optique initial exploitation plan · executive summary: optiqueinitialexploitationplan this...

Project Nº: FP7-318338

Project Acronym: Optique

Project Title: Scalable End-user Access to Big Data

Instrument: Integrated Project

Scheme: Information & Communication Technologies

Deliverable D11.1Optique Initial Exploitation Plan

Due date of deliverable: (T0+12)

Actual submission date: November 22, 2013

Start date of the project: 1st November 2012 Duration: 48 months

Lead contractor for this deliverable: DNV

Dissemination level: PU – Public

Final version

Executive Summary:Optique Initial Exploitation Plan

This document summarises deliverable D11.1 of project FP7-318338 (Optique), an Integrated Project sup-ported by the 7th Framework Programme of the EC. Full information on this project, including the contentsof this deliverable, is available online at http://www.optique-project.eu/.

The document provides an Initial Exploitation Plan for Optique. Optique delivers new techniques andtools for data access, targeting in the first instance the industry sectors Oil & Gas and Energy. We outline howwe will work to understand the market, prepare resources, develop services, and assist industrial enterprisesin implementing the new paradigm. We give a preliminary assessment of the market that is likely to benefitfrom 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)

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http://www.optique-project.eu/

Contents

1 Introduction 4

2 Exploiting Optique Results 62.1 Exploitation Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62.2 Target audience, products, and work teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72.3 Activity: Go to market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72.4 Activity: Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92.5 Activity: Business/product plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

2.5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102.5.2 Business Model Generation for Optique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102.5.3 The Optique Platform and System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112.5.4 Risk assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

2.6 Activity: Market analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122.7 Software Licenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

3 Market Analysis 143.1 Target groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143.2 Market situation: Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143.3 Market situation: Oil & Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143.4 Market situation: Generic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143.5 Optique’s technical contribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153.6 Optique’s competitive position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

4 The Optique Partner Program 164.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164.2 Network Partner: “Build Knowledge and Network” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174.3 Discussion Partner: “Benefit Analysis” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174.4 Pilot Partner: “Proof of Concept Implementation” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

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Chapter 1

Introduction

This report provides the Initial Exploitation Plan for Optique. Optique delivers new techniques and tools fordata access, targeting in the first instance the industry sectors Oil & Gas and Energy. In chapter 2, ExploitingOptique 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 isgiven in chapter 3, Market Analysis.

A Partner Program has been set up in order to lower the threshold for enterprises to get started withOptique. 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 complementeach other. Figure 1.1 puts the two into the context of an enterprise project to adopt Optique, starting withexploration of introductory material, going through learning and assessment or business opportunities, andthen to proof-of-concept implementation and evaluation. WP10 delivers resources primarily for the earlyphases of exploration and learning, while WP11 contributes to the assessment of value and choice of use caseleading 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 practicalguidelines to adopting Optique in the enterprise.

• O11.2 Deliver a software exploitation strategy, for the benefit of the partners and the European ICTindustry, while protecting intellectual property created by the project.

• O11.3 Align Optique with industry standards, to ensure established industry standards are usable withOptique, and promote Optique itself as a W3C standards contribution.

The Optique Exploitation Plan, described in an initial form in this document, will be instrumental asthe project works to bring innovations in data access from the R&D work packages to useful applicationin European enterprises. Building on the Optique Training Program, the Exploitation Plan will provideanalytic tools and support a focused work plan – leading up to an installed Optique system that deliverscompany data to expert users. Implementation guidelines and business model templates assist in choosing ause case, finding the right mix of people, and establishing an appropriate work process. The Optique PartnerProgram simplifies the process of establishing and managing the necessary commercial arrangements.

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Optique Deliverable D11.1 Optique Initial Exploitation Plan

observe implementappraiselearn evaluate

join

WP10 WP11

presentationswhite papersdemos

test

chooseusecase

buildteam

caseanalysis

coursesimplementation support

Pilotpartner

Discussionpartner

NetworkpartnerPartner level

resources

services

curriculumbusiness planrisk template Optique systemwebsite

milestones

activitiesEnterprise

Optique

Optique: Dissemination and Exploitation "at a glance"

Figure 1.1: Workflow, from exploration to proof-of-concept implementation

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Chapter 2

Exploiting Optique Results

2.1 Exploitation Strategy

Pursuing innovation or a new business opportunity has strategic implications. If successful, it can improvethe competitive position of enterprises and lead to growth. Success of an innovation project like Optiquedepends on a clear and convincing exploitation strategy combined with a detailed implementation plan. Inaddition, it is crucial to launch and commercialize the Optique Platform and System in order to secure acompetitive advantage to enterprises of interest.

