While solutions providers wanted end-users to articulate their problems more clearly, end-users were looking for a clear roadmap from satellite solutions providers. The inaugural SatellitePro ME Oil and Gas Roundtable at the spectacular Yas Viceroy hotel saw a refreshingly candid exchange of views between satellite solutions providers and end-users in the oil and gas vertical.
The two-hour long roundtable followed by lunch was sponsored by Hermes Datacomms, Thuraya, Safa Telecom, Xsat Global and Cygnus Telecom. The roundtable saw a debate on all issues ranging from the extent of free trials for customers and value vs cost issues to criticality of SLAs and getting “that foot in the door”.
Moderator Martin Hughes of Hermes Datacomms kept true to this word and steered the discussion from any sales pitches ensuring that the exchange was about creating a genuine conversation between the IT/operations personnel from oil and gas companies and satcom service providers. “We want to get people for whom data and telecommunications is a vital part of their daily life to talk about what makes them happy or drives them insane – both suppliers and customers,” he had stated in an interview prior to the roundtable.
Significant extracts from the two-hour long exchange will be published in the December issue of SatellIePro ME. Slated as the first in a series of roundtables, participants were asked as to what they would like discussed in the next roundtable. End-users such as Laurent Claverotte of Total wanted to see case-studies analysed and Mohammed Dhamani of Borouge wanted the possibilities of Ka-band discussed.
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