project audit costs, improved owner/contractorrelationships achieved through fewer invoice disputes, andincreased accuracy of future estimates based on historicalproject data maintained in the Oncore database. Oncore isavailable both as installed software and as an applicationhosted in Decision Dynamics’ data center.

“In traditional financial accounting systems, projectcosts are only reported at a summary level, managed againstfinancial G/L codes with little correlation to the work activ-ities performed, and tracked through contractor invoicesthat don’t arrive until 60 to 90 days after the work is done.This makes accurate root cause analysis, problem resolutionand proactive prevention of serious cost and schedule devia-tions virtually impossible,” said Andrew Jarman, VP ofTechnology, Architecture and Security, Decision Dynamics.“Oncore’s ability to track line items in real time is a majorbreakthrough in controlling costs as well as a wide variety ofother financial and performance issues.”

In one six-week Oncore pilot project, an oil and gascompany discovered $200,000 in duplicate charges forhours that had been billed on two different invoices. ERPsystems and other cost-tracking solutions check for dupli-cate invoices but cannot detect this kind of problembecause they do not track line items.

www.ddytech.com

PRODUCT NEWS



Design Collaboration Software

Autodesk DWF ComposerGets New Name, FeaturesThe latest release of Autodesk DWF Composer software hasbeen renamed to Autodesk Design Review. Adding a wealthof new features and functions in response to customerrequests, Autodesk Design Review 2007 software enhancescollaboration among global design team members. With sig-nificant advancements in its 2D and 3D review, measure andmarkup capabilities, Autodesk Design Review 2007 softwareintegrates tightly with all Autodesk design products to stream-line the review, markup and approval workflow process.

“Design Review 2007 allows us to publish ourAutodesk Inventor files with associated metadata, bill ofmaterials (BOM) and 3D animations that demonstrateassembly and disassembly instructions — all inside a com-pact and secure file,” said Fernando Paes, project managerfor IT and business processes optimization, Voith Paper, inSao Paulo, Brazil. “Autodesk Design Review greatly accel-erates the collaborative process between our designers andpartners, making the design-to-manufacturing processmuch more efficient.”

For a full list of new features, visit:www.autodesk.com/designreview.

Process Alert Systems

Emerson Enhances DeltaVin Version 8.4Emerson Process Management has released Version 8.4 ofDeltaV™ system software that includes enhancements tohelp users prevent abnormal situations. DeltaV digitalautomation systems are a core component of Emerson’sopen, standards-based PlantWeb® digital plant architecture.

With the new software release, standard HART®

device status information can now be used by predictivediagnostics that generate PlantWeb® Alerts. The uniquealerts and accompanying guidance help users take remedialactions that can head off abnormal situations in the plant.In addition, conditional alarming has been extended toFOUNDATION™ fieldbus devices, enabling the devicesto deliver critical predictive alarms for immediate attentionby operations staff to avoid unplanned downtime.

“Operators need to know when critical field devices arein need of attention and need not be bothered when devicesand processes are operating normally,” said Dave Deitz,director of marketing, DeltaV. “By extending our PlantWebAlerts to HART protocol devices, we can alert maintenanceand operations personnel to potential problems so as toavoid disruptions to the process. This extension of PlantWebAlerts to HART devices is significant for installed base cus-tomers who can now take advantage of hidden predictivediagnostics in all of their HART devices.”

“Similarly, by adding conditional alarming support forour analog Input, discrete Input, and PID function blocksfor FOUNDATION fieldbus devices, it is possible to sup-press nuisance alarms that interfere with attention to processoperations,” added Deitz. “Configuration of conditionalalarms’ ‘on’ or ‘off ’ delay times can significantly reduce thenumbers of nuisance alarms that are caused by temporarytransient conditions.”

www.EasyDeltaV.com/version84

P&ID diagrams, electrical schematics, equipment, plot plansand underground piping. Integration with popular ERP,maintenance, digital control systems (DCS) and reliabilitysystems can provide simple, flexible information access forall plant personnel via applications they already know.

