Panasas High-Performance Data Storage Supports Environmentally Responsible Energy Exploration at Magseis Fairfield

New case study highlights the benefits of high-precision reservoir imaging on the safe and cost-effective exploration of undersea reservoirs

SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Panasas®, a proven leader in high-performance computing (HPC) data storage solutions, today announced the release of a case study featuring the marine survey activities of Panasas customer Magseis Fairfield, a Norway-based geophysics firm that provides ocean bottom seismic acquisition services for exploration and production (E&P) companies. Magseis Fairfield deploys the Panasas ActiveStor® appliance for remote storage support in rugged off-shore environments around the world, where it acquires and stores large amounts of seismic 3D and 4D data used to create highly accurate reservoir models that help reduce the risk of drilling errors, avoid unnecessary disruption of natural sites, and streamline resource extraction.

Magseis Fairfield utilizes several generations of Panasas storage technology for offshore projects. Over the years, data requirements have grown from 250 terabytes (TB) per vessel to as much as 600TB. Combined, Panasas provides 1.6 petabytes (PB) of storage that supports a wide range of projects in regions including the Gulf of Mexico, the Red Sea, North Sea, West Africa, Caribbean, and South America. With its ease of installation, reliability, adaptability and low-touch management, ActiveStor is uniquely positioned to deal with the challenges of an offshore storage deployment.

“Part of the reason we’ve relied on Panasas for so long is that the solution and support they provide give us peace of mind,” explains Janie Garcia, manager of onboard processing at Magseis Fairfield. “Our storage solution must be robust enough to survive the offshore environment. The system is being accessed 24 hours a day and we require the flexibility to move equipment from one vessel to another and from one country to another. The storage system must be able to tolerate this type of constant handling. Even when we bring on additional data, Panasas still performs exactly as we would expect. We can count on the solution to handle everything we can throw at it. That helps us meet our deadlines and ensure that clients get the information they need.”

A single offshore acquisition vessel consists of 80 to 100 personnel – including navigators, geophysicists, and marine mammal observers. The geoscientists responsible for data collection need a highly reliable, low-touch storage solution since there is no dedicated IT staff on the vessel. ActiveStor features an intuitive, graphical management interface so even nontechnical personnel can perform maintenance and solve problems. In addition, Panasas’ 24-hour-a-day remote support ensures that an expert is always available should geoscientists need help troubleshooting.

“As an innovator in the seismic market, Magseis Fairfield is constantly looking for ways to optimize data acquisition operations and storage plays a key role in this effort,” said Jim Donovan, chief sales and marketing officer of Panasas. “Whether it’s supporting the acquisition of ever-increasing amounts of data or ensuring that consistently high performance is delivered, regardless of application, workload or number of users, crews using Panasas ActiveStor know they have the robust, reliable storage equipment they need to get the job done.”

To find out more about Magseis Fairfield’s advanced ocean-bottom node (OBN) technology and their groundbreaking patented Z node design for the safe and efficient acquisition of high-quality data, read the full case study here.

For more information on how ActiveStor can accelerate your time to business results, visit www.panasas.com.

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About Magseis Fairfield

Magseis Fairfield is the industry leader in ocean bottom seismic technology. Combining the resources and expertise of Magseis and Fairfield Seismic Technologies has created the industry’s most advanced and largest ocean bottom node (OBN) inventory. Backed by more than 40 years of experience, our innovative acquisition techniques and modular solutions have significantly streamlined seismic data acquisition. Magseis Fairfield is headquartered in Oslo, Norway and has offices in Sweden, USA, UK, Brazil and Singapore. For more information, visit www.magseisfairfield.com.

About Panasas

Panasas delivers high-performance computing (HPC) data storage solutions that support industry and research innovation around the world. Whether it’s building the next Dreamliner, winning a Formula One race, creating mind-bending visual effects, curing disease, or modelling climate change, the world’s leading companies trust Panasas to support their most innovative HPC projects. For more information, visit www.panasas.com.

Contacts

Katie LeChase

10Fold Communications

(585) 410-5199

Panasas@10fold.com