It is a clear intention of the Optique project to start early with planning and executing exploitationactivities. It is also clear that at this early stage in the project the overall and individual exploitation plansmust 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 thisdeliverable will be updated periodically in order to make sure that it is always in line with the currentproject results and market needs.

We will apply our understanding of markets and technologies within the Energy and Oil & Gas domains inorder to assemble a unique path leading to the exploitation of new products, new processes, new technologiesand new business opportunities related to the Optique platform and system. This integrated exploitationapproach 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 exploita-tion.

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 andEuropean 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 canbe 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 planningand 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.

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• Value Proposition: Once the results are described, the value of each result or business idea will beelaborated 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 partdescribes the value creation process and all involved parties. It typically includes steps of the valuechain, involved partners and their roles, suppliers etc.

A Partner Program has been established in order for commercial players to evaluate the results andproducts from the Optique platform and system at an early stage. This will hopefully accelerate the adoptionof project results in relevant enterprises and increase market penetration. By intention, the entry point ofmembership 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 alsofor further industries, such as ICT – where the various components of Optique platform might find demandand interest. In markets that are found to be promising, the partners will actively promote the OptiquePlatform and System. For this, the dissemination activities of the consortium will prove invaluable in makingpotential customers aware of the availability and quality of the systems. Such dissemination activities, andtheir 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 variousproject results, WP11 has been structured according to a matrix: what will be produced, for which of thetarget verticals. The setup is illustrated in figure 2.1, where nodes are labelled with the Optique partnerin lead, and sizes indicate the relative effort we plan to invest. This matrix of resources and services to beproduced, teams to do the work, and industry verticals is the basis for a detailed working plan that will helpensure that deliveries appear on time and with appropriate content. In the following sections (2.3–2.6), weprovide 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 infor-mation access paradigm that Optique is working to develop. The use case partners Siemens and Statoil areour primary audience. These companies both have a wide diversity of divisions and departments for whichOptique results should offer relevant benefit. For a wider reach, we aim to attract also other companies thatcan be leaders in introducing Optique solutions to their business domain. To facilitate this effort, Optiquehas established a Partner Program, providing a framework and giving companies a single point of contact toOptique. We will primarily work to engage enterprises in the O&G and Energy domains, but companies inother 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 exploredvarious opportunities, including entities in its O&G division. In other domains, Optique has met with

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Go to market

Oil & Gas

DNV

Energy

FOP

Generic

UiO

DNV SIE FOB

DNV FOP FOP

DNV FOP FOP

Standards

Business/product plan

Market analysis

Figure 2.1: Target verticals, deliveries, and work teams

Airbus (Germany: Hamburg), NRK (Norway: broadcasting), Telenor (Norway: telecoms), and others (seereport D10.4 for a full list).

In a Go to market engagement, we aim to create an interest by meeting with relevant companies. Wewill

• Visit the company, deliver presentations and share knowledge

• Conduct free or low-cost introductory seminar-style courses, using course material developed in WP10Dissemination

• Follow up after courses

As we promote Optique, we inevitably face conservatism in the market: does the new technology bringsufficient 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 busi-ness plans and risk assessment). We will restrict ourselves to companies and divisions that are alreadyfairly advanced in their approach to information management and that already have an interest in semantictechnology that we can build on.

An important early result of the Go to market activity, the Optique Partner Program was established inYear 1 by the University of Oslo and fluid Operations. The Partner Program is a framework for arrangingbinding, 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 straight-forward to set up. With the Optique Partner Program, companies can sign up on a level appropriate to theirinterests, ranging from basic training, to use case evaluation and pilot project work. The Partner Programoffers three cumulative levels of engagement:

1. Network Partner

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2. Discussion Partner

3. Pilot Partner

Network partners are invited to a yearly conference, get primary access to information, and advice byemail. For Discussion partners, add a detailed analysis of exploitation opportunities, carried out by Optiquespecialists. Pilot partners obtain a full proof-of-concept Optique implementation on site, applied to a usecase chosen by the company. (Further information on the Partner Program is given in chapter 4.) If aPartner decides to move forward to a full implementation of Optique, this will be a commercial activity to becarried on outside of the Optique program as such. The partner program is described in detail in Chapter 4.

