OPEN SYSTEM WILL IMPROVE UPSTREAM COMPUTING EFFICIENCY

Cray Research is the first computer company to join Petrotechnical Open Software Corp. (POSC), a not-for-profit membership organization incorporated in 1990. POSC's goal is to develop an industry standard, open systems software-integration platform for upstream (exploration and production) computer applications in the petroleum industry.

Aug. 26, 1991

2 min read

Cray Research is the first computer company to join Petrotechnical Open Software Corp. (POSC), a not-for-profit membership organization incorporated in 1990.

POSC's goal is to develop an industry standard, open systems software-integration platform for upstream (exploration and production) computer applications in the petroleum industry.

The efficiency of computer-based upstream operations in the oil industry is compromised by different data formats and data base systems, in-house and commercially developed applications that do not communicate with each other, and workstations with specialized capabilities but differing operational requirements and application interfaces.

POSC's goal is to define specifications, application data access, and user interfaces that are general-purpose and vendor-neutral for the exploration and production (E&P) arena.

This goal is based on the belief that a standards-based, open systems environment will allow for efficient application of the new high-performance computing technologies available today. As a result, engineers and scientists can concentrate on solving petroleum problems, rather than on data processing and management.

"The platform we are developing will serve as an interface for petrotechnical software applications, data base management systems, workstations, and users," says Dan Turner, president of POSC.

"Specifically, our work will result in an integrated E&P data model, an application program interface for data access, a common look and feel user interface, and a set of test suites that will enable software developers to evaluate their offerings against selected industry standards."

Founding POSC sponsors include BP Exploration Inc., Chevron Corp., Elf Aquitaine Inc., Mobil Corp., and Texaco Inc.

Membership has grown to include other petroleum companies, major E&P service companies, large and small software/hardware vendors, and research institutions, many of which use Cray Research systems to run their petroleum-related computational problems.

Of Cray Research's 264 installed systems worldwide, 27 systems are used for petroleum operations and research.