John Wilson began his career with Schlumberger – as a wireline
engineer in SE Asia. Subsequent work with reservoir engineering consultants
SSI and Sierra Geophysical preceded his joining Landmark in 1994. He was appointed
group VP marketing last year.
PDM – Landmark’s software has grown by acquisition
of Geographix, Teras and many others, yet the integration of all these is still
very partial. Will you ever get there? Wilson – Integration is a journey not a destination.
I remember the enthusiasm that greeted our first demonstration of G&G integration
in 1994 – we showed a geological cross section on a seismic backdrop. It was
mind-blowing! Of course, today, end users complain because ‘complete’ integration
is still not there. But we feel our Technical to Business (T2B) initiative goes
a long way to offering a new level of integration. PDM – But isn’t T2B another example of an unrealizable goal? Wilson – not at all. Take our work with Burlington for
example. We have customized our software to take data from 23,000 wells into
a production allocation system built from TOW components, and from there into
SAP. This system allows for monthly reporting, cuts checks, bills partners.
Currently this is achieved by a file transfer from TOW into SAP, but it will
evolve into a real time system, with integrated databases. This workflow encompasses
Aries, Teras, Tow and DSS. Marathon’s Renaissance project is also a move away
from ASCII file transfer, to an integration of Tow and SAP through master file
synchronization. This ensures single, one-time data entry. Marathon has bought
into this ‘bigger vision’ - to the tune of $1 million – incorporating TOW, DIMS
etc. Our Development Scenario Analysis, currently in beta test with Statoil
and BP is also relevant in this context. DSA evaluates options for oilfield
development, performs project economics with Aries, Tow and our G&G software.
We look at customers’ projects and identify ‘go - no go’ decision points. Teras
contributes stochastic economics, notably from the Teras ‘cockpit’ - supported
by the ‘uncertainty collator’ which collects statistical data from applications.
This is web-based so that applications can reside in different locations. Landmark
has also just acquired the software assets of Exprodat for $ 1.66 million and
here again there will be more activity around data management and other facets
of T2B. PDM – Although the top brass pitch is full of T2B, on the
shop floor, we still hear complains of poor ergonomics and buggy software. Bob
Peebler referred to fixing these as ‘gardening’ in a previous interview. How
is the gardening going today? Wilson – We have very significant expenditure on supporting
existing products, but it is surprising how little functionality of some applications
is really used. We are in touch with the market, we continually strive to innovate
– it can be a trap to put too much effort into maintenance. We have spent a
lot of time looking into customer needs and have built our business on being
visionaries. Landmark leads where others follow! The end users are our constituency,
we have to keep them happy! In fact we spend what I think is a disproportionate
amount of our effort tracing Operating System versions, Oracle releases and
other embedded software changes. PDM – What of ASP? Wilson – ASP and DSP* is a complex problem which necessitates
clients reengineering their business. Our current software release is ASP-ready
(except for EarthCube) and this should reduce infrastructure costs. We plan
to leverage such technology to move our software from ‘just in case’ functionality
to ‘just in time.’ We are re-inventing Landmark’s IM systems and ASP and DSP
will be components of the new offering. PDM – But if ASP is to lower the cost of software
to end users, this will make for less money for innovation and development. Wilson – We see two ASP value propositions – it offers
timely delivery of applications and data, and supports virtual teamwork. This
could all be deployed internally. Take BP for example – where virtual teams
link operations in Brazil to experts in Sunbury. PDM – So this is a different ASP from the GeoNet
model? Wilson – We could go through an external provider but
at the present time we do not, because our customers have not asked for it.
Our ASP provision exists within our clients companies. PDM – How do you sell your software – as supporting
cost savings or as leveraging business processes? Wilson – There are indeed two marketing paradigms –
cost avoidance and value creation. We are successful in selling value creation
to the top brass in an oil company, but at the operational level – the people
with the checkbooks, we still have to demonstrate savings. PDM – What of the new kids on the block who claim
that the incumbents’ code is hopelessly outdated? Wilson – We are reacting to this and moving our code
to platform independent Java and web-based middleware. Our Decision Space product
will benefit from a more modern infrastructure. We are also working on a re-write
of our legacy code. Our Release 2003 (which will be released to manufacturing
Q2/Q3 2001) is planned with a long shelf life – to give our customers time to
adapt. The migration process has been likened to open heart surgery – we are
working on tools to make it simpler. *ASP - Application Service Provision, DSP
- Data Service Provision © Oil IT Journal - all rights reserved.Click here to comment on this article
Click here to view this article in context on a desktop