Deliverable D11.1 Optique Initial Exploitation Plan

Transcription

1 Project Nº: Project Acronym: Project Title: Instrument: Scheme: FP Optique Scalable End-user Access to Big Data Integrated Project Information & Communication Technologies Deliverable D11.1 Due date of deliverable: (T0+12) Actual submission date: November 22, 2013 Start date of the project: 1st November 2012 Lead contractor for this deliverable: Dissemination level: Duration: 48 months DNV PU Public Final version

2 Executive Summary: This document summarises deliverable D11.1 of project FP (Optique), an Integrated Project supported by the 7th Framework Programme of the EC. Full information on this project, including the contents of this deliverable, is available online at The document provides an Initial Exploitation Plan for Optique. Optique delivers new techniques and tools for data access, targeting in the first instance the industry sectors Oil & Gas and Energy. We outline how we will work to understand the market, prepare resources, develop services, and assist industrial enterprises in implementing the new paradigm. We give a preliminary assessment of the market that is likely to benefit from Optique, and describe the Optique Partner Program, a framework for commercial exploitation. List of Authors Johan W. Klüwer (DNV) Ralf Meyer (fluidops) Tom Thomsen (DNV) Arild Waaler (UiO) 2

3 Contents 1 Introduction 4 2 Exploiting Optique Results Exploitation Strategy Target audience, products, and work teams Activity: Go to market Activity: Standards Activity: Business/product plan Introduction Business Model Generation for Optique The Optique Platform and System Risk assessment Activity: Market analysis Software Licenses Market Analysis Target groups Market situation: Energy Market situation: Oil & Gas Market situation: Generic Optique s technical contribution Optique s competitive position The Optique Partner Program Background Network Partner: Build Knowledge and Network Discussion Partner: Benefit Analysis Pilot Partner: Proof of Concept Implementation

4 Chapter 1 Introduction This report provides the Initial Exploitation Plan for Optique. Optique delivers new techniques and tools for data access, targeting in the first instance the industry sectors Oil & Gas and Energy. In chapter 2, Exploiting Optique Results, we outline how we will work to understand the market, prepare resources, develop services, and assist industrial enterprises in understanding and implementing the new paradigm. A preliminary assessment of the market that is likely to benefit from adopting the results of Optique is given in chapter 3, Market Analysis. A Partner Program has been set up in order to lower the threshold for enterprises to get started with Optique. The Partner Program offers packages for enterprises to sign up at different levels of commitment, and is described in chapter 4. In Optique the work packages WP10 Dissemination and WP11 Exploitation are designed to complement each other. Figure 1.1 puts the two into the context of an enterprise project to adopt Optique, starting with exploration of introductory material, going through learning and assessment or business opportunities, and then to proof-of-concept implementation and evaluation. WP10 delivers resources primarily for the early phases of exploration and learning, while WP11 contributes to the assessment of value and choice of use case leading up to a practical implementation activity. Optique s Description of Work lists the following objectives for Work Package 11 Exploitation. O11.1 Deliver a business implementation strategy, supported by an assessment model and practical guidelines to adopting Optique in the enterprise. O11.2 Deliver a software exploitation strategy, for the benefit of the partners and the European ICT industry, while protecting intellectual property created by the project. O11.3 Align Optique with industry standards, to ensure established industry standards are usable with Optique, and promote Optique itself as a W3C standards contribution. The Optique Exploitation Plan, described in an initial form in this document, will be instrumental as the project works to bring innovations in data access from the R&D work packages to useful application in European enterprises. Building on the Optique Training Program, the Exploitation Plan will provide analytic tools and support a focused work plan leading up to an installed Optique system that delivers company data to expert users. Implementation guidelines and business model templates assist in choosing a use case, finding the right mix of people, and establishing an appropriate work process. The Optique Partner Program simplifies the process of establishing and managing the necessary commercial arrangements. 4

5 Optique: Dissemination and Exploitation "at a glance" Enterprise milestones activities observe join learn build team appraise choose use case implement test evaluate Optique services resources presentations white papers demos website WP10 courses curriculum case analysis business plan risk template implementation support WP11 Optique system Partner level Network partner Discussion partner Pilot partner Figure 1.1: Workflow, from exploration to proof-of-concept implementation 5

