Altair SAO: Application for the Oil & Gas Sector

Altair’s Software Asset Optimization (SAO) solution supports a wide range of license management systems that can handle most of the software used in the oil and gas industry. The list of license managers includes FlexIm, Oracflex, Intergraph Smartplant, Sentinel RMS, Altair LMX, IBM LUM, DSLS, Beta CAE, LSTC, GNS, Moldflow, RLM, LICMAN and SLS.

The oil and gas segment, along with plant engineering, uses some very expensive software provided by companies like Schlumberger (e.g., Eclipse), Halliburton (e.g., Landmark systems and Geo-Logic), Orca, Intergraph Smartplant, Aveva, Aspentech, and so on. Aside from these domain-specific packages, these segments also use a vast variety of engineering software ranging from computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided engineering (CAE) tools to various statistical and mathematical analysis solutions.

In a challenging financial environment and volatile oil market, tracking software investments to ensure optimal usage of purchased inventory increases in importance. Altair’s SAO solution can play a significant role in helping information technology managers understand and optimize their company’s software inventory.

SAO provides software usage tracking of over 80% of the most commonly used software packages in the oil and gas industry.  Altair can also support additional license management systems where technically feasible. For example, Altair recently added the ability to track license usage for Orca software using a combination of a central license server and license dongles that could be moved to different computers.

Understanding software usage, including trends among offices and/or different departments, enables administrators to discover if they have ‘shelfware’ (software that is not used at all) or if they have software that is over-used.  In the latter case, administrators may need to adjust inventories to improve productivity with fewer denials.

A new simulation module of SAO will enable administrators to simulate the effect of license counts on performance, usage, denials, etc. Administrators will be able to more objectively predict required license levels if the number of users in the following year goes up or down. Stay tuned to the Altair SAO site and be sure to sign up for updates as new functionality becomes available.

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Alhad Joshi

Vice President, Enterprise Analytics Solutions at Altair

Alhad Joshi, Vice President of Global Enterprise Analytics Solutions, is responsible for pre-sales and consulting activities associated with Altair's business analytics portfolio. This entails business development and solution architecture guidance. Alhad has managed the development, support, and marketing of Altair's highly scalable and robust Software Asset Optimization (SAO) solution released as a commercial offering in 2012, as well as business intelligence applications for the utilities industry. During his 21-year tenure at Altair, Alhad has worked in software solutions and systems integration, developing solutions that capture best practices in product development and computer-aided engineering. Prior to joining Altair, Alhad worked as a senior developer on the finite element analysis of a printed circuit boards module, creating pre-through-post utilities and automation software.He holds a Master of Science from Ohio University and a Bachelor of Science from the Indian Institute of Technology – Bombay in Mechanical Engineering.

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