2.4 Activity: Standards

A wide adoption of the Optique system means broad acceptance of formats for ontologies, mappings, andmore. Standardization is therefore of great value to the Optique exploitation activities, and Optique willcontribute to extending and improving existing standards. As we do so, we build on the Optique team’sexperience from several predecessor EU projects that made crucial contributions to the standards in scopefor Optique. Establishing new international standards however requires greater resources than can be fundedby the Optique project itself.

The standardization body that matters most to the Optique platform and system itself is the WorldWide Web Consortium (W3C). Optique mappings follow the R2RML language, which was published as aW3C Recommendation in 2012. Optique ontologies are expressed in the OWL QL language, which is alsostandardized by W3C. We expect Optique to propose extensions to these and related W3C standards, as aresult of new discoveries made in the research work packages. It is likely that Optique’s research activities willidentify more powerful languages and formats for query rewriting and ontology-based data access than whatis the current standard. This will in create a need for amendments to existing standards, or the introductionof 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 andprotocols.

• The Optique ontology and query framework adheres to W3C’s OWL standards and associated bestpractices.

– 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 consid-ered best practice

• Space and time coordinates are crucial to the Optique use cases. Candidate standards are beingevaluated 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 databaseplatforms.

A major challenge for the enterprise seeking to implement ontology-based access to data is the scarcity ofontologies that properly cover the information scope. The targeted industries of Energy and O&G are heavilyregulated 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 targetindustries. However, we will invest some effort into surveying major representative domain standards, tooutline the work required in order to allow the vocabularies used in data access with Optique to be based

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http://www.w3.org/TR/r2rml/

http://www.w3.org/TR/owl2-profiles/


directly on these domain standards. This will deliver guidance to best-practice implementation that promotesinteroperability between enterprise divisions and with external entities.

During Year 1, work in the Optique use cases has already produced a range of examples of basingontologies and vocabularies on established industry standards. This provides a source of knowledge fromwhich a generic approach can be constructed.

• For the Energy domain, standards DIN EN 13306, IEC 62682, ISO 13372, ISO 13379, ISO 17359, andISO 3977-9 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 ontologiesand 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

2.5.1 Introduction

The Optique Business/Product plan will describe how an enterprise can introduce Optique for more efficientand “smarter” data access. It is not unusual that large enterprises have great challenges utilizing the largeamount of information that their normal business operation generates. The Optique Platform and systemwill 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, anddescribe the roles of contributing staff. It will also advise on where the different parts of the Optique systemand methodology apply: the steps, resources and objectives that are needed in practice for an efficientintroduction 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.

2.5.2 Business Model Generation for Optique

In order to reduce risks and increase the likelihood of successful implementation, we propose to follow theBusiness Model Generation (BMG) process, an innovative but rather simple method originally developedby Alexander Osterwalder and a community of researchers and business experts. BMG offers a structuredway to describe, plan, implement and execute the commercialization of products and services. It is used byglobal enterprises, governmental organizations, SME’s and start-ups for the planning and introduction of allkind 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 fordelivering value and more. We will conduct a first workshop in 2014 to leverage BMG for commercializationof Optique.

BMG builds on the Business Model Canvas (BMC), a common and easily understandable framework fordescribing 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 onBMG and BMC can be found at http://www.businessmodelhub.com/page/business-model-canvas).

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http://www.businessmodelhub.com/page/business-model-canvas


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

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?

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?

Channels

Customer Relationships Customer Segments

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?

Mass MarketNiche MarketSegmentedDiversifiedMulti-sided Platform

examplesPersonal assistanceDedicated Personal AssistanceSelf-ServiceAutomated ServicesCommunitiesCo-creation

For whom are we creating value?Who are our most important customers?

What type of relationship does each of our CustomerSegments 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?

Value PropositionsKey ActivitiesKey Partners

Key Resources

Cost Structure

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 Key Activities do our Value Propositions require?Our Distribution Channels? Customer Relationships?Revenue streams?