6 Chapter 2 Exploiting Optique Results 2.1 Exploitation Strategy Pursuing innovation or a new business opportunity has strategic implications. If successful, it can improve the competitive position of enterprises and lead to growth. Success of an innovation project like Optique depends on a clear and convincing exploitation strategy combined with a detailed implementation plan. In addition, it is crucial to launch and commercialize the Optique Platform and System in order to secure a competitive advantage to enterprises of interest. It is a clear intention of the Optique project to start early with planning and executing exploitation activities. It is also clear that at this early stage in the project the overall and individual exploitation plans must be in a provisional state and will be refined in the course of the project duration. Like other projects, Optique will provide a detailed exploitation report at the end of its duration. The plan outlined in this deliverable will be updated periodically in order to make sure that it is always in line with the current project results and market needs. We will apply our understanding of markets and technologies within the Energy and Oil & Gas domains in order to assemble a unique path leading to the exploitation of new products, new processes, new technologies and new business opportunities related to the Optique platform and system. This integrated exploitation approach will be accompanied by the following activities: Transfer of research results into actual developments, products, and services Market examinations for the best use of research results and for creating new business opportunities Engaging the commercial user network of the consortium partners to achieve a high degree of exploitation. In general the goals of exploitation planning in a project like Optique will be, Show how the results of Optique create a competitive advantage for the participating partners and European businesses, mainly in the Energy and Oil & Gas domain Show how investments that have been made by the partners in the consortium as well as the EU can be justified, and outline the strategy of how to sustainably exploit Optique project results. More specifically, Optique is pursuing the following approach in order to structure exploitation planning and ensure a sustainable exploitation. Identification of exploitable results: In a first step, Optique key results will be described. Furthermore, the partners will identify and describe their individual results in their individual exploitation plan. 6

7 Value Proposition: Once the results are described, the value of each result or business idea will be elaborated to answer what the result or the new business idea is expected to do. Value Creation: The next step explains how the benefit described before will be created. This part describes the value creation process and all involved parties. It typically includes steps of the value chain, involved partners and their roles, suppliers etc. A Partner Program has been established in order for commercial players to evaluate the results and products from the Optique platform and system at an early stage. This will hopefully accelerate the adoption of project results in relevant enterprises and increase market penetration. By intention, the entry point of membership in the partner program has been kept at a low cost. Relevant project partners will perform further market analysis, including market trends identification, SWOT analysis and evaluation for each potential market for Energy and Oil & Gas, and potentially also for further industries, such as ICT where the various components of Optique platform might find demand and interest. In markets that are found to be promising, the partners will actively promote the Optique Platform and System. For this, the dissemination activities of the consortium will prove invaluable in making potential customers aware of the availability and quality of the systems. Such dissemination activities, and their strategic options, will be presented in a separate dissemination plan. 2.2 Target audience, products, and work teams In order to keep track of activities and ensure the right partners are assigned responsibility for the various project results, WP11 has been structured according to a matrix: what will be produced, for which of the target verticals. The setup is illustrated in figure 2.1, where nodes are labelled with the Optique partner in lead, and sizes indicate the relative effort we plan to invest. This matrix of resources and services to be produced, teams to do the work, and industry verticals is the basis for a detailed working plan that will help ensure that deliveries appear on time and with appropriate content. In the following sections ( ), we provide some detail on what we aim to deliver, for each of the four types of intended project result. 2.3 Activity: Go to market Under the heading Go to market, WP11 will engage with European enterprises to promote the new information access paradigm that Optique is working to develop. The use case partners Siemens and Statoil are our primary audience. These companies both have a wide diversity of divisions and departments for which Optique results should offer relevant benefit. For a wider reach, we aim to attract also other companies that can be leaders in introducing Optique solutions to their business domain. To facilitate this effort, Optique has established a Partner Program, providing a framework and giving companies a single point of contact to Optique. We will primarily work to engage enterprises in the O&G and Energy domains, but companies in other domains are welcomed if they match the Optique program particularly well. Optique will contact selected enterprises to introduce ontology based data access and the Optique system. The choice of which enterprises to approach depends on typical factors: Interest in new technology, and readiness to implement leveraging appropriate competences Value proposition the enterprise s need for new solutions Relevance to the Optique target markets. During Year 1, initial meetings within Optique s primary business domains have been held with Statkraft (Norway: energy), Aibel (Norway: O&G) and Total (Norway: O&G). In addition, DNV has explored various opportunities, including entities in its O&G division. In other domains, Optique has met with 7

