Locus Technologies Expands EIM Software to Manage Hydro Fracturing Data

Water-quality software maker expands its offering to meet natural gas industry demand

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., 7 March 2011  — Locus Technologies (Locus), the industry leader in Web-based environmental software, announced today that it has expanded its flagship product to manage data and information for natural gas exploration and production sites that use hydro fracturing to extract gas from shale.

Locus designed this expanded module in its Environmental Information Management (EIM) software specifically to meet the hydro fracturing industry’s needs for managing subsurface and water quality data. Since EIM has been used for more than 10 years at many oil and gas exploration sites and nuclear facilities nationwide, the system upgrade provides for rapid deployment, an unmatched level of functionality and data security, data validation, and scalability.

The relatively new drilling method for natural gas extraction—known as high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking—carries significant environmental risks. It involves injecting large amounts of water, mixed with sand and chemicals, at high pressure to break up rock formations and release gas deposits. Anywhere from 10 to 40 percent of the water sent down the well during hydrofracking returns to the surface, carrying drilling chemicals, very high levels of salts and, at times, naturally occurring radioactive material. There were more than 493,000 active natural-gas wells in the United States in 2009, almost double the number in 1990, according to the New York Times. Around 90 percent have used hydrofracking to get more gas flowing, according to the drilling industry.

“The hydrofracking industry has been in the spotlight in recent months and Locus wanted to provide this sector with a tool to prove its case to the public and regulators that natural gas production using hydrofracking can be done safely and transparently without jeopardizing drinking water supplies,” said Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus.

“We expanded our software offerings to manage and visualize water, waste, wastewater, drilling fluids, radionuclides and air emissions more effectively online. Since this industry is subject to a different set of state and federal regulatory guidance, we felt that the market needed an off-the-shelf tool to manage hydrofracking data. Locus’ software provides any natural gas production site that has a need for data management and reporting—and almost all have—the necessary functionality to meet these requirements,” he continued.

For the natural gas industry to stay in compliance with ever-stricter laws to protect drinking water supplies and air emissions, drilling companies need better ways to organize hydrofracking waste data in order to demonstrate to the public and regulators that hydrofracking activities are not endangering natural resources. They also need to prove that any dangerous waste from the wells is handled in compliance with state and federal laws. The EIM software upgrade helps address these needs for natural gas companies.

CR Magazine – Radioactive Data Tsunami

Environmental Business Journal Recognizes Locus Technologies for Achievements in Growth and Sustainability Offerings

Locus Technologies will be honored at the Environmental Industry Summit IX Hotel Del Coronado, Calif., March 9, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., 22 February 2011  — Environmental Business Journal (EBJ), a business research publication that provides strategic business intelligence for the environmental industry, announced the winners of its 2010 Business Achievement awards.

Locus Technologies is pleased to announce that it was chosen to receive the EBJ award for business achievement among IT companies.

“Although 2010 was a difficult year, there was some noteworthy business activity in the environmental industry in 2010,” said Grant Ferrier, president of Environmental Business International Inc. (EBI), who singled out renewable energy development, environmental information technology, remediation, and mergers and acquisitions as growth areas.

The journal announced the winners in a recent issue, and representatives of the winning companies will be recognized during a special ceremony at EBI’s upcoming Environmental Industry Summit IX in Coronado, Calif., on March 9, 2011.

Locus Technologies was recognized for introducing several product enhancements and adding new clients in 2010. Over the past year, many of the firm’s Environmental Information Management (EIM) customers expanded their deployments of Locus into operations data management, using strategic business intelligence tools to maintain environmental compliance, manage organizational change, track sustainability, and respond to upcoming environmental requirements, including GHG reporting and resource management. To meet this demand, last year Locus rolled out an upgraded ePortal computing platform and added enhanced compliance, resource management, and air modules.

The firm signed multiple new customers in the nuclear (Exelon and Southern California Edison) and fossil-fuel power generation sectors, and increased its ePortal compliance platform use by 400 percent. Locus also added over 30 new customers for GHG services, including companies such as Ameresco, Stanford University, General Chemical, Lehigh Cement, United Airlines, and U.S. Pipe & Foundry.

