Based on their analysis, El Paso realized that although they had enough licenses to meet actual needs, they needed the user community  to stop the “perpetual checkout” behavior.Using Open iT® metrics in a report, they provided their user community with insights into the issue so they could change.

In the second case, as a part of their effort to reduce software maintenance costs, El Paso Corp. assessed a large number of licenses used by Geoscience and Engineering. By examining the license usage data provided by the Open iT® reporting module, they realized they were over-licensed in certain areas of their software suite. By looking at the“productive use” of various software items, they discovered a significant portion of underused licenses and features.

As a result of  their investigations El Paso Corp. was able to eliminate several hundred thousand dollars of yearly software costs, savings which far outstripped their investment in the Open iT® tool.

2.    “Don't rely on classroom training to change behaviors.” Cramm says surveyed business managers want to 1) get optimal performance out of their current technology, and understand its capabilities and opportunities 2) “make IT-enabled strategy and invest responsibly, 3) deliver complex solutions, and 4) learn how to work with IT.” Open iT’s resource management tools deliver exactly the mix these leaders are looking for to get optimal efficiency and performance from their hardware, software and most importantly, their users.

3.    “Empower people to fulfill their IT-related needs on their own.” Helping users generate their own reports, and making configuration tools for defining data values, screen layouts, and process flows available was second and third on Cramm’s list for empowering people to meet their own IT needs. Open iT’s software has an easy-to-use interface for making reports, where the user can define their own data values, process flows, and report outputs. The fourth point for empowering workers entails teaching leaders “how to fulfill key project roles, starting with designing business processes, defining high level requirements, managing change and, over time, building the capabilities necessary to directly managing projects and larger scale programs.” All of these points would be much easier to accomplish using Open iT’s software to see trends and get an overview of how employees are using IT resources.

4.    “Provide incentives for the right behavior.” Cramm says to provide positive rewards for desired IT usage behavior and punishment for unproductive behavior. She suggests having tools for self-service available for free while charging for services users still require the IT department to provide. Again, Open iT tools used for chargeback could help with charging for services users continue to delegate to IT. Finally Cramm points out the use of peer pressure to broadcast the achievements of workers who are demonstrating desired behavior.

Cramm concludes that with self-sufficiency as a key focus for IT, in time, business managers will lead independently with IT-enabled innovations. Once daily support from the IT department becomes a thing of the past, IT-enabled growth and development by the rest of the workforce will accelerate greatly.

Mr. Roberts will speak about Gaining Usage Transparency with Open iT. He will highlight how EL Paso Corporation has used Open iT usage metering software to achieve usage transparency, and the optimization benefits that flow from having usage knowledge. Open iT, Inc. is an exhibitor at the event, so drop by our booth in the exhibit area.

Last year, the conference drew in over 500 personnel from over 100 companies located in over 20 countries.  This conference continues to be the cornerstone event for those involved in all aspects of petroleum data and information management in the upstream side of the petroleum business enterprise. Noted for its highly professional technical program and panels, the event receives rave reviews each year and keeps growing.   Best practices, solutions, and innovation have been trademarks of this annual event in Houston.  The exhibits are a place for sharing, learning, seeking out answers and services from global providers, and networking during the event. 

The conference will be held at Renaissance Houston Hotel, Greenway Plaza, Houston, Texas. For more information about the conference, please see: www.pnecconferences.com/ .

Open iT software meters, analyzes and optimizes usage of IT assets,  for internal chargeback based on actual use, and for identifying true IT asset needs. Open iT is a proven optimization solution for high-end computing environments in a range of industries worldwide.

For more information about the conference please visit www.coe.org and come see us at Booth #202.

Eistein Fosli, Open iT Founder and CEO, says the revenue will be spent to grow the company further in order to offer even better products & services to customers. “This is a good time to rapidly increase our staff and our yearly sales for the benefit of customers, employees and shareholders,” he noted.