8 Oil & Gas Energy Generic Go to market DNV FOP UiO Standards DNV SIE FOB Business/product plan DNV FOP FOP Market analysis DNV FOP FOP Figure 2.1: Target verticals, deliveries, and work teams Airbus (Germany: Hamburg), NRK (Norway: broadcasting), Telenor (Norway: telecoms), and others (see report D10.4 for a full list). In a Go to market engagement, we aim to create an interest by meeting with relevant companies. We will Visit the company, deliver presentations and share knowledge Conduct free or low-cost introductory seminar-style courses, using course material developed in WP10 Dissemination Follow up after courses As we promote Optique, we inevitably face conservatism in the market: does the new technology bring sufficient benefit over tried and tested current techniques? This is best met not with exaggerated promises, but with a down-to-earth set of plausible improvement opportunities (cf. the following sections on business plans and risk assessment). We will restrict ourselves to companies and divisions that are already fairly advanced in their approach to information management and that already have an interest in semantic technology that we can build on. An important early result of the Go to market activity, the Optique Partner Program was established in Year 1 by the University of Oslo and fluid Operations. The Partner Program is a framework for arranging binding, predictable agreements and a path to adoption that settles cost, responsibilities, and expectations. Ad hoc collaboration between a research program and a commercial company is in general far from straightforward to set up. With the Optique Partner Program, companies can sign up on a level appropriate to their interests, ranging from basic training, to use case evaluation and pilot project work. The Partner Program offers three cumulative levels of engagement: 1. Network Partner 8

9 2. Discussion Partner 3. Pilot Partner Network partners are invited to a yearly conference, get primary access to information, and advice by . For Discussion partners, add a detailed analysis of exploitation opportunities, carried out by Optique specialists. Pilot partners obtain a full proof-of-concept Optique implementation on site, applied to a use case chosen by the company. (Further information on the Partner Program is given in chapter 4.) If a Partner decides to move forward to a full implementation of Optique, this will be a commercial activity to be carried on outside of the Optique program as such. The partner program is described in detail in Chapter Activity: Standards A wide adoption of the Optique system means broad acceptance of formats for ontologies, mappings, and more. Standardization is therefore of great value to the Optique exploitation activities, and Optique will contribute to extending and improving existing standards. As we do so, we build on the Optique team s experience from several predecessor EU projects that made crucial contributions to the standards in scope for Optique. Establishing new international standards however requires greater resources than can be funded by the Optique project itself. The standardization body that matters most to the Optique platform and system itself is the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Optique mappings follow the R2RML language, which was published as a W3C Recommendation in Optique ontologies are expressed in the OWL QL language, which is also standardized by W3C. We expect Optique to propose extensions to these and related W3C standards, as a result of new discoveries made in the research work packages. It is likely that Optique s research activities will identify more powerful languages and formats for query rewriting and ontology-based data access than what is the current standard. This will in create a need for amendments to existing standards, or the introduction of new standards likely still within the scope of the domain served by the W3C. As a generic data access platform, Optique is being developed for full compliance with data formats and protocols. The Optique ontology and query framework adheres to W3C s OWL standards and associated best practices. Optique ontologies follow the W3C recommendation OWL 2 QL Optique queries follow the W3C recommendation SPARQL 1.1 Optique mappings follow the W3C recommendation language R2RML Optique web services follow the Representational State Transfer (REST) idiom, which is considered best practice Space and time coordinates are crucial to the Optique use cases. Candidate standards are being evaluated for adoption into the Optique platform, exploiting insights from other EU ICT projects. Optique works with de facto relational database standards, supporting all major relational database platforms. A major challenge for the enterprise seeking to implement ontology-based access to data is the scarcity of ontologies that properly cover the information scope. The targeted industries of Energy and O&G are heavily regulated by hundreds of firmly established domain standards, covering design requirements, test regimes, and operational regulations. Optique will not make a broad attempt at developing ontologies for the target industries. However, we will invest some effort into surveying major representative domain standards, to outline the work required in order to allow the vocabularies used in data access with Optique to be based 9