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 Resources do our Value Propositions require?Our Distribution Channels? Customer Relationships?Revenue Streams?

characteristicsNewnessPerformanceCustomization“Getting the Job Done”DesignBrand/StatusPriceCost ReductionRisk ReductionAccessibilityConvenience/Usability

categoriesProductionProblem SolvingPlatform/Network

types of resourcesPhysicalIntellectual (brand patents, copyrights, data)HumanFinancial

motivations for partnerships:Optimization and economy Reduction of risk and uncertaintyAcquisition 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 costsEconomies of scaleEconomies of scope

www.businessmodelgeneration.com

The Business Model CanvasOn:

Iteration:

Designed by:Designed for:Day Month Year

No.

types:Asset saleUsage feeSubscription FeesLending/Renting/LeasingLicensingBrokerage feesAdvertising

fixed pricingList PriceProduct feature dependentCustomer segment dependentVolume dependent

dynamic pricingNegotiation( bargaining)Yield ManagementReal-time-Market

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

Figure 2.2: Overview of the Business Model Canvas by Alexander Osterwalder (under Creative CommonLicense)

2.5.3 The Optique Platform and System

The Optique Platform and System as an end product of the Optique project will consist of a modular systemof software components. The system will cover the full range of components that an enterprise requires inorder to add ontology-based query rewriting to its data management portfolio. The functional componentswill 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 includingall components, with a common user interface and points of connection to the existing infrastructure of

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databases. Alternatively, it will be possible to pick individual components, in particular for extending thefunctionality of existing applications or for serving local tasks that don’t require a full solution suite. Foreach component, there will be APIs defined for providing Optique capabilities to existing applications. Weexpect 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 querylanguage will also have special support for extensions of particular practical value. Optique will work toinclude support for special language domains into the portfolio of components, in particular temporal andspatial queries.

2.5.4 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. Anambitious project is likely to overshoot deadlines or budgets; a too modest project may represent too littleopportunity 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 databaseaccess necessarily requires a significant amount of time and effort from people that are certain tobe 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 applicationsin an efficient manner

2.6 Activity: Market analysis

The primary purpose of the Market analysis activity is to understand the data access challenges that com-panies 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 systemsand 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.

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• Integration of generations of relational database sources and applications: Status quo, and prioritizedimprovements

• 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 anOptique 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 themost 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 comprehensivesystem that comprises several different kinds of components. This needs to be reflected in the softwarelicensing agreements, which need not be equivalent for every module. We will explore and chart the availableoptions, and aim during Year 2 to establish a model for licensing that covers each module of the OptiquePlatform, as well as the platform as a whole.

The double aim of ensuring maximal impact and availability needs to be balanced with the requirementfor commercial sustainability. An often seen model is that of dual licensing arrangements, where a softwareproduct will be offered both in an open source edition, available to the community at no cost, and as acommercial product (fluid Operations’ Information Workbench product is a case in point). Having an opensource version of a software product considerably lowers the threshold for exploration and testing in anindustry setting. The open source product will typically be applied in development and proof-of-conceptphases. For operational systems, any company requires professional vendor support agreements, which areby 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. Inorder to attract more attention from the community and make it easier other researchers outside Optique tocontribute to the project, it was decided, in agreement with the Optique consortium, to publish the sourcecode of the Ontop framework. Starting with version 1.8, released 2013-07-23, the Ontop framework is providedunder a dual licensing scheme: (1) the Free Software Foundation’s GNU AGPL v3.0 and (2) alternativelicenses for commercial usage. Coinciding with the change to an open license, the source code for Ontop wasmoved to a public repository on the GitHub code hosting system (https://github.com/ontop/ontop).

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https://github.com/ontop/ontop

Chapter 3

Market Analysis

The purpose of this chapter is to give a preliminary outlook on the market targeted by Optique. Thisprovides a context for the planning and initial exploitation efforts. A more detailed market analysis will bedeveloped in iterations over the remainder of the project period, cf. section 2.6.

3.1 Target groups

In order to explore the competitive power of the Optique solutions we need to investigate the situation andtrends of the related markets. We will therefore investigate the Oil & Gas and Energy domains, as well asthe 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 andglobal 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. powerproduction 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 reliablyavailable, 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 percentand a net Profit Margin of 7 percent are alone the major integrated Oil and Gas companies not only one ofthe 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 determinedby a global market. Unlike in many other industries is this price highly volatile and influenced by thepolitical and economic environment. The industry itself is highly competitive and requiring huge amount ofinformation both at the Oil & Gas discovery and production but also for the logistic and all other businessprocesses.

