Landmark
Graphics enables energy sector to predict future oil requirements
by using Intel Itanium 2 processors
Posted: 22 March 2004
Software specialist for the oil and gas industry optimises exploration
application using Intel Energy Competence Centre in Abu Dhabi, UAE
Intel announced that Landmark Graphics Corporation, the leading
provider of software and services for the oil and gas industry,
has optimised its oil exploration application for the Intel Itanium
2 processor. The high-performance optimisation of VIP, Landmark’s
reservoir simulation suite used by approximately 30 per cent of
the world’s energy companies, will enable organisations to
better predict future reserves.
Utilising powerful Intel Itanium 2 processor-based servers at the
Energy Competence Centre in Abu Dhabi, which was established by
Intel and IBM* to improve software specific to the oil and gas industry
in the Middle East, Landmark’s VIP application was optimised
to better simulate vast oil reservoirs. VIP will enable geoscientists
to more accurately predict future reserves, as well as time and
scale of oil production. The improved performance of Landmark’s
VIP application was made possible through optimising the software
to take full advantage of the Intel platform’s high memory
capacity.
“When undertaking oil reservoir simulation, you’re
virtually predicting the future and have to account for a huge range
of variables,” said Dr. John Killough, Senior Research Fellow
of Research and Development at Landmark. “As a result, the
energy industry is increasingly turning to the high performance
and vast memory capacity that Intel Itanium 2 processors deliver
to handle the massive data volumes critical to such projects. VIP’s
optimisation to Itanium 2 architecture means that jobs that previously
took weeks to complete can now be turned around in a couple of hours,
significantly increasing time-to-market and translating into real
cost-savings for energy companies using the software.”
Landmark’s VIP software was optimised at Intel’s Energy
Competence Centre using a cluster of Intel Itanium 2 processor-based
servers, enabled with a Myrinet switch that scaled between 6 and
38 nodes, to ensure it had the capacity to run the most complicated
tasks. This high-performance platform allows Landmark software to
run vast reservoir replicas of virtually unlimited size and has
significantly reduced the timescales for individual full-scale reservoir
modelling tests.
“The Intel Energy Competency Centre in Abu Dhabi was set
up to provide a hi-tech facility that all companies can use to optimise
IT solutions for the energy sector,” said Ramzi Abdul Baki,
Intel’s Business Development Manager for the energy sector
in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa. “Our focus is to give
full support to our customers and, by providing state-of-the-art
platforms, such as the Intel Itanium 2 processor-based server clusters,
ensure that the oil industry in the Middle East and beyond has access
to world class solutions that will support its development for years
to come.”
“Intel has a particularly strong track record of working
with companies that deliver IT solutions to the energy industry,”
said Tom Garrison, Director of Enterprise Marketing, Intel EMEA.
“Our work with Landmark further builds on this tradition by
utilizing the powerful industry-leading resources at Intel’s
Energy Competency Centre. Ultimately, the high performance enabled
by Landmark’s software optimization for Itanium 2-based processors
will enable the energy sector to locate and extract oil faster and
more effectively.”
About Intel
Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, is also a leading manufacturer
of computer, networking and communications products.
For more information see www.intel.com.
Posted by Richard Price,
Editor Pipeline Magazine
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