Microsoft joins Energistics oil and gas forum

Ali Ferling, worldwide oil and gas industries managing director for at Microsoft, points out that Microsoft and its partners have huge proven experience in the global industry. He expects that ecosystem "to deliver the reference implementation of Energistics' standards", such as the wellsite information transfer standard markup language (WITSML) and production markup language (PRODML)". For him, it's all about standard platforms: "The oil and gas industry is undergoing massive changes," he observes. "By helping the industry adopt standards, Microsoft believes it can drive down cost by improving interoperability and building a platform for collaboration and communication." And he adds: "Our customers benefit when standards are implemented because their software prices decrease, interoperability increases and adoption hurdles are lowered. As a result, they will be able to better execute their E&P information sharing and business process integration strategies." Energistics was founded to foster collaboration in the oil and gas industry, and Microsoft to considerable experience – for example in developing a common platform in OPC (OLE for Process Control). "E&P companies are relying on development of standards such as PRODML to provide a common set of definitions and thus improve data exchange and work process efficiency," comments Catherine Madden, senior research analyst at IDC Energy Insights. "Companies that can help facilitate the development and deployment of open data exchange standards such as PRODML will play a vital role in ensuring the industry can maximize potential cost savings," she advises.