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Success Story
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Appro Powers Oil and Gas Imaging for Staag |
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Download this Success Story -----
Appro Powers Oil and Gas Imaging for Staag:
The Problem
As the price of producing a barrel of oil continues to skyrocket and demand continues to outpace supply, oil and gas companies today are looking at geographical resources they previously considered uneconomical for extraction sites. As new technologies such as seismic imaging make it easier for engineers to map underground oil deposits, companies like Staag Imaging are improving image accuracy and reducing the cost of extraction through new computing algorithms.
Staag Imaging, founded in 2001 and headquartered in Houston, Texas specializes in state-of-the-art depth migration algorithms. Its vast knowledge in 3D seismic imaging, proprietary algorithms and Linux cluster technology enables companies to maximize their investment and minimize risk as they explore for new oil and gas reservoirs. To run their new Reverse Time Algorithm and deliver a more accurate image to help companies reduce the costs associated with the drilling of dry holes, the company needed a more compute intense platform and began exploring 64-bit technology.
The Challenge
Reverse-time migration gives operators a new tool for tackling imaging problems related to geologic complexities such as steeply dipping or overturned structures, large velocity contrasts, and seismic energy illumination below and near salt. As a form of full two-way wave migration, reverse time migration correlates two separate wave fields to derive more robust images and more accurate velocity models. The technique is designed to deliver a superior final image compared to conventional depth migrations, which take mathematical shortcuts to minimize the computational requirements.
In addition to giving exploration companies a more in-depth depiction of subsurface conditions, the new algorithm will also allow significant savings in the finding of oil and gas. However, without more computing power, the algorithm would not be able to run in a meaningful time frame.
“The biggest obstacle we faced with our new Reverse Time algorithm was memory constraints in a 32-bit environment,” said Jim Haig, CEO of Staag Imaging. “We needed more memory and higher clock speed. By implementing a 64-bit solution, we knew we would be able to overcome those limitations.”
The Solution
Recognizing the need for a 64-bit solution to power the algorithm, Haig began the search for a technology partner and reviewed offerings from five leading enterprise computing vendors. After careful review, the company chose Appro based on their breadth of experience, superior solutions and ultimate value to meet the high computing needs of the new algorithm.
“Whenever you implement something there is always support issues and we liked the idea that they had a local presence,” said Haig. “They would be able to respond rapidly and Appro’s technology matched our need at the most competitive price. It was an easy decision.”
Appro enables a variety of network computing applications by developing powerful, scalable, and reliable clusters, servers, storage subsystems and high-end workstations for the high-performance computing (HPC), Internet computing and cluster market. Appro performed solution integration of seven Appro HyperBlade Linux clusters consisting of 500 nodes/1,000 AMD Opteron™ processors to run Staag Imaging’s compute-intensive applications.
“We chose the solution because had we stayed with the old cluster, the algorithm would not have run in a meaningful time frame,” explained Haig. “Without the new Appro installation with AMD Opteron implementation, it would not have been feasible to even run the new algorithm.”
Appro HyperBlade Clusters are a perfect example that the availability of powerful and fast “supercomputing” solutions at acceptable pricing points is changing everything in seismic data processing.
Right Time, Right Technology
For example, the performance-to-price ratio of technical computing has improved so dramatically that 3-D prestack depth migration algorithms are quickly becoming standard tools in the processing industry.
Only a few years ago, prestack depth migration was used only very selectively because the computational requirements to run the algorithms made them cost prohibitive for all but a handful of projects. However, with the advent of low-cost, yet powerful cluster systems such as Appro HyperBlade Clusters running on the Linux® operating system, prestack depth migration can now be run relatively quickly and affordably.
Incremental gains in computing performance and decreasing costs per compute cycle allows sophisticated 3-D migrations in the time domain. As with prestack depth migration, the basic reverse time migration calculations needed to crack the code of difficult geologic structures have been available for some time. The problem has been focusing enough processing power to run them economically. However, Appro HyperBlade clusters offers the ability to cluster flexible arrays of computing nodes into powerful, flexible distributed architecture allowing processors to efficiently scale up to handle demanding data processing tasks such as proprietary reverse-time migration algorithms.
The Appro HyperBlade AMD Opteron clusters provide optimized memory performance, improving system efficiency and application performance for computers running multiple applications at the same time or compute-intensive multi-threaded applications.
“We have had excellent success in employing Appro’s cluster solution with minimal downtime,” said Haig.
“The Appro cluster solution with AMD’s Opteron was a perfect match for our needs and enabled us to populate the nodes with the memory necessary to run our Reverse Time algorithm.”
Haig credits the solution with meeting their need for large amounts of memory and notes that Appro had their solution up and running in less than a week. Although they have had minimum issues with the solution, when issues did arise, Haig was impressed with Appro’s high level of responsiveness and ability to meet their needs every step of the way.
By deploying the solution, Haig estimates a 30 percent cost savings and notes that the cost savings, system expandability and the high power of 64-bit technology are making the biggest difference for his organization. For Staag Imaging customers with complex imaging challenges, the new algorithm will deliver a more accurate image enabling a reduction in costs associated with drilling dry holes. Haig credits the Appro solution as an integral component to organizational success and notes that “without the 64-bit technology and additional memory capabilities, our new algorithm could not be run at all.”
Concludes Haig, “High performance computing is a necessary part of our business model and without it, we would not be in business. The combination of Staag Imaging’s new Reverse-Time Migration and the power of Appro’s HyperBlade clusters provide the Oil and Gas industry the most advanced tool for solving complex imaging problems.”
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Appro is focusing its product design to address the HPC cluster
market and key customer requirements including system management,
high availability and price/performance for HPC applications.
Appro has shown the ability to win highly sought-after, large-scale
HPC deals positioning the company to benefit from strong market
growth that IDC projects through 2012.
Earl
Joseph,
IDC Program Vice President, Technical Computing
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Customer Quote
“Appro not only offered us a cost effective solution but
they also improved our required technical specification through
better reliability, greater fault tolerance and redundancy as
well as more flexibility with regards to system scalability.”
Bob Bell,
Technical Director, ING Renault F1 Team
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