10 directly on these domain standards. This will deliver guidance to best-practice implementation that promotes interoperability between enterprise divisions and with external entities. During Year 1, work in the Optique use cases has already produced a range of examples of basing ontologies and vocabularies on established industry standards. This provides a source of knowledge from which a generic approach can be constructed. For the Energy domain, standards DIN EN 13306, IEC 62682, ISO 13372, ISO 13379, ISO 17359, and ISO have been applied. For the O&G domain, the International Stratigraphic Chart (ISC) ontology, the NORLEX vocabulary, and the The Concise Geologic Time Scale have been applied for stratigraphy, in addition to ontologies and standards BFO, QUDT, RDF Data Cube Vocabulary, and GeoSPARQL. Additionally, Norwegian national standards applicable to the Statoil use case (Petrobank, NPD) have been demonstrated in use with the Optique 1.0 platform. 2.5 Activity: Business/product plan Introduction The Optique Business/Product plan will describe how an enterprise can introduce Optique for more efficient and smarter data access. It is not unusual that large enterprises have great challenges utilizing the large amount of information that their normal business operation generates. The Optique Platform and system will assist such enterprises making access to information easier and hence generate a competitive advantage. The Optique Business/Product plan will describe a workflow of tasks that need to be carried out, and describe the roles of contributing staff. It will also advise on where the different parts of the Optique system and methodology apply: the steps, resources and objectives that are needed in practice for an efficient introduction of Optique in the enterprise, including the following. Deciding on primary objectives, such as faster access to data, interoperability, and data quality Organizing a development team that includes both domain experts and ICT personnel Finding the right data sources to start with and which to add on as the project progresses ICT architecture considerations Business Model Generation for Optique In order to reduce risks and increase the likelihood of successful implementation, we propose to follow the Business Model Generation (BMG) process, an innovative but rather simple method originally developed by Alexander Osterwalder and a community of researchers and business experts. BMG offers a structured way to describe, plan, implement and execute the commercialization of products and services. It is used by global enterprises, governmental organizations, SME s and start-ups for the planning and introduction of all kind of solutions and services into different markets. In order to make a business successful it is crucial to understand the business drivers, the customer segments and value for potential customers, the channels for delivering value and more. We will conduct a first workshop in 2014 to leverage BMG for commercialization of Optique. BMG builds on the Business Model Canvas (BMC), a common and easily understandable framework for describing even complex businesses. BMC allows for the alignment of the different stakeholders involved, including management, R&D, marketing, sales and consulting (see figure 2.2, p. 11; more information on BMG and BMC can be found at 10