SmartPlant for operations and maintenance providesrobust tools for multiple in-house project execution, associ-ated change management processes, research andtroubleshooting. Users can leverage existing investments inSAP NetWeaver and xApp integration technology, whichfacilitates efficient and thorough handover of change man-agement engineering information.

“Over the years, many leading Engineering/Procurement/Construction companies (EPCs) and Owner/Operators havechosen SmartPlant Enterprise solutions to satisfy their specif-ic plant engineering and improve plant performance. We arecommitted to continue providing customers with innovativetechnology_like this new SmartPlant offering for operationsand maintenance_that adds value to their legacy systems byproviding access to accurate, change management engineeringinformation,” said Gerhard Sallinger, president, IntergraphProcess, Power & Marine.

www.intergraph.com.

Autodesk also offers the latest DWF-file viewing andprinting updates in its free Autodesk DWF Viewer andWriter software. Collaboration customers can easily viewand print 2D and 3D designs on the DWF platform withan expanded choice of printing in black-and-white orgrayscale for more control over image quality and view-ing/markup of color drawings and maps, along withimbedded intelligent design information, including spe-cialized plug-ins for Solidworks 2005 and 2006,Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 2 and CATIA V5.

www.autodesk.com/dwfviewerwww.autodesk.com/dwfwriter


Ethernet Connectors

Ethernet Networking of RS-485 DevicesPhoenix Contact introduced a new device server that adaptsRS-485 serial devices easily to industrial Ethernet networks.The FL-Com Server RS-485 interface offers easy integrationof virtually any RS-485 device onto industrial10/100BASE-T(X) networks, therefore allowing access toany device with a serial port. The rugged FL-Com Serverhas a wide-range DC power supply, DIN-rail mounting,three-way isolation, surge protection and redundant powersupply capabilities.

Measuring just 22.5 mm wide, the server supports allcommon protocols, including TCP/IP, PPP, 3964R and thevarious Modbus protocols. The user can inquire on systemstatus, transmit visualization data, initiate program orfirmware downloads and perform remote maintenance. Set-up is done easily through popular Web-based browsers suchas Internet Explorer and Netscape Communicator. TheCOM Server is equipped with COM Redirector andFactory Manager software, which allow Ethernet access toserial devices on the network as if they were connected tolocal COM ports on a PC.

www.phoenixcon.com

Reservoir Modeling

Roxar’s IRAP RMS to Runon Windows 64-Bit Desktop Roxar announced that its flagship 3D reservoir modelingsoftware, IRAP RMS™, will operate on the Windows 64-bit platform. By operating on the Linux 64-bit, UNIX64-bit and Windows 64-bit platforms, IRAP RMS userswill enjoy increased data volumes (allowing reservoir mod-els to be built in greater detail), faster speeds and loweroperating costs – without compromising performance.

IRAP RMS comprises 14 fully integrated softwaremodules including mapping, modeling, planning andworkflow management tools and is designed to help geologists, reservoir engineers and geophysicists increaseproductivity from existing fields and to shorten the discovery-to-production lifecycle. It now runs in nativemode on all supported hardware platforms and operatingsystems, without the need for any additional emulationsoftware, such as Exceed, Nutcracker and Wine. As a

result, customers will benefit from lower operating costs,increased performance and improved workstation stabili-ty. IRAP RMS is also closely integrated with Roxar’sreservoir simulation solution, Tempest™, which oper-ates on the Linux, UNIX and Windows 64-bitplatforms, leading to a dynamic and closely integratedmodeling and simulation workflow.

