Last week, several Data Gumbo team members had the opportunity to attend and network at the Energy Conference Network’s Edge Computing Technologies in Oil & Gas conference. Now in its fourth year, the conference unites energy operators, service companies, telecommunications, analysts, edge and IoT solution providers to look at developments and advancements in the edge-related technologies that are shaping the future of the industry.
With a recent growth of connected devices across the energy industry, both operators and service companies are turning to flexible infrastructures to manage data, unlock predictive maintenance and leverage new insights to reduce inefficiencies and mitigate safety risks.
Hot topics at this year’s conference included dissecting how COVID-19 has accelerated tech investment for the industry, how edge technologies are driving real-time responsiveness via diagnostics and maintenance at the source - particularly for drill rig maintenance, pipeline monitoring, well maintenance and inspections; and integrating and enhancing the connectivity of legacy equipment.
With boots on the ground, Maxine Aitkenhead, Business Development Director at Data Gumbo, said that her three learning takeaways from attending were:
First, it was interesting to learn about cases made in cloud and edge computing that advocate for using blockchain technology to create trust and to avoid air gapping of data and controls. Second, change management is one of the biggest pain points for edge technology adoption in energy. Third and last, that smart contracts can improve processes and aid in creating meaningful insights from aggregated field data captured at the edge.
Tom Roush, Account Manager at Data Gumbo, also attended the conference and was most excited about the opportunity that exists surrounding computing power and data:
Edge devices have more computing power now than ever before and edge device makers are looking for new ways to use all that extra in-depth data – a great opportunity for tying edge technology into a smart contract network. Customers can access data from edge processes but that data is meaningless unless it can be applied to improve business processes like commercial transactions.
The last member of the Data Gumbo team, John Josserand, Senior Account Executive, found:
Attendees’ most commonly discussed pain points involved the steep learning curve
that accompanies edge technologies with many finding a start early and fail fast
pathway. My main takeaway from attending was that it’s not all about sensors and that software plays a key role. As well, efficiency, the reliability of data and cost-savings are always top considerations.
To discuss any of our takeaways or to have an in-depth conversation about marrying edge computing with smart contract technology, we’d love to talk to you! Reach out to our team here.
