ACTIVITIES :: eTen :: News Room :: News from the projects :: OPTESS
The OPTESS service, connecting the offshore platforms with a network of medical centres of excellence providing telemedicine services, represents a concrete improvement of the overall efficiency of the healthcare system in the oil and gas sector.
The project finished in August 2006. The OPTESS Market Validation project proved the feasibility of the OPTESS service and its profitability from a business point of view. There is in fact a potential market for the deployment of the OPTESS telemedicine service.
The dissemination activities of the OPTESS project created great interest on the provision of telemedicine services in the oil and gas sector. Contacts with other potential customers are advanced and will be further exploited in the future. Hence, there is a strong commitment by some – including external - partners in entering the deployment phase of the OPTESS service and to share the investment costs. The plan is to create a new company - OPTESS Newco - for the delivery of the service engaging the partners according to their respective market objectives, competencies and further will of investment.
Apart from the provision of telemedecine services, the new company will also act as system integrator in order to set up the technical facilities. OPTESS can be presented as a success story and the experience within this project will provide the start-up company with a competitive advantage.
As a proof of such a success, the OPTESS telemedicine project on board Total Alwyn North has been awarded as the best project in the "Safety" category, at the Energy Institute 2006 Awards. The Energy Institute (EI) is the leading professional body for the energy industries, supporting almost 12,000 professionals both nationally and internationally. The EI Awards 2006 celebrate innovation and the achievement of excellence in the oil and gas world. The award is a very high recognition of the work done and of the results achieved by the end of the market validation phase of the OPTESS project. The ceremony, chaired by Lord Sebastian Coe, president of the 2012 London Olympic Committee, took place at the Savoy Hotel in London, and was attended by more than 250 delegates of, practically, all the oil and gas companies in UK and abroad (including top managers and decision makers).