Oil IT Journal checked in with Halliburton/Landmark’s Michael Jones to hear how its OpenEarth community platform has developed since we last spoke back in 2016.
Oil IT Journal – What has the take-up been for OpenEarth?
Jones – As of June 2018 we have some 144 active development projects – many private and some public – driven by an OEC Community of nearly 1700 users from 240 companies.
Oil IT Journal – Remind us what the selling point of the platform is.
Jones – Our research of other industries led us to set up the open platform, along the lines of the automobile industry’s OAA global alliance that is bringing the Android platform to vehicles. We also realized that a successful platform needed to be open source and have support from the community, not just from a single vendor.
Oil IT Journal – What can Landmark do to persuade industry to work this way?
Jones – We already had an enterprise-scale platform in our DecisionSpace portfolio, which has ten years of R&D in connecting apps to data. OpenEarth would not have been possible otherwise. Now we are offering the platform along with the code base to the community so that they can interact with the platform as they wish. This has been a revolution for us!
Oil IT Journal – Really? Haven’t we been here before with OpenWorks and its API?
Jones – Yes and no. The big difference is that now the community has access to the source code, notably to DSIS, the DecisionSpace integration server. Users also get a complete online development capability with ‘continuous innovation/continuous deployment.’ This is a unique offering that includes several open source development tools.
Oil IT Journal – This is quite a departure from Halliburton’s previous stance!
Jones – We are a ‘vendor,’ and we have seen a degree of cynicism. We are keen to make it clear that others in the community that they own their own ideas and intellectual property. We have drafted a charter to set this out. We showed it to 13 majors, 12 signed up. Anadarko, Devon, Shell, Statoil, Total are on board. These companies organize the monthly meetings – we don’t set or own the agenda. Companies can invite third parties to cooperate on what can be private or public projects. The platform will evolve as an open source project, enriched with microservices. There is no single technical authority.
Oil IT Journal – But as oils add their own IP, will they be more or less amenable to sharing what they are doing?
Jones – I think that the industry is undergoing a shift of gear in respect of open source software. Witness Microsoft’s own embrace of open source.
Oil IT Journal – You mean Microsoft’s land grab!
Jones – You could say that!
Oil IT Journal – The ultimate test of the platform will be if Schlumberger joins.
Jones – We are open, although mindful of anti-trust behavior. OpenWorks already does data exchange with Petrel. The community has asked repeatedly for Schlumberger to join. They are welcome as far as I’m concerned!
More from the OpenEarth community home page.
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