The space industry concentrates on reliability for placing satellites into orbit. Developers of intelligent systems can learn from these established standards. Many of us take for granted the benefits of a common operating system on our computers that makes the purchase of sophisticated software tools affordable. It is doubtful that Microsoft Corp. will be developing software for intelligent systems anytime soon. However, adopting common software and networking standards can only improve the prospects for bringing intelligent systems to the masses.
Intelligent systems are here to stay.
They will play a bigger part in future hydrocarbon developments as certainly as technology has invaded every part of our professional and personal lives. With the cost of technology in free fall, and with healthy commodity prices for oil and gas, the incentives have never been greater for developers of these systems in the current market. Look for the innovation and progress presented in the following papers on intelligent systems to continue for some time to come. Jay Stratton, SPE, is Petroleum Engineering Team Lead for Anadarko Petroleum's Groupement Berkine partnership with Sonatrach in Hassi Messaoud, Algeria. He is working in the area of new well completions, stimulations, testing, and production surveillance.