11 motivations for partnerships: Optimization and economy Reduction of risk and uncertainty Acquisition of particular resources and activities is your business more: Cost Driven (leanest cost structure, low price value proposition, maximum automation, extensive outsourcing) Value Driven ( focused on value creation, premium value proposition) sample characteristics: Fixed Costs (salaries, rents, utilities) Variable costs Economies of scale Economies of scope categories Production Problem Solving Platform/Network types of resources Physical Intellectual (brand patents, copyrights, data) Human Financial characteristics Newness Performance Customization Getting the Job Done Design Brand/Status Price Cost Reduction Risk Reduction Accessibility Convenience/Usability types: Asset sale Usage fee Subscription Fees Lending/Renting/Leasing Licensing Brokerage fees Advertising fixed pricing List Price Product feature dependent Customer segment dependent Volume dependent examples Personal assistance Dedicated Personal Assistance Self-Service Automated Services Communities Co-creation channel phases: 1. Awareness How do we raise awareness about our company s products and services? 2. Evaluation How do we help customers evaluate our organization s Value Proposition? 3. Purchase How do we allow customers to purchase specific products and services? 4. Delivery How do we deliver a Value Proposition to customers? 5. After sales How do we provide post-purchase customer support? dynamic pricing Negotiation( bargaining) Yield Management Real-time-Market Mass Market Niche Market Segmented Diversified Multi-sided Platform This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. Optique Deliverable D11.1 The Business Model Canvas Designed for: Designed by: Day Month Year On: No. Iteration: Key Partners Key Activities Value Propositions Customer Relationships Customer Segments Who are our Key Partners? Who are our key suppliers? Which Key Resources are we acquiring from partners? Which Key Activities do partners perform? What Key Activities do our Value Propositions require? Our Distribution Channels? Customer Relationships? Revenue streams? What value do we deliver to the customer? Which one of our customer s problems are we helping to solve? What bundles of products and services are we offering to each Customer Segment? Which customer needs are we satisfying? What type of relationship does each of our Customer Segments expect us to establish and maintain with them? Which ones have we established? How are they integrated with the rest of our business model? How costly are they? For whom are we creating value? Who are our most important customers? Key Resources Channels What Key Resources do our Value Propositions require? Our Distribution Channels? Customer Relationships? Revenue Streams? Through which Channels do our Customer Segments want to be reached? How are we reaching them now? How are our Channels integrated? Which ones work best? Which ones are most cost-efficient? How are we integrating them with customer routines? Cost Structure What are the most important costs inherent in our business model? Which Key Resources are most expensive? Which Key Activities are most expensive? Revenue Streams For what value are our customers really willing to pay? For what do they currently pay? How are they currently paying? How would they prefer to pay? How much does each Revenue Stream contribute to overall revenues? Figure 2.2: Overview of the Business Model Canvas by Alexander Osterwalder (under Creative Common License) The Optique Platform and System The Optique Platform and System as an end product of the Optique project will consist of a modular system of software components. The system will cover the full range of components that an enterprise requires in order to add ontology-based query rewriting to its data management portfolio. The functional components will cover several complementary areas, including but not limited to the following: Ontology development and management Mapping development and management Query development and management Database federation Distributed cloud execution endpoint server and web services End user interface framework A prototype implementations of core functionality for the Optique platform, including query translation, mapping management, and visual user interfaces, was demonstrated at the ISWC 2013 conference. The Platform may be exploited in two basic ways. It can be installed as an integrated system including all components, with a common user interface and points of connection to the existing infrastructure of 11

12 databases. Alternatively, it will be possible to pick individual components, in particular for extending the functionality of existing applications or for serving local tasks that don t require a full solution suite. For each component, there will be APIs defined for providing Optique capabilities to existing applications. We expect that an enterprise implementing Optique will see both approaches as useful. The Optique Platform will work with OWL QL ontologies. Building on use case requirements, the query language will also have special support for extensions of particular practical value. Optique will work to include support for special language domains into the portfolio of components, in particular temporal and spatial queries Risk assessment An important part of the Business/product plan will be a risk assessment template, in questionnaire form, to allow a project manager to easily identify characteristic main risks of a project to introduce Optique. An ambitious project is likely to overshoot deadlines or budgets; a too modest project may represent too little opportunity to engage the organization. Issues to consider in risk assessment will include the following. Lack of commitment in the required target organization Including, insufficient agreement on the value of introducing new technology (conservatism) Underestimation of required groundwork on ontologies/vocabularies Overestimation of data quality in current systems Vendor lock-in in existing contracts Also, unwillingness to give up control of databases Scarcity of resources (on domain expert or ICT staff sides) Noting that the kind of staff needed for a successful implementation of ontology-based database access necessarily requires a significant amount of time and effort from people that are certain to be in great demand for their time in the business. Lack of access to databases, e.g. data can not be interpreted properly because documentation is missing proprietary interfaces (APIs) prevent usable access to data access rights are managed in existing applications only, making direct database access unfeasible access rights prohibit transport of data into a wider context old database software with outdated interfaces Client systems do not support Optique end-user interfaces Data from Optique-assisted queries has to reach the end-users production/analytic applications in an efficient manner 2.6 Activity: Market analysis The primary purpose of the Market analysis activity is to understand the data access challenges that companies face, and which of these can be met by the Optique methods and products. A supplementary goal of Market analysis is to quantify the potential in the market for Optique systems and services, within the targeted business domains as well as in general industry and beyond (to, e.g., government). However, as Optique delivers a highly generic approach, such estimates will remain uncertain, and we should avoid investing too much effort on forecasts. The market analysis work will consider ambitions such as the following. 12

