A Santos drill rig in the Cooper Basin
Datacom has had a long term ongoing relationship with Santos over the past three years. This expertise and experience in the market meant that Datacom was approached to help meet Santos meet its high performance computing and storage requirements surrounding the exploration of oil and gas reserves.
The Challenge
Using an array of sensors and seismographic equipment, Santos’ geoscientists analyse vast amounts of data to determine where it should drill. Unfortunately, the geoscience team’s ability to complete its task had been limited by the performance of their previous storage environment. The recent fluctuations in the price of oil also meant that the solution needed to be cost effective, and produce a decent return on investment.
The Datacom Difference
Datacom was engaged to produce a new storage system that could handle and organise the vast amount of data being produced by Santos’ exploration. Datacom identified Dell Storage as the recommended platform for Santos’ High-Performance Computing needs in partnership with Intel, and worked with all parties to develop geoscientific specialised applications.
Datacom’s specialists delivered a highly technical solution that covered a number of different technologies; high-performance computing, Internet of Things sensor based arrays and Big Data analytics, all running on high performance, scalable storage to match. A highly technical solution, Datacom helped make it a seamless experience for Santos. Our main goal was collaboration, creating a consistent approach across a multiple vendor solution, and most importantly, meeting budget.
Results
The multi-million dollar project was delivered on time, on budget and is already producing results. Working with Santos’ geoscientists, a system was produced that could quickly access the data collated, increasing their workflow efficiency instantly, benefiting the company as a whole.
The greatest efficiencies have been realised in having a single storage partition. This means that seismic processing no longer requires repetitive small runs with a disk clean-up required between each. Lustre means Santos can handle the whole processing job in one hit.
Most importantly, Datacom ensured that the project met specification, and the quality of the operation was such that Datacom was awarded in 2016 Dell’s Global Solution Win of the Year - Internet of Things.
“The Datacom Project Team have demonstrated a willingness to understand business drivers, collaborate on ways to meet objectives, act in an open and honest manner and above all keep Santos informed of issues that may affect the project. Above all a very positive experience.”
Daniel Lee, Project Manager, Santos Ltd