Roxar CEO Sandy Esslemont observed: “While notevery E&P company is pushing for larger data sets, what isessential in reservoir modeling is that you don’t compro-mise on the data you are using and that you build yourreservoir models in as great detail as possible. It is inresponse to this key customer driver, as well as the needfor faster speeds and greater cost efficiencies, that Roxar isproviding E&P companies today with the very best inhigh performance, cost effective desktop reservoir model-ing. The result will be increased productivity and reservoirperformance from existing fields and a shortening of thediscovery-to-production lifecycle.”

www.roxar.com

Qimonda Helps ReduceData Center Energy Qimonda AG announced that comparative tests of memorymodules and analysis of actual data center energy costs showthat the low power consumption of Qimonda’s standardDRAM can save thousands of dollars in the annual energycosts of data centers.

Reduction in power saves energy costs in two ways,directly by reducing the energy used by the server and indi-rectly by reducing heat that must be managed by coolingsystems. Qimonda and Sun are working closely together toprovide low-power products and set industry benchmarksfor power saving performance in server applications.

Tests showed up to a 30% reduction in memory powerconsumption when combining Qimonda’s power efficientDDR2 Dual In-line Memory Modules with Sun’s break-through server system designs, demonstrated by platformssuch as the award winning Sun Microsystems Sun FireT2000 server. Based on an analysis of costs to power a typi-cal data center described at a recent industry conference,memory modules from Qimonda can save up to $70,000per year in energy costs. Qimonda’s power saving trenchtechnology reduces server’s energy consumption significantlyand at the same time enables server systems to incorporatehigher densities and maximize system performance.

“Sun and Qimonda have a clear focus on and

Hardware Energy Efficiency



Bolo Systems Releases NewExecutive Dashboard Bolo Systems of Lakewood, CO, announced the release oftheir new Web portal software application, the ExecutiveDashboard. Whether executives demand real-time access toproduction reports, AFE variants or lease operating state-ments, Executive Dashboard is designed to provide E&Pexecutives and operations personnel instant access to keyperformance reports to support their decision makingrequirements. By providing dynamic access into an organization’s back office, executives can monitor changingbusiness performance across various parts of their organiza-tion from their desktop.

This first version of Executive Dashboard containsWeb-based navigation to an organization’s production, landand accounting data. It comes with a series of pre-built KeyPerformance Indicator reports, as well as the ability forusers to customize their own commonly used reports.Depending on the area of interest, executives have the abili-ty to query data from a company-wide summary level orthey can drill down to desired details like transactions tiedto a single well. In addition, data accessed may be graphedor downloaded to other applications for further use.

www.bolosystems.com

Business Intelligence Software

Surge Protectors

Reliable Surge Protectionfor PROFIBUS SystemsPhoenix Contact's newest surge protec-tor provides reliable protection forPROFIBUS systems, even in the small-est spaces. At just 35mm high, theD-UFB-PB is ideal for use in the latestgeneration of Siemens PLCs. It isdesigned for PROFIBUS-DP applica-tions with data rates up to 12 mbps.Surge protection is integrated into thefieldbus connector, saving space. ThePROFIBUS cable connects directly tothe surge protector, so there is no needfor an additional protective device to beinstalled to the PROFIBUS connector.

The nine-position D-SUB plug combines a reliablesurge protection circuit with an easy-to-install screw clampterminal block, color coded for termination of PROFIBUScables. The termination resistor is easily activated with a slideswitch at the connector, saving installation and start-up time.

“Communication systems such as PROFIBUS are acritical part of a customer's operation, and downtime isunacceptable,” said Ed Doherty, product marketing man-ager for Phoenix Contact's TRABTECH surge productline. “Damaging surges can travel on signal lines, and weare pleased to offer a product that provides ease of installa-tion and best-in-class surge protection.”

www.phoenixcon.com

roadmaps for lower power products for the future,” saidKurt Doelling, VP, Worldwide Operations, SunMicrosystems. “The challenge of managing the energybudget of data centers must be addressed across the entiresystem design, and Qimonda is making a significant contri-bution by proving that its DIMMs deliver energy savings.”

www.qimonda.com

Fluid Flow Software

RW Miller Updates Flow ConsultantVersion 6.0 of RW Miller’s Flow Consultant™ PC soft-ware is now available after extensive review to include allcompetitive features and inputs from users. Also, uniquefeatures have been added, along with updates to all currentnational and international standards. All current FlowConsultant license holders are eligible for 50% discount toupgrade to Version 6.0.

