Schlumberger Information Solutions (SIS) has acquired Norwegian visualization specialist VoxelVision. VoxelVision uses Linux clusters to manage, visualize and interpret 3D seismic data volumes.
Toma
SIS president Ihab Toma said, “VoxelVision’s turbo engine, coupled with our industry-leading applications, bring high-end visualization and seismic applications to a PC. This is the most cost-effective combination of interpretation applications and technology available today.”
Concurrent
VoxelVision’s technology runs applications as concurrent, multi-level dynamic parallel tasks. The visualization engine scales from single CPU to distributed cluster configurations. SIS’ first commercial offering incorporating the turbo engine, GeoViz 3D, will be released by year-end 2003. VoxelVision technology will become a key component of other SIS applications, such as Petrel and Inside Reality. Combined with existing SIS intellectual property, VoxelVision technology and seismic applications will form the foundation for ‘a new interpretation paradigm’.
Fjeld
VoxelVision founder Ola Fjeld added, “We started to explore this technology because we saw the need for applications that could take advantage of PC clusters. Incorporating the VoxelVision technology and expertise into SIS preeminent software offers tremendous opportunities for us to realize this vision on a global scale.” VoxelVision’s applications are OpenSpirit-enabled. Last year VV received a cash injection from Statoil’s venture capital arm, Statoil Innovations. Tests by Scott Pickford and Norsk Hydro (reported in Oil ITJ Vol. 7 N°s 7 and 11) have demonstrated the performance of Linux clusters for seismic autotracking and visualization of a massive 135 GB seismic volume.
Future visual
Fjeld earlier stated his belief that established vendors suffer from the need to be “backward-compatible with outdated ideas” adding “there is no longer any place for traditional line by line interpretation, The future is visual”. The move follows on the heels of Landmark’s acquisition of PetroBank from PGS, and SIS’ prior acquisition of Petrel—all illustrating the strength of Norway’s venture capital and software sectors.
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