Collecting and comparing resource usage from a variety of sources is especially important in these days of virtualization. Mr. Fosli elaborated this using a scenario with 10 virtual license servers serving the same license 10 times, and demonstrated how using Open iT to meter software usage adds an additional level of security. License usage data collected is digitally signed and non-alterable, which is essential in pay-per-use agreements. Mr. Fosli concluded his presentation by pointing out that companies who save money on software expenses and make gains in business efficiency are loyal customers to IT vendors.

Gulf Research conducted a qualitative web survey of female executives in the oil patch, and concluded that “we should include a balance of women and men in all groups and organizations including task forces and leadership levels.” Open iT welcomed this idea long ago and encouraged female employees to breech the barrier to holding leadership positions, as well as to change the public perception of what gender-role attitudes and leadership entails. For more information about the survey and the conference, go to www.aapg.org/explorer/2009/01jan/women.cfm .

“We understand that relevant information on business credit can be a critical prerequisite for decision-making...especially in these days of global crisis.”

-Honeyleth Ferreras, Sales & Marketing Open iT, Inc.

Mr. Fosli’s seminar was entitled “Current Trends in I.T.”. His main focus was on business intelligence, including topics such as:

- Collecting raw data, interpreting information from the data , and using this to make informed business decisions

- Software capabilities such as reporting errors, self-correction and learning

- Virtualization and Cloud computing

- Customized programming -> shrink-wrapped software / SAAS (software as a service)

Less is More

The highlight of the presentation was “Green I.T.”- a concept where big business conserves resources.  Open iT has developed software modules that help companies cut down on energy consumption and environmental waste.  These highly flexible software tools are used in analyzing and optimizing I.T. resources in large organizations. Several companies have already achieved greater efficiency by cutting costs on software purchases and maintenance. The trend for Green I.T. will continue to grow as companies fight for every competitive advantage during the current economic downturn. In the future, companies will need to continue to be “lean and green” as they and consumers increase their awareness for responsible, sustainable resource use globally.

As an expert business software provider for large organizations with complex IT infrastructures, Open iT reduces the cost and complexity of managing corporate IT assets with capabilities such as software license management on Windows, UNIX / Linux, metering of license managers, application servers and user licenses, IT Asset optimization, as well as supporting server and storage virtualization and consolidation.  

Open iT Founder Eistein Fosli has established a strong alliance with Microsoft in directing its business goals towards maintaining the highest quality of IT usage metering and optimization. The Gold Certified Partner Official Recognition is further proof of Open iT’s competency in developing and marketing packaged software solutions based on Microsoft technologies.

Open iT’s leading products are License Analyzer, License Optimizer, Application Tracker, System Analyzer, Storage Analyzer, Usage Analyzer and Database Reporter. These are delivered as separate modules, a data warehouse, and a shared report writer. Open iT software measures and reports on how individuals or groups use applications, servers, storage, databases and services across an enterprise. Web-based reports document usage and identify when resources have been over- or under-purchased. These are also prime modules in planning and auditing IT expenditures. From large oil companies to telecom and healthcare organizations, Open iT customers are saving money and managing their license compliance by measuring and reporting on how they use important IT resources.  

Given the current economic climate, cost optimization has become a key initiative in many organizations. Open iT Software has increasingly been used for metering usage of high-end geoscience applications in more companies that see the need to comply, optimize or chargeback IT resource usage.

Open iT targets to help aerospace and aviation industry meet the challenges of managing IT and Software costs by metering usage. Come and visit us at booth N1 for more information. Massimo Dal Vecchio- Biz Dev Head for Open iT Europe will also share his expertise on this topic at “ Meet the Experts” open seminar, scheduled on the 2nd day of the expo, 11:20-11:55 AM in Seminar Room B.

This expo has been organized by Aviation Industry Group. For more information, please visit http://www.aviationindustrygroup.com/aig/Exhibitions/AirlinePurchasing/MeettheExperts/tabid/292/Default.aspx

See you there!