In November, Locus’ water footprint and spatial analysis capability was recognized by software industry research analyst Gartner, and in December Locus obtained a second layer of SAS70 certification for its cloud computing operations.

To read about the EBJ awards.

 

ABOUT EBI
Founded in 1988, Environmental Business International Inc. (EBI, San Diego, Calif.) is a research, publishing and consulting company that specializes in defining emerging markets and generating strategic market intelligence for companies, investors and policymakers. EBI publishes Environmental Business Journal®, the leading provider of strategic information for the environmental industry, and Climate Change Business Journal®, which covers nine segments of the Climate Change Industry. EBI also performs contract research for the government and private sector and owns the Environmental Industry Summit, an annual three-day event for executives in the environmental industry.

Locus Receives SAS 70 Certification

Locus Cloud Computing Environmental Software Platform SAS 70 Certified

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., 18 January 2011 — Locus Technologies, the industry leader in web-based environmental compliance and information management software, announced that it has been certified as compliant with the Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70: Service Organizations (SAS 70).

Locus passed an in-depth audit of its control objectives activities pertaining to database management and information technology. The certification places Locus in a rare category among environmental data management providers to have attained the rigorous classification. In today’s risk-management environment, it is essential that service providers like Locus demonstrate that they have adequate controls and safeguards in place so customers can be confident that their data are safe.

“By becoming SAS 70 certified, Locus shows that we are not only in compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, but that we hold the security of our customers’ data paramount,” said Dr. Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus Technologies.

“Whether your environmental data are currently hosted by another provider, or you’re searching for a company to manage your data, your company should demand evidence that your data are safe and protected by a highly controlled process. We are pleased to know that our customers’ environmental data for water, sustainability, emissions, and greenhouse gas data have been deemed to be in full compliance with SAS 70,” continued Duplan.

In addition to being SAS 70 certified, Locus requires that its key suppliers also comply with SAS 70 standards. For example, Locus’ data center and cloud hosting provider have been certified recently to have processes and safeguards in place. These safeguards are designed to protect Locus’ assets and data that reside in the company’s managed hosting services data center. A service auditor’s examination—performed in accordance with SAS No. 70 Type II—is widely recognized because it confirms that a service organization has been through an in-depth audit of its control objectives and activities, which includes controls over information technology services and related processes.

Completion of the SAS 70 Type II examination of Locus’ managed hosting data center proves that an independent accounting and auditing firm has formally evaluated the company’s processes, procedures, and controls. The examination included controls related to service delivery, support services, security, monitoring, change management, data backup, environmental controls, and logical and physical access.

SAS 70 is designated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as an acceptable method for an organization’s management to obtain assurance about a third-party service organization’s internal controls without conducting a separate assessment.

As the world’s most comprehensive on-demand software for organizing environmental data and information, Locus is the partner of choice for all organizations that seek a credible and cost-effective solution to their energy and environmental management and reporting needs.

Locus Introduces Augmented Reality to Integrated Portal for Environmental, Energy, Water, Resource, and Emissions Management

Locus Expands ePortal to Address a Growing Need for Environmental Enterprise Resource Planning (EERP)

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., 6 December 2010  — Locus Technologies (Locus), the industry leader in web-based environmental compliance and information management software, announced today new and expanded features and functionalities of ePortal, its award winning software platform for environmental and energy information management. This fifth generation version of the platform introduces a new Rich Internet Application (RIA)-based user interface that provides enhanced usability, improved work flows, and Augmented Reality (AR).

ePortal now provides customers with a single integrated portal platform to capture, organize, visualize, and report all key facility environmental information in a central, enterprise database offered in the cloud. The platform enables simplified work flows and advanced visualization that includes AR to create individualized views of information across media and resources. With the use of the ePortal software clients can manage all aspects of their regulatory compliance, energy and water usage, water quality, air emissions, GHG reporting, health and safety and much more. In short, ePortal provides the most advanced approach to the complex EERP challenges that face many companies today.