13 Integration of generations of relational database sources and applications: Status quo, and prioritized improvements Smarter use of operational data (e.g. for maintenance) ICT technology requirements: how to adopt current architecture and technologies for Optique Competence gaps: Existing skills, and new skills that will be required for making effective use of an Optique system Communication between experts and data managers Governance of data sets: creation, updating, versioning Master data management Project execution and integration Asset lifecycle data management This will be carried out in tandem with the WP10 Dissemination work on white papers and curricula: it should inform Optique about what matters most to the target enterprises, and hence what they need the most to learn. This will help the dissemination activities stay relevant to the target audience. 2.7 Software Licenses Optique is working actively on the topic of software licenses. The Optique Platform is a comprehensive system that comprises several different kinds of components. This needs to be reflected in the software licensing agreements, which need not be equivalent for every module. We will explore and chart the available options, and aim during Year 2 to establish a model for licensing that covers each module of the Optique Platform, as well as the platform as a whole. The double aim of ensuring maximal impact and availability needs to be balanced with the requirement for commercial sustainability. An often seen model is that of dual licensing arrangements, where a software product will be offered both in an open source edition, available to the community at no cost, and as a commercial product (fluid Operations Information Workbench product is a case in point). Having an open source version of a software product considerably lowers the threshold for exploration and testing in an industry setting. The open source product will typically be applied in development and proof-of-concept phases. For operational systems, any company requires professional vendor support agreements, which are by necessity only offered on commercial terms; for such deployments a closed license may well be appropriate. During year 1, FUB has contributed actively to the issue of Optique licensing for greater impact. In order to attract more attention from the community and make it easier other researchers outside Optique to contribute to the project, it was decided, in agreement with the Optique consortium, to publish the source code of the Ontop framework. Starting with version 1.8, released , the Ontop framework is provided under a dual licensing scheme: (1) the Free Software Foundation s GNU AGPL v3.0 and (2) alternative licenses for commercial usage. Coinciding with the change to an open license, the source code for Ontop was moved to a public repository on the GitHub code hosting system ( 13

14 Chapter 3 Market Analysis The purpose of this chapter is to give a preliminary outlook on the market targeted by Optique. This provides a context for the planning and initial exploitation efforts. A more detailed market analysis will be developed in iterations over the remainder of the project period, cf. section Target groups In order to explore the competitive power of the Optique solutions we need to investigate the situation and trends of the related markets. We will therefore investigate the Oil & Gas and Energy domains, as well as the generic market, with geographical focus on the European countries. 3.2 Market situation: Energy The Energy industry is crucial for our society and economy. Not only in the context of climate change and global warming is the optimization of energy production, transport and utilization an important subject. Financial drivers including availability and costs of needed resources, technical advances in e.g. power production and frequently changing legal regulations fuel the growing demand of reliable information. Big Data can add a lot of value in the complex analysis and optimization and help to make energy reliably available, at reasonable prices while minimizing the environmental impact. 3.3 Market situation: Oil & Gas With a market capitalization of nearly 120,000 billion USD, a Return on Equity of more than 19 percent and a net Profit Margin of 7 percent are alone the major integrated Oil and Gas companies not only one of the most commercially relevant industries but also both producer and consumer of big data. The Oil and Gas industry is under constant pressure to deliver the needed resources for a price determined by a global market. Unlike in many other industries is this price highly volatile and influenced by the political and economic environment. The industry itself is highly competitive and requiring huge amount of information both at the Oil & Gas discovery and production but also for the logistic and all other business processes. For Optique this is the ideal customer segment and thus the focus for all our commercialization initiatives. 3.4 Market situation: Generic IT Analysts incl. Gartner, IDC and BARC as well as many players in the IT industry are predicting a highly growing demand and utilization of Big Data solutions in almost all industry areas. One of the early adopters of Big Data is the Financial Services industry, where Banks still represent with almost 130,000 billion USD 14