The speaker will present case studies and examples and describe how companies have been able to cut costs and increase user and asset efficiency by introducing software usage capabilities and cost optimization programs in software asset management.

The 2009 Digital Energy Conference theme will focus on the merging of E&P with IT and the impact it is having on the way we do business, acknowledging that results are a combination of people, processes and tools.

The Digital Energy Conference was chartered to work at the intersection of computing and communications technology with the upstream oil and gas business. This is a rapidly developing intersection, which has grown progressively with over 750 attendees and 50 exhibitors at last year’s conference.

For more information about the conference, please see: www.digitalenergy2009.com/

Open iT software meters, analyzes and optimizes usage, giving management an overview of which IT assets are being used, by whom, and for how long. Open iT enables management to optimize usage of IT assets, implement internal chargeback based on actual use, and to identify true IT asset needs. Open iT is a proven optimization solution for high-end computing environments in a range of industries worldwide.

For more information about the conference please visit www.coe.org

See you at Booth #218!

Oslo, Norway:

Date: April 20-22nd

Modules covered: Open iT Base Professional, Analysis Server, LicenseAnalyzer, LicenseOptimizer, SystemAnalyzer, StorageAnalyser, UserAnalyzer

This training will include optional certification exam.

To Register or inquire, please email us at info@openit.com or call us at +47 22 20 40 50

Price Information

Costs: $745 per day per person. If more than one person attend the training from the same company, the price for the second person is $645 per day, the third person $545 per day, the fourth and more person $495.

About the Program:

Open iT's training classes are informal and practical. We adapt all sessions according to our participants’ experience level. This scenario will make sure everyone is on board during the training - although we may go out on a deep dive occasionally.

We use reporting examples and exercises throughout the class, in addition to the dedicated reporting sessions. The training program does not typically cover all Open iT modules. Participants are encouraged to contact Open iT beforehand and inform us what modules you would like us to cover in full and less details. Adjustments can be made according to the participants’ preferences.

Participants are not required to have an immediate and previous experience with the Open iT modules (don't worry, we've all been there). However, it is an advantage if the participants have a good understanding of what it would like to achieve using reports in their organization.

We will provide a demo environment wherein participants can experiment with the different types of reports and reporting processes. Participants are encouraged to bring their laptops – they can work on them during classes. If you don’t bring a laptop, please inform us ahead of time so that we can provide you one (as needed).

Technical Requirements:

For the web browser, we recommend all participants to use the Internet Explorer for highest compatibility. Other web browsers will work, but they might not access all Open iT’s features and tools.

We also entail the following:

• Sun Java must be installed on your PC / Mac. For more information, please click here:

• You must be able to modify your “Trusted sites zone” in Internet Explorer (or other trust/security settings using your desired web browser). Internet access will be provided, however, participants are responsible for any firewall or antivirus setup to their laptops.

Topics Covered in the Training / Training Outline:

• Open iT Introduction and Architecture

• Open iT Reporting Environment

• Data Description and Advanced Report Creation

• Analysis Server Enterprise Edition

• Open iT Toolset

• LicenseAnalyzer

• ApplicationTracker

• LicenseOptimizer

• SystemAnalyzer

• StorageAnalyser

• UsageAnalyzer

• Third Party Tools and Utilities

• Installation and Administration

• Groupings and Mappings

• Web Integration

• Preparation for the Exam

• Certification Exam (optional)

• The Road Ahead

Ms. Stenseth will speak about; Software Usage Metering and Optimization: Smart ways to cut costs and improve user efficiency in an economic downturn

The speaker will highlight recent case studies from E&P organizations illustrating how they have cut costs while improving user support and efficiency.

Most E&P organizations, especially in times of economic downturn, find it difficult to allocate time for administrating and optimizing software assets. While it is a common objective to harvest under-utilized software resources or inactive licenses, there is rarely time to manage the license optimization plan throughout the year. A good example of best practices in this area is to harvest inactive licenses automatically: Inactive software licenses are programmatically freed up and reclaimed by more active users. This gives a high ROI for companies that are running close to capacity level on their applications or are approaching renewals of their agreements and can cut back on licenses that are not in active use.

