At last month’s SEG in Calgary, PDM caught up with a very busy Eldad Weiss, chairman and CEO of Paradigm Geophysical. Our first question was about the headline deal between Paradigm and CGG...
PDM - what is the intent behind the deal?Weiss - There is a clear need for integrated reservoir characterization and we have noted the changing role of geophysics in this respect and we are now integrating our software across the different disciplines. Paradigm is cementing its position in this field by adding Flagship’s product line to its portfolio. Integral Plus is an important addition because of the corporate data management platform*.
PDM - but Integral Plus was given very little visibility by Flagship.
Weiss - Perhaps, but we think differently. We see Integral Plus as an important data integration tool with strong DM capabilities thanks to the central Oracle database. This may have been hard to incorporate in Flagship’s “plug-in” positioning. But we do not have the same view and will be building on this infrastructure. Moreover the Integral Plus datastore is built around the latest Oracle technology. Of course we also like StratiMagic’s elegant solution to a complex problem and will be leveraging this and other of our products with our latest application - Reservoir Navigator which lets you move through the whole reservoir dataset, with multi-attribute 3D data on disk. This technology allows roaming through massive datasets on disk with low cost hardware.
PDM - we titled our latest issue - CGG Paradigm Rapprochement - is this a fair appraisal of the current situation?
Weiss - Perhaps, but we have constraints on the degree to which we will let CGG move into our equity. CGG cannot increase its equity position on the open market and Paradigm has an option to buy-back. The deal is intended to cement our technological relationship.
PDM - Both organization are CORBA aficionados.
Weiss - yes we see eye to eye on leveraging CORBA integration and are expecting significant technology sharing - especially in the field of 4D/4C processing and reservoir characterization.
PDM - but there must be a significant amount of overlap and rationalization in the offing.
Weiss - We do intend to rationalize infrastructure. To me it is like the European auto industry. There the same basic chassis serves in a variety of models. It will be the same for our shared infrastructure. We are now the only integrated platform covering the whole spectrum from pre-stack seismics to interpretation. We are #1 in seismic processing software, #3 in interpretation software and #5 in processing. Moreover, our customers appreciate our independent viewpoint.
*PDM Note—Integral Plus was one of the first integrated interpretation suites to work from a central database.
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