Archimedes Consulting Pty Ltd

Archimedes Consulting Pty Ltd specialises in advanced processing and analysis of the Earth's magnetic and gravity fields with a view to aiding petroleum and mineral exploration. The internationally recognised form provides world-class processing and interpretation of high-resolution aeromagnetic field data. Deep crustal studies are undertaken with the specific interest of denining exploration targets for minerals explorers. The approach taken by Archimedes Consulting to interpretation is unique in that the methods provide results that are competitive with deep reflection seismic methods.

'In our processing of high-resolution aeromagnetic data, it is essential to use powerful multiprocessor computers,' says Dr Irena Kivior, Managing Director of Archimedes Consulting. 'Processing very large data sets requires intense computing and without access to eResearch SA machines it would be considerably more difficult to generate an output for petroleum exploration companies which is competitive with seismic data.' The resulting high-value information can save millions of dollars for petroleum exploration companies.

The link between Archimedes Consulting and eResearch SA was forged while Dr Kivior was working at the University of Adelaide and using University supercomputers in her research. When she formed Archimedes Consulting several years ago, the company became a commercial user of the facilities. The firm continues to use the supercomputing facility for research work with the National Centre of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics.

The techniques used by Archimedes Consulting to analyse data after the initial interpretation involved two principle methods: energy spectral analysis (ESA on grid date) and automatic curve matching (ACM on profile data).

Special processing, analysis and interpretation of aeromagnetic data for hydrocarbon exploration has been undertaken over many sedimentary basins including:

• in Australia, the North West shelf basins, Exmouth Sub-basin, the Barrow/Dampier Sub-basin, Amadeus Basin, Perth Basin and Bowen Basin
• in Egypt, the Gulf of Suez and the Red Sea
• in Saudi Arabia, the Eastern Province Basin, and
• petroleum provinces in the United Arab Emirates.

Proen Design Australia Pty Ltd: Engineering and design

Proen Design Australia is a leading product design and engineering consultancy based in Adelaide, South Australia. Proen combines extensive product design experience with highly sophisticated, state-of-the-art technology to provide product development services from concept design through to manufacture for Australian and international clients.

Proen clients come from a wide range of industries including consumer goods such as water purifiers and EFTPOS terminals, appliances including dishwashers and cooktops, automotive components like alloy wheels and truck chassis, and defence. The engineering analysis performed for clients in these industries places extremely high demands on computing resources, and Proen meets these by using facilities offered by eResearch SA.

Using eResearch SA's advanced supercomputing facilities, Proen can dramatically increase the scale and speed of its models to provide world-class solutions. The availability of these resources is a significant competitive advantage for Proen as the company works to grow its business in a global marketplace.

"With these facilities available to us, we have confidence that we can take on a job of any size," says George Campbell, Proen's director of computer-aided engineering services.

Proen's association with eResearch SA began several years ago in a South Australian university entrepreneurial initiative in which several Proen principals took part. They established an engineering business under the scheme and were able to take advantage of the computing facilities available to them.

Specialists within Proen are equipped to undertake a wide range of product research tasks, and the company's capabilities are further enhanced by strong links with educational institutions. Its research services include innovation and IP generation, technology transfer, market research, and applied research such as acoustic modelling and computational fluid dynamics.

United Water: Distributed systems and environmental technology

Established in 1996, United Water is the largest private water company operating in Australia and New Zealand, providing comprehensive water and wastewater services to more than 1 million people.

In Adelaide, South Australia, United Water is responsible for the management, maintenance and operation of six water treatment plants, four wastewater treatment plants, 130 storage tanks and 300 pumping stations, plus a 15,000km pipe network.

United Water also undertakes extensive research and development activities in both Australia and New Zealand to improve water and wastewater quality. United Water is a key node in the international research and development network of parent companies Thames Water and Vivendi Water. The company's research and development team is based in Adelaide.

UWI R&D is committed to exploring the application of high performance computing to enhance ongoing investigations into water distribution systems (optimisation of capital works programs as well as operations), reservoir modelling (pathogen fates and nutrient cycles), environmental biology (algal population modelling), computational fluid dynamics (water and wastewater treatment process design), and other areas of water resource and intrastructure management.

This committment is represented by a financial contribution to eResearch SA. Research and development is an essential component of United Water's success. The company conducts research internally to ensure that it is constantly innovative for its parent companies, Thames Water and Vivendi Environment, in the areas of water/biosolids reuse and management of algae and as contract researchers for a range of clients.

UWI partners include universities, cooperative research centres, government agencies, local councils, the Centre for Groundwater Studies, Thames Water, Vivendi Environment, other private utilities and the Australian Water Quality Centre. United Water's clients include local councils, state governments, private owners of systems and consultants.