Digital Energy: Beyond The Hype And Improving The Bottom-Line!
Authors: Schroeder Art J. 
Published: October 2008

Abstract
End to end connectivity from down-hole in the reservoir to the sales meter with integration on into the financial reporting systems has been envisioned for years. The combination of the billions of dollars invested in infrastructure and technology to prepare for Y2K issue, the billions more spent in new IT systems grown out of the mergers of many of the world's largest energy companies, and the dramatic drops in hardware costs and system capability - you would think we'd be there. While best practice examples of how to cost-effectively turn data into information you can use to make accurate, timely decisions are starting to emerge -there is still a gap between this vision of the future and the realities of today. The panel members will present some of these best practices and address issues such as;Value creation, through both cost cutting and rate and reserve growthdata integration, management and access, and standardizationreal-time, remote field monitoring and control - particularly focusing on security issuesworkflow processes and decision analysis and supporthow to over come barriers to commercialization Delivering light, heat and mobility to the world's six billion people in a cost effective, safe and environmentally friendly manner is the challenge - and digital energy solutions will be a huge part of the answer.
Session Chair - Art J. Schroeder Jr., CEO - Energy Valley, Inc.(Picture available in full paper)
Art Schroeder is CEO of Energy Valley, Inc., a company that provides money, marketing and management to advance energy related technologies. Art is also a principal and founder of The Energy Forum, LLC which specializes in energy event production and management. For over 20 years he has been responsible for operations, engineering, construction, environmental, health & safety, and crisis management within the petroleum sector. Through his career he has served on a number of industry and civic boards and published numerous technical papers.
Art was graduated from Ga. Tech with both a B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Environmental Engineering, and from the University of Houston with an MBA, major in Finance and International Business. He recently completed a one-year graduate level certificate program at University of Houston in eBusiness Management.
Co-chair; David Archer; CEO, Petrotechnical Open Standards Consortium (POSC) (Picture available in full paper)
David Archer is President and CEO of POSC, a position he has held since late 1997. In this role, he is the leader of the consortium with responsibility for its direction, operation and communication with both the POSC Community and the industry at large. Mr. Archer is a well-known industry spokesman - frequently playing the role of organizer, moderator and/or speaker in seminars and conferences.
Throughout his professional career, David has had strong interests in collaborative efforts across both disciplines and organizations. He has also been very interested in new technologies and has helped pioneer several for the industry - among these are graphical user interfaces, 3D visualization, XML and Web Services. The two themes of collaboration and new technologies have been central to his tenure at POSC.
David is a native Texan, and he holds MA and PhD degrees in Mathematical Sciences from Rice University as well as a BS degree in Mathematics from TCU.