Sensia’s Avalon Platform Eases Digital Transformation in Oil and Gas
June 13, 2022
Oil and gas companies can digitalize their operations with greater ease and on their own terms using the new Avalon automation and digitalization platform from Sensia. The cloud-native platform gives oil and gas companies a scalable, packaged solution for executing digital strategies. This can help save time, money and hassle compared to building a custom digital platform by selecting and integrating technologies from multiple vendors.
Sensia, a joint venture owned by Rockwell Automation and Schlumberger, is an automation specialist in oil and gas production, transportation and processing.
The Avalon platform is an upgraded and rebranded version of the ConnectedProduction platform from Sensia. It continues to serve the same function of helping oil and gas companies solve their top challenges by digitally connecting their operations. But the platform has also been enhanced to reduce obstacles to digitalization.
These new and improved features can help upstream to downstream companies:
- – Scale to need. The Avalon platform uses modules that allow users to start their digitalization efforts big or small based on factors like budget and business needs. For example, they can initially focus on assets that have the greatest need for improvement, and then add modules to expand digitalization to other assets.
- – Deploy with ease. While it can take several days to deploy a digitalization platform that’s built from multiple vendors’ technologies, the Avalon platform can be deployed in mere hours. This is because the platform automates aspects of the installation process.
- – Reduce CAPEX spend. A platform-as-a-service (PaaS) model allows users to pay for the platform as they go using OPEX budgets. This helps avoid the challenge of paying for digital initiatives with CAPEX funds.
“Many oil and gas companies are eager to digitalize their operations but are unsure of the best approach,” said Saeed Adeli, product manager, Sensia. “The Avalon platform provides a natural starting point. It reduces risk and work by giving you everything you need to digitalize, whether you’re starting with a single asset or your entire enterprise. You don’t need to deal with multiple data platforms, licenses, service agreements or technology roadmaps that can create challenges upfront and over time, which streamlines the process required to successfully execute your oil and gas digital strategy.”
The Avalon platform is open and vendor neutral, allowing users to deploy the platform without needing to overhaul their existing infrastructure and leverage investments they’ve already made in their digital journey. They can also migrate existing apps to the platform or customize apps within the platform for their specific visualization, alarming and data-reporting needs.
Because the platform is cloud agnostic, users can deploy it in the manner that best suits their digital strategy. It can be hosted on an on-premises, public or Sensia cloud. Users can also start with one cloud option and migrate to another option later.
Cybersecurity measures designed into the platform help users protect their data and operations. These measures, such as encrypted data and the limiting of users and services to minimum required permissions, are applied in a layered defense-in-depth security approach.
