Technology is developed by vendors and sold to manufacturers every day. But in bit of a role reversal, two large oil and gas companies recently licensed applications developed in-house to their automation suppliers.
In January, Honeywell announced it had acquired the rights to a data collection application developed by Shell Global Solutions. Invensys followed suit in March with a deal that allows the vendor to sub-license a suite of refinery process models from Exxon-Mobil Research and Engineering Co. (EMRE).
These are very different kinds of applications. The Shell application is focused on delivering real-time information for asset management. The ExxonMobil technology optimizes processes and models in a refinery. But for process automation providers, such as Honeywell and Invensys, that are trying to become entrenched in an industry that requires deep domain knowledge, having technology developed directly by the oil companies provides instant credibility.
This type of “reverse licensing” agreement is not a completely new phenomenon. “In the past, we’ve licensed tools from customers,” said Harpreet Gulati, director of simulation and optimization at Invensys Operations management. For example, Invensys has licensed upstream network simulation software from Chevron. But, for the most part, the agreements of the past were fairly standard in that they did not contain any intellectual property considered competitive.