Enhancements include:

ISA datasheet for Microsoft Excel™;Export to an ISA format Excel worksheet, or modify ISA datasheet for company-specific worksheet;Enhanced import/export functions;Import from and export to Microsoft Excel worksheets;Accuracy and uncertainty calculations;Estimated uncertainty is calculated, displayed and printed; Flow versus differential pressure table is displayed, printed and exported to Microsoft Excel;IAPWS exact formulation properties of water and steam;Restrictive Orifice Calculations (clamped or fitting); Enter the thermal expansion coefficient for pipe and primary element material not on the pick list; andFormulas for stress and straining (RC Rourk) are now programmed to compute allowable bending and plate thickness for restrictive orifice meters.

http://rwmillerengr.com/Flow Consultant Software.htm

UPSTREAM CIO NewsletterAdvertising Rates/Specifications 2006

By advertising in Upstream CIO, you have the unique opportunity to reinforceyour visibility to a captive audience of key subscribers. Your advertisementworks as a marketing tool long after the issue is in the hands of your potentialclients.

If you’re seeking to maximize your company’s exposure in the energy sector’sfirst information technology publications, you should advertise in UpstreamCIO, Each subscriber receives twelve monthly issues of Upstream CIO, andthe publication is used constantly as a source of information.

Advertising Sizes/RatesWebsite Advertising Size File Type Animation Price

www.UpstreamCIO.com - Top Banner 268 x 60 pixel GIF, JPEG Yes $400/monthNotes: Your banner will rotate with maximum of 3 other banners

Newsletter Advertising Size (Live Area) File Type Price

Full Page 7.5 (W) x 9.5 (L) PDF, EPS $950/ issue

Inserts (supplied by advertiser) 8.5 (W) x 11 (L) Hardcopy $950/ issue

1/2 page Horizontal 7.5 (W) x 5.0 (L) PDF, EPS $750/ issue

Inside Back cover 7.5 (W) x 9.5 (L) PDF, EPS $1350/ issue

Bleed 9.0 (W) x 11.5 (L) PDF, EPS 10% Extra

Color charge for hardcopy - - $150 ExtraNotes: The ad will be printed in black and white in Hardcopy and color in Electronic PDF.

Frequency Rate DiscountsFrequency Discount

4x 15% off above rates



Advertising in Upstream CIO



Upstream CIO Subscription

Upstream CIO (Please check one of the following) One Year (12 issues) – paper subscription $497 One Year (12 issues) - electronic subscription $497 Two Years (24 issues) - paper subscription $894 Two Years (24 issues) - electronic subscription $894

Subtotal

8.25% sales tax (if shipped to Texas address)

Total

Once you have subscribed you will be furnished a "user name" and "password" which will give you access to our updatedlead stories and "archive search" feature.

Name (please print): _________________________________________________________________________

Title: _____________________________________________________________________________________

Company: _________________________________________________________________________________

Mailing Address: ____________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

City/ State/ Zip: _____________________________________________________________________________

Phone: ___________________________________ Fax: __________________________________________

Email: ____________________________________________________________________________________

Check enclosed Please send an invoice

Please charge my: Amex Visa Master Card Discover Diners Club

Card number: ______________________________________________ Exp. ____________________ Full Name on Card: __________________________________________________________________

Fax completed form to 713-952-9526Make checks payable to Zeus Development Corporation

Mail to: Zeus Development Corporation, 2424 Wilcrest, Suite 100, Houston, TX 77042 Ph: 713-952-9500 Fax: 713-952-9526 [email protected]

Options:

Subscriber Information

Method of Payment