15 market capitalizations, an (after financial crisis) Return on Equity of 8.7 percent and a Net Profit Margin of 14 percent a significant role. But the use of Big Data is by far not limited to Banks or Insurances. The Logistic Industry, Life Sciences and Manufacturing (e.g. Automotive) are other examples of areas where the amount of data and information is constantly growing or even exploding thus stipulating the demand of Big Data solutions such as Optique. 3.5 Optique s technical contribution The Optique project is a next generation Big Data solution with the focus on providing seamless End- User Access to Big Data. The implementation design is under development by a leading European partner consortium from both research and industry. An open semantic platform provides comprehensive and timely access to large scale data sets. 3.6 Optique s competitive position Over the course of the Optique project is it important to have a good understanding of who are the relevant players and competitors. Results will reflect the positioning of the Optique solution and specifically map out what customers can expect beyond competitive solutions = competitive benefits. Besides functionality, the pricing of the entire Optique solution will be a crucial element, as well as the understanding of what third Party components will be required to accommodate the target customer requirements. We will therefore gather information on pricing of competitive solutions and develop an understanding of how a compelling pricing of Optique should look like. 15

16 Chapter 4 The Optique Partner Program 4.1 Background The Optique Partner Program has been established in order to facilitate the Optique ecosystem of users and vendors. The program coordinator is the University of Oslo. The Optique Partner Program provides a context for managing expectations and obligations in a way that is predictable to both the Optique consortium and interested businesses. By signing up, companies can be sure that Optique will be responsive in communication and follow-up activities. We believe the Partner Program offers a context of collaboration and cooperation that provides good value to interested enterprises. Note that membership in the Partner Program will not be a precondition for accessing the public Optique project reports: those results will be available for free, irrespective of participation. Optique is working actively to promote the Partner Program to target industries, through personal meetings on site as well as in conferences and on the web. A flyer has been distributed widely: see page 19 for a facsimile. A homepage for the program has been set up at providing additional information to interested parties and a contact form for booking a meeting: see page 20. (Further information on Year 1 Partner Program promotion activities is given in Deliverable D10.4.) The partner network will be arranged on a local basis. We will have UiO managing the Norwegian network based in Oslo, fluid Operations arranging a German speaking network from Waldorf, Rome arranging an Italian network, and so forth. For Germany, Waldorf is well situated in Europe s largest software campus, with SAP and 100+ further IT Companies in walking distance. For Norway, network meetings are expected to be arranged at DNV s campus in Oslo, where large industry conferences (primarily Maritime and O&G) are being arranged on a regular basis and all required facilities are readily available. The Partner Program folder expresses the value proposition as follows: Data is rapidly becoming one of our most valuable resources, and effectively exploiting data will be key to an enterprise s future growth and profitability. Optique is delivering groundbreaking technology for data exploitation, and the Optique European Partner Programme provides access to world leading expertise in the development and deployment of this technology. The programme offers three different levels to address different member needs. Table 4.1 gives an overview of the services contained in each of the three packages on offer (from the Partner Program homepage). Ambitions for membership in the Partner Program over the project period is, Network partners in 2014 Discussion partners from 2015 Pilot partners from 2016 This is in line with the need for companies to build understanding over time, and with the Optique network s limit on resources. 16

17 Table 4.1: Overview of services per Partner Program level Package Features Network Discussion Pilot Part of Optique project network with first hand access to information Bi-annual newsletter Annual partner conference Invitation to the Optique project plenary meetings 10 person days analysis of customer needs and data exploitation possibilities by Optique project experts Option to acquire discounted Optique fluid Operations package by upgrading to Pilot Partner 6 person days Optique Proof-of-Concept implementation planning/assistance by Optique Project experts at Pilot Partner site Optique fluid Operations package Software subscription for Pilot Partner period Software training for 6 persons 20 person days software Proof-of-Concept implementation at Pilot Partner site 4.2 Network Partner: Build Knowledge and Network The Network Partner level is described as follows in the promotional material. The Network Partner level is suitable for companies that primarily want information and networking opportunities with industry and academia. The following services are included in the Network Partner package. Part of Optique project network with first hand access to information. Bi-annual newsletter. Annual partner conference. 4.3 Discussion Partner: Benefit Analysis The Discussion Partner level extends on the Network Partner package, by offering companies professional support in detailing their own Optique use case. Quoting the promotional material, The Discussion Partner level also includes an analysis of potential usage areas for the company and a dedicated contact person within the Optique project. Optique consortium experts will work with the Partner company to identify suitable domains to which Optique can be applied for business value, and to estimate the investment required and expected benefits. The Discussion Partner package includes the Network Partner components, and additionally the following: Invitation to Optique project plenary meetings. 10 person days analysis of customer needs and data exploitation possibilities by Optique project experts. Option to acquire discounted Optique fluid Operations package by upgrading to Pilot Partner. 17

