Site to Foster Innovation in Oil, Gas Technology Development

In Silicon Valley, developers’ access to a lot of the open source capability has allowed for creativity and innovation. That environment is closed off the developers in the oil and gas industry. Coll believes that innovations such as the OEC can attract not just academics, but free-spirited visionaries who might go elsewhere.

Jones said the initiative is not about open source, but what Landmark calls open core. Through the initiative, Landmark will provide a platform substantially built on open source code. While capacity exists for quite a bit of open source code to be consumed, the industry is not ready for an unfederated open source environment.

“The model that we’re looking for here is much more of a Red Hat/Linux model,” said Jones. “At the point you want to consume the platform, you buy the platform as you would in any other space. The platform is simply a means to an end.”

Referencing a previous presentation at the conference importance of algorithms, Jones said that Landmark’s future business isn’t about the platform, but the smart stuff the company should do to drive innovation.

“The platform is the glue, and we need to provide a platform that everybody can and will contribute thinking to,” said Jones. That being said, it’s possible that, 10 years from now, the platform could be entirely an open source adventure.”