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Uncovering Gas Industry Issues and Innovations at LDC Gas Forums – Northeast

Over 400 attendees networked and discussed gas industry issues and innovations at the 23rd annual LDC Gas Forums – Northeast event in Boston, Massachusetts including OATI’s Kristi Schnee, Sheldan Perry and Jerrod Montoya. This year’s New Technologies Impacting the Natural Gas Value Chain topics focused on an Online Capacity Auction Software, a New Financial Trading Bond Tool, and Cybersecurity.

As evidenced by the concern with cyberattacks and the move to Cloud computing, customers are looking for secure solutions and improved control and integration of their businesses. After observing presentations and conversing with industry professionals, Mr. Perry and Ms. Schnee delve into their key takeaways from the event.

The Future of the Gas Industry

At the event, a company displayed an online auction in which attendees could place their capacity and supply into the market for open bidding. Mr. Perry, OATI Manager of Gas Systems, said OATI’s natural gas trading software solution could be used to capture the winning bid data and flow it into our system.

As a solution for credit issues, Ms. Schnee, Account Executive, said an insurance company offered a financial tool in which you could trade with a bond rather than utilize credit.

OATI Deputy Chief Information Security Officer Jerrod Montoya spoke about cybersecurity and misconceptions involving Cloud computing during the New Technologies Impacting the Natural Gas Value Chain Panel (click here to read a blog detailing his presentation).

In accordance with the move to the Cloud, customers are looking for more secure and effective Cloud-based solutions.

Ms. Schnee said she and Mr. Perry met several people affected by their vendor’s security breaches. Because some attendees have their systems sitting on their own hardware in their own shops and/or are distrustful of the Cloud, Ms. Schnee said it was important to inform them on the safety of a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) web-hosted environment. Therefore, before choosing a vendor, it is important to understand Threats, Vulnerabilities, Impacts, Likelihood, and Mitigation. If the company doesn’t understand these risks, they should choose a vendor that has many years of experience mitigating these types of risks. Additionally, choose a vendor that controls the entire cloud stack in house (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS), which is considered a Cloud and can produce audit reports.

Another trend is that customers are looking for a one-vendor solution rather than having several vendors for different aspects of their business. “This is a big trend all over the market; companies want a one-vendor solution with a major focus on security and customer service” Ms. Schnee said. That is why OATI is a one-stop-shop for LDCs having different assets, such as natural gas and power, with over 20 years’ experience in Cloud based products with two private active-active hosting facilities.

Nearly 100 attendees reached out to the OATI team at the OATI presentation and booth, largely in interest of our gas pipeline management system solution at LDC Gas Forums – Northeast. For pipelines, local distribution companies (LDCs), storage facilities, and their customers, maintaining and supporting daily operations is necessary for success within the natural gas industry. OATI’s NAESB-certified gas pipeline management system solution is a cost-effective solution for managing transportation and storage activities with real-time processing and automated notifications, allowing for sustained compliance and maximized profitability.

Looking to ease scheduling and streamline trading? Within OATI’s natural gas trading solution is a comprehensive scheduling display showing gas purchase and sales data, daily pool balances, generational plant hourly fuel consumption, daily interconnect imbalances, and more. This solution simplifies natural gas trading and generation management, as well as minimizes mistakes and scheduling errors.

Didn’t make it this year but still interested in learning more about our solutions? Please contact Sales@oati.net. We hope to see you next time!