Last year, the conference drew in over 500 personnel from over 100 companies from over 20 countries. This conference continues to be the cornerstone event for those involved in all aspects of petroleum data and information management in the upstream side of the petroleum business enterprise. It receives rave reviews each year and has grown in size since 2002. The event is noted for its highly professional technical program and panels. Best practices, solutions, and innovation have been trademarks of this annual event in Houston. The exhibits have annually sold out and have been a place for sharing, learning, seeking out answers and services from global providers, and networking during the event.

The conference will be held at Renaissance Houston Hotel, Greenway Plaza, Houston, Texas. For more information about the conference, please see: www.pnecconferences.com/

Come see us at booth #273 (with Dolphin Interconnect/Numascale) and booth #1021(with Sun Microsystems and GridGateway) in Austin and see why metering usage of your high performance IT resources is a smart thing to do!

Meter usage – Yihaa!

Information on SC08: sc08.supercomputing.org

CIOs are increasingly asking: Can we do more with less? What have we already purchased? What are we actually using? How are we are using it? Can IT resources be shared between sites? Can we get rid of software licenses that are not in use? Do we really need another server, before we know if we have spare capacity in our existing servers? Can our IT resources be deployed more efficiently? This boils down to knowing who are using what, where and when?

It sounds complicated to collect such data, but running the Open iT usage metering software on your system – it be Windows, Linux or UNIX - will give you the answers quick and easy. Running in the background, Open iT will collect, archive, process and report on IT usage.

On the software side Open iT LicenseAnalyzer will meter usage on who are using what applications, where and when – from the enterprise level and down to the individual user. Open iT ApplicationTracker can tell if checked out applications are actively used or just left idle by the user. Open iT LicenseOptimizer can freeze inactive software licenses, check them back into the license pool and make them available for other users.

On the hardware side Open iT SystemAnalyzer will monitor trends in server utilization, and ensure that you use what you have before you purchase new servers. Open iT StorageAnalyzer will do the same for disks. And by the way; our solutions work both in physical and virtualized environments.

Open iT solutions are about reducing waste, reducing cost, and to do more with less IT! This is nothing more than bringing sound economic principles into the IT environment. Like paying maintenance for software that you never use – that’s the last you would want to do in an economic recession!

Recession ahead – Open iT can help!

International Association of Information Technology Asset Managers, Inc. (“IAITAM”) is the professional association for individuals and organizations involved in any aspect of IT Asset Management (“ITAM”), Software Asset Management (“SAM”), Hardware Asset Management, and the lifecycle processes for IT Asset Management in organizations of every size and industry across the globe.

This year IAITAM Conference & Exhibition will focus on the how’s and the why’s on managing IT as a business by presenting examples of best practices that participants can take back and use immediately to bring value to their organizations. Each of the 12 tracks is designed as a walk-through of Asset Management Programs and is presented by IT Asset Managers that have succeeded in accomplishing the complex task of managing IT assets. For more information about the conference: www.iaitam.org/Annual_Conf.htm

Houston, TX

Date: September 24-25th 2008

Modules covered: Open iT Base Professional, Analysis Server, LicenseAnalyzer, LicenseOptimizer

To Register or inquire, please email us at info@openit.com or call us at +1 281 679 5009

We look forward to seeing you there!

Oslo, Norway:

Date: October 20-22nd

Modules covered: Open iT Base Professional, Analysis Server, LicenseAnalyzer, LicenseOptimizer, SystemAnalyzer, StorageAnalyser, UserAnalyzer

This training will include optional certification exam.

To Register or inquire, please email us at info@openit.com or call us at +47 22 20 40 50

Price Information

Costs: $745 per day per person. If more than one person attend the training from the same company, the price for the second person is $645 per day, the third person $545 per day, the fourth and more person $495.