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 highlygrowing demand and utilization of Big Data solutions in almost all industry areas. One of the early adoptersof Big Data is the Financial Services industry, where Banks still represent with almost 130,000 billion USD

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market capitalizations, an (after financial crisis) Return on Equity of 8.7 percent and a Net Profit Marginof 14 percent a significant role.

But the use of Big Data is by far not limited to Banks or Insurances. The Logistic Industry, Life Sciencesand Manufacturing (e.g. Automotive) are other examples of areas where the amount of data and informationis 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 partnerconsortium from both research and industry. An open semantic platform provides comprehensive and timelyaccess 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 relevantplayers and competitors. Results will reflect the positioning of the Optique solution and specifically map outwhat customers can expect beyond competitive solutions = competitive benefits.

Besides functionality, the pricing of the entire Optique solution will be a crucial element, as well asthe understanding of what third Party components will be required to accommodate the target customerrequirements. We will therefore gather information on pricing of competitive solutions and develop anunderstanding of how a compelling pricing of Optique should look like.

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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 andvendors. The program coordinator is the University of Oslo.

The Optique Partner Program provides a context for managing expectations and obligations in a waythat is predictable to both the Optique consortium and interested businesses. By signing up, companies canbe sure that Optique will be responsive in communication and follow-up activities. We believe the PartnerProgram 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 Optiqueproject reports: those results will be available for free, irrespective of participation.

Optique is working actively to promote the Partner Program to target industries, through personalmeetings on site as well as in conferences and on the web. A flyer has been distributed widely: see page19 for a facsimile. A homepage for the program has been set up at http://www.optique-project.eu/epp,providing additional information to interested parties and a contact form for booking a meeting: see page20. (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 networkbased in Oslo, fluid Operations arranging a German speaking network from Waldorf, Rome arranging anItalian 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 expectedto 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 willbe key to an enterprise’s future growth and profitability. Optique is delivering groundbreakingtechnology for data exploitation, and the Optique European Partner Programme provides accessto world leading expertise in the development and deployment of this technology. The programmeoffers 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 PartnerProgram 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’slimit on resources.

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http://www.optique-project.eu/epp


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 exploitationpossibilities by Optique project experts

• •

Option to acquire discounted Optique fluid Operations package byupgrading to Pilot Partner

•

6 person days Optique Proof-of-Concept implementationplanning/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 Partnersite

•

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 net-working 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 professionalsupport 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 companyand a dedicated contact person within the Optique project.

Optique consortium experts will work with the Partner company to identify suitable domains to whichOptique 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.

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4.4 Pilot Partner: “Proof of Concept Implementation”

The Pilot Partner level allows companies to build experience with a working prototype implementation ofthe Optique system. Quoting the promotional material,

The Pilot Partner level additionally includes unlimited access to the Optique System for theduration of the membership, as well as access to Optique experts to implement and customizethe Optique System based on the company’s usage areas. Travel costs will be added for workonsite at the respective partner. Additional assistance from Optique Project experts or fluidOperations AG can be purchased for €1.200,- / person day. Fixed price assistance can be offeredon request. Optique fluid Operations package is provided by fluid Operations AG. Softwaremaintenance 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 thecompany’s existing ICT infrastructure, and develops proof-of-concept mappings from existing real data to apreliminary ontology.

The following is included in the Pilot partner package, in addition to the Network Partner and DiscussionPartner components.

• 6 person days Optique Proof-of-Concept implementation planning/assistance by Optique Project ex-perts 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.

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Image credit: “Siemens press picture”

Contact details:ARILD [email protected]/epp

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 expertisein 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.

*

Figure 4.1: Optique Partner Program tri-fold flyer, 2013, outside spread

Part of Optique project network with first hand access to information.

Bi-annual newsletter. Annual partner conference.

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.

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.

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.

Build Knowledge and Network

Benefit Analysis Build Knowledge and Network

Proof of Concept implementation Benefit Analysis Build Knowledge and Network

Annual Price – €59.900 *Annual Price – €14.900 *Annual Price – € 4.900 *

Figure 4.2: Optique Partner Program tri-fold flyer, 2013, inside spread

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Figure 4.3: The Optique Partner Program homepage at http://www.optique-project.eu/epp (excerpt)

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