Editor's Corner -- The Fall season is upon us and with it has come numerous events, announcements and personnel additions; it's been another busy quarter at Petris.

Petris is gearing up to host its annual Technology Conference and User Group Meeting. If you have not already signed up to attend, then now is the perfect time--check the website for updates, including an updated agenda with more details.

This is the third edition of PetrisNEWS for 2007; as always, please continue to let us know your thoughts and comments.

This year's keynote address will be delivered by Dr. Peter Bishop, Associate Professor of Strategic Foresight at the University of Houston. Dr. Bishop specializes in techniques for long term forecasting and planning; his clients include IBM, the NASA Johnson Space Center, Nestle USA, Tetra Pak, the Defense and Central Intelligence Agencies, and more.

Then, from future studies to the history of our ancestors, we will be hosting a reception at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. There, you will have the chance to see Lucy, the oldest and most complete adult human ancestor fully retrieved from African soil. Her exhibition in Houston marks the first time Lucy has been displayed in public outside her native Ethiopia.

The exhibit is truly fascinating and informative; don't miss this rare chance to meet the earliest known members of our species.

Online registration for this year's Technology Conference and User Group meeting is still open - space is limited, so please register soon. The fee to attend will remain at $375 through the end of September.

You can find the official agenda on our website - be sure to check it for updates and more detailed information.

Petris is hosting this world recognized course covering the latest technical advances and field experience with horizontal and more complex exploitation well design, construction and operations.

The Horizontal Well Technology course will be held in Houston on 22-26 October, 2007. The course will be offered again in London on 3-7 December, 2007.

The course will be delivered by Bob Knoll, one of the worlds leading experts in horizontal and complex wells.

The Petris Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is now available on our website. Initially we are covering PetrisWINDS Enterprise and Recall. This online resource is designed to provide an overview of how the software works and what it can do for your organization as well as provide users with enough information to begin using the software effectively.

Petris' Dynamic Common Model (DCM), a technology that enables data federation and exchange, has been awarded a second US Patent (No. 7,257,594, August 14, 2007).

The new, additional patent describes "loose coupling" of the system components used for data integration. This patent describes extracting data from a datastore using XML, loading it into a 'catalog' and using the catalog as the basis for searching. The catalog contains both the search attributes and the 'address' of the original data.

Petris will be attending the following shows this fall. Please be sure to visit our booth to learn what direction Petris is headed and for your chance at winning a free bottle of wine.