About the Program:

Open iT's training classes are informal and practical. We adapt all sessions according to our participants’ experience level. This scenario will make sure everyone is on board during the training - although we may go out on a deep dive occasionally.

We use reporting examples and exercises throughout the class, in addition to the dedicated reporting sessions. The training program does not typically cover all Open iT modules. Participants are encouraged to contact Open iT beforehand and inform us what modules you would like us to cover in full and less details. Adjustments can be made according to the participants’ preferences.

Participants are not required to have an immediate and previous experience with the Open iT modules (don't worry, we've all been there). However, it is an advantage if the participants have a good understanding of what it would like to achieve using reports in their organization.

We will provide a demo environment wherein participants can experiment with the different types of reports and reporting processes. Participants are encouraged to bring their laptops – they can work on them during classes. If you don’t bring a laptop, please inform us ahead of time so that we can provide you one (as needed).

Technical Requirements:

For the web browser, we recommend all participants to use the Internet Explorer for highest compatibility. Other web browsers will work, but they might not access all Open iT’s features and tools.

We also entail the following:

• Sun Java must be installed on your PC / Mac. For more information, please click here:

• You must be able to modify your “Trusted sites zone” in Internet Explorer (or other trust/security settings using your desired web browser). Internet access will be provided, however, participants are responsible for any firewall or antivirus setup to their laptops.

Pre-Program (optional, but will be free of charge for the participants):
We can conduct a sightseeing activity in Oslo/Houston (dinner included). This will start at 13:00 (the day before the training will commence).

Topics Covered in the Training / Training Outline:

• Open iT Introduction and Architecture

• Open iT Reporting Environment

• Data Description and Advanced Report Creation

• Analysis Server Enterprise Edition

• Open iT Toolset

• LicenseAnalyzer

• ApplicationTracker

• LicenseOptimizer

• SystemAnalyzer

• StorageAnalyser

• UsageAnalyzer

• Third Party Tools and Utilities

• Installation and Administration

• Groupings and Mappings

• Web Integration

• Preparation for the Exam

• Certification Exam (optional)

• The Road Ahead

Come see us at booth # 1066 in Las Vegas and see why metering is a smart thing to do!

“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas – except for your geoscience software usage metering solution!”

Information on SEG: www.seg.org

For more information about the conference, visit www.geo-india.com

At this conference you will have several opportunities to hear Open iT present; Eistein Fosli, Open iT Founder will talk about:Why metering matters: Enabling chargeback, Cost Control and High User and Asset Efficiency. The presentation will draw from several case studies of companies that have saved millions of dollars, and reaped benefits far beyond their initial expectations. Also, Signe Marie Stenseth, Vice-President, Open iT, will present a paper on: IT Usage Metrics for Rational Decision-Making and Improved Collaboration. She will focus on how usage metering can improve collaboration and effective communication between IT and the business units and between users themselves. In addition to these presentations, Open iT will conduct a workshop; Benefits of Usage Metering: Increased Accountability and Asset Efficiency. The workshop will focus around five business cases on how organizations benefit by introducing IT usage metrics into their environment. The ITFMA conferences, workshops and seminars continue to be the cornerstone events for those involved in all aspects where IT and Finance interact.

The IT Financial Management Association (ITFMA) was established in 1988 and founded the IT Financial Management profession at that time. ITFMA is the only association dedicated to this profession and provides a comprehensive education program on the principles and practices used to financially manage Information Technology (IT) organizations. ITFMA is the national leader in the education of IT financial management professionals and the only recognized provider of certification in the various financial disciplines of IT financial management. Their Journal of IT Financial Management is the only magazine devoted to issues of interest to our profession and their website (www.itfma.com) is the only site focused on research, surveys and publications in this field.

The conference will be held at Mission Inn Hotel and Spa, Riverside , California. For more information about the conference, please see: http://www.itfma.com