18 4.4 Pilot Partner: Proof of Concept Implementation The Pilot Partner level allows companies to build experience with a working prototype implementation of the Optique system. Quoting the promotional material, The Pilot Partner level additionally includes unlimited access to the Optique System for the duration of the membership, as well as access to Optique experts to implement and customize the Optique System based on the company s usage areas. Travel costs will be added for work onsite at the respective partner. Additional assistance from Optique Project experts or fluid Operations AG can be purchased for 1.200,- / person day. Fixed price assistance can be offered on request. Optique fluid Operations package is provided by fluid Operations AG. Software maintenance and enterprise level support is included in the package. Witht Pilot Partners, Optique experts work on-site to set up the Optique Platform and System in the company s existing ICT infrastructure, and develops proof-of-concept mappings from existing real data to a preliminary ontology. The following is included in the Pilot partner package, in addition to the Network Partner and Discussion Partner components. 6 person days Optique Proof-of-Concept implementation planning/assistance by Optique Project experts at Pilot Partner site. Optique fluid Operations package: Software subscription for Pilot Partner period Software training for 6 persons. 20 person days software Proof-of-Concept implementation at Pilot Partner site. 18

19 Optique Deliverable D11.1 Image credit: Siemens press picture Data is rapidly becoming one of our most valuable resources, and effectively exploiting data will be key to an enterprise s future growth and profitability. Optique is delivering groundbreaking technology for data exploitation, and the Optique European Partner Programme provides access to world leading expertise in the development and deployment of this technology. The programme offers three different levels to address different member needs. The Network Partner level is suitable for companies that primarily want information and networking opportunities with industry and academia. The Discussion Partner level also includes an analysis of potential usage areas for the company and a dedicated contact person within the Optique project. The Pilot Partner level additionally includes unlimited access to the Optique System for the duration of the membership, as well as access to Optique experts to implement and customize the Optique System based on the company s usage areas. * Travel costs are added for work at partner site. Additional assistance from Optique Project experts or fluid Operations AG can be purchased for 1.200,- / person day. Fixed price assistance can be offered on request. Optique fluid Operations package is provided by fluid Operations AG. Software maintenance and enterprise level support is included in the package. Contact details: ARILD WAALER info@optique-project.eu Figure 4.1: Optique Partner Program tri-fold flyer, 2013, outside spread Proof of Concept implementation Benefit Analysis Build Knowledge and Network Benefit Analysis Build Knowledge and Network 6 person days Optique Proof-of-Concept implementation planning/assistance by Optique Project experts at Pilot Partner site. Build Knowledge and Network Part of Optique project network with first hand access to information. Bi-annual newsletter. Annual partner conference. Invitation to Optique project plenary meetings. 10 person days analysis of customer needs and data exploitation possibilities by Optique project experts. Option to acquire discounted Optique fluid Operations package by upgrading to Pilot Partner. Part of Optique project network with first hand access to information. Bi-annual newsletter. Annual partner conference. Optique fluid Operations package: Software subscription for Pilot Partner period Software training for 6 persons. 20 person days software Proof-of-Concept implementation at Pilot Partner site. Invitation to Optique project plenary meetings. 10 person days analysis of customer needs and data exploitation possibilities by Optique project experts. Option to acquire discounted Optique fluid Operations package by upgrading to Pilot Partner. Part of Optique project network with first hand access to info. Bi-annual newsletter. Annual partner conference. Annual Price * Annual Price * Annual Price * Figure 4.2: Optique Partner Program tri-fold flyer, 2013, inside spread 19

20 Figure 4.3: The Optique Partner Program homepage at (excerpt) 20