Aker Solutions opens new training facility in Houston

Aker Solutions’ recently opened training facility in Katy, Texas, houses a 3D simulator that provides ultra-realistic environments for students to learn about specific pieces of drilling equipment.

The facility has two classrooms and one simulator room that houses a rig-specific simulator. This means students can train in realistic training environments that are set up to look exactly like the rig where the student will be working , down to specific pieces of equipment.

• Aker facility features 3D simulator.pdf

Successfully exhibited at OTC.09

Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) celebrates 40th anniversary this year. First Interactive visited Houston for the second time and were presented both at Aker Solutions and Drillmec exhibition areas.

We were proud to present Aker Solutions Intelligent Operator Chair (IOC) at the OTC Exhibition for the first time. The IOC was connected to a seamless 9 unit 42inch HD video wall solution together enabling operation of 3 different simulators – West E, Seadrill 8 and XfactorMOS. "The XfactorMOS (Marine Operation Simulator) is a new software product which visualizes and simulates complex subsurface marine operations. It is currently being developed for Aker Solutions Subsea."

We were very impressed by the Trainer team from Aker Solutions in Houston. Their skills to communicate and demonstrate our technology and rig specific training concept was outstanding. We are very grateful for their effort during the OTC exhibition.

Drillmec stand were built around their new land rig simulator powered by First Interactive. The Drillmec simulator is the first simulator delivery with a dome screen and projector solution. This is an exciting display solution developed in close relation with 3D Perception.

Drillmec customers and competitors were impressed with what Drillmec obtained in the form of training and pipe handling by the simulator. They had a strong focus on demonstrating their land rig concept for key customers by utilizing the simulator technology.

We were pleased with many visitors at both Aker Solutions and Drillmec stands. OTC 2010 takes place 3-6 May at Reliant Conference & Exhibition Center at Reliant Park, Houston.
 

Xfactor+ 1.3 released

First Interactive is proud to announce the release of Xfactor+ version 1.3. It can be downloaded from our website. The new release has several new features, and in addition we have fixed many other bugs.

New features in Xfactor+ 1.3:

• Improved texture draping tool
• Improved lines and points editor
• Pictometry
• DTM cache
• Support for hasp.net
• Export to ESRI multipatch
• SOSI attributes
• Extended coordinate info
• Updated English help file

Download Xfactor+ 1.3 from product page.
 

Exhibition GeoForum 2009 in Oslo

First Interactive exhibited at GeoForum 2009 in Oslo March 25-27. GeoForum is event for people working with GIS and gathers people from municipalities, charting authorities, defense, aviation and many others. Conference was attended by approximately 500 people, in-between Heidi Sørensen from Ministry of the Environment in opening, at Radisson SAS hotel.

We were proud to show the next release of the Xfactor+ software with features like BIM import, auto texturing from Pictometry, module for power line visualization, real-time tracking and others. We are pleased with the feedback.
 

Offshore Technology Conference 2009 in Houston

First Interactive will be represent at the OTC.09 exhibition in Houston at the Aker Solutions Pavilion 4-7 May. There will be demonstration of our drilling simulator and other products from our portfolio. This will be a highly interactive demonstration where visitors will be invited to operate drilling equipment in the simulator. We look forward to see you there - booth 5641.

Valhall IP Visioneering project phase I completed

The goal for the Valhall IP Visioneering project is to optimize the drilling capabilities by Visioneering. First phase was to build a replica of Valhall IP in a simulator, connect a copy of the real control system and run an iterative process with programming, testing and verification.

This part of project is now completed and the second phase can start. Next phase will be an iterative process where drillers, equipment and supplier’s experts are operating the virtual platform and identifying where improvements can be achieved. A major step for improvement has been the SZMS (Smart Zone Management System) and is now visible in the simulator. It gives a better understanding of where improvements can be made and simulator functionality. The project will continue until July in 2009.

First Interactive hires Trond Danielsen in strategic position

To further strengthen the team, First Interactive has employed Trond Danielsen in the position of Vice President Operations. Trond Danielsen has 30 years of experience within the offshore industry ranging from hands on drilling and drilling management, through technology development, project management and implementation to onshore management.

Trond Danielsen comes from the position of Drilling Supervisor with Odfjell Drilling/Statoil Hydro. He will be responsible for the implementation of First Interactive's Visioneering and drilling rig life-cycle concepts.

First Interactive has grown from 11 employees in 2006 to 83 employees presently. The company has, together with Aker Solutions, developed ground breaking technology and competence to reduce risk and increase the performance of upgrading and operating offshore drilling rigs. In recognition of the innovative solutions provided by First Interactive, Aker Solutions took a majority ownership stake in the company in 2008.

Aker MH buys a major post in First Interactive AS

The fact that Aker MH AS now invest in a major share of First Interactive is an acknowledgment of our technology development and a breakthrough in the simulation and visualization market. It has been First Interactive’s goal to get a strategic large industrial enterprise to invest in the company. With Aker MH AS in our team we are in a position to extend our perspective and offer our market leading solutions in a global market.

First Interactive has together with Aker MH AS established a new industry standard for simulator training with the next generation of drilling simulators, Xfactor DES (Drilling Equipment Simulator), and believe that this technology will significantly contribute to the value within training, product development, commissioning, mission control, maintenance monitoring etc.

First interactive has an exciting wide-range product portfolio, where among others Xfactor+ (3D scenario builder) is being established in the Geospatial Information market.

This is a very exciting market segment and will be one of our main focus areas in the future!