Locus’ ePortal is built around the familiar Conceptual Site Model (CSM). By design, CSM is multidisciplinary and encompasses both legacy and ongoing information about a site or facility. It can be viewed as a cube drawn around a site, part of which is underground and part above ground. All relevant inputs to and outputs from the cube are monitored and recorded. On the input side, utilities such as electricity, gas, and water, and raw materials are tracked. Outputs include air, water, and soil discharges and waste. Equipment within the cube such as boilers, stacks, tanks, and so forth become assets that have various attributes that must be recorded, stored, and often reported on.

For companies that adopt ePortal, it becomes the enterprise Business Intelligence (BI) dashboard for managing the many aspects of the sustainable enterprise. It synthesizes and crystallizes what is already known about a site or facility and augments that information with ongoing monitoring and reporting. Companies are able to report and forecast the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) in real time across multiple hierarchical views. ePortal brings Augmented Reality to CSM.

Using Locus’ CSM-based approach, clients can take a more holistic view of their enterprise, enabling them to reduce both their compliance expenditures and their operational costs. In particular, ePortal provides enterprise tools to reduce and optimize consumption of various resources to lower GHG emissions and encourage more sustainable growth. Simplification of facility management based on a CSM approach recognizes that businesses need a flexible, easy to understand, multi-media solution in today’s multi-regulatory world. Locus’ CSM-based environmental portal provides the tools to quantify environmental liabilities, manage sustainability and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, report water footprint, organize compliance and Health and Safety (H&S) records, accurately report to regulators, and run what-if analysis to facilitate forecasting.

“The increased sophistication of the corporate customer, combined with the recent challenging economic climate has fueled the need for easy to use integrated solutions that allow fewer people to manage more using less. That was the driving force behind ePortal’s recent update, which provides a single software solution, across the various regulated media. Historically, many companies have built silo applications that deal with one or a few reporting requirements and associated data management needs. In fact, some companies have been building software solutions in this space for over a decade. But what has been lacking in the market space is an integrated solution that brings many if not all environmental, energy, water and other compliance and consumption requirements under a single portal infrastructure and Single Sign On (SSO) on the web. What industry wants and needs is an integrated system similar to ERP that would manage all their environmental, energy, water, and other sustainability needs. That is exactly what we have built and are happy to offer it to our clients,” said Dr. Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus.

Locus Scored in Green Quadrant of Carbon and Energy Management Software Report

Locus’ Cloud-based Software High on Leading Analysts Lists

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., 22 November 2010 — Locus Technologies (Locus), the industry leader in web-based environmental compliance and information management software, has been recognized as one of the top 28 firms for greenhouse gas (GHG) and Energy Management software in the report, “Green Quadrant® Carbon and Energy Management Software, 2010.” This report by Verdantix, an independent analyst firm focused on sustainable business strategies and market opportunities, comes only weeks after Gartner, Inc., the leading provider of research and analysis on the global information technology industry, in another study entitled “Sustainable Business Systems: Differentiating Sustainable Solutions by Functional Domain,” recognized Locus as a high growth, high foresight company whose software brings to its customers high enterprise efficiency and optimization intelligence. Gartner also recognized Locus’ focused analysis of key environmental parameters, including water foot-printing, and its incorporation of spatial data analysis in all of its SaaS solutions.

“Based on the insights from our customer panel and our in-depth interviews we define carbon and energy management software as: Software designed to help individuals responsible for carbon and energy management to collect, store, audit, report, analyze, and forecast carbon emissions and energy consumption data to meet business objectives such as planning, reduction, budgeting, compliance and trading,” said David Metcalfe, Verdantix Director. “The global market for carbon and energy software is intensely competitive — buyers choose from over 100 suppliers. To help buyers save time, save money and reduce risk in their selection process this Verdantix Green Quadrant report compares the 28 software applications that pre-qualify as a potential fit for $1 billion revenue firms. Our analysis is based on interviews with 15 buyers collectively representing firms with revenues of $260 billion, live demonstrations of the 28 applications and supplier responses to a 99 point questionnaire. Before jumping to conclusions about the best fit supplier, buyers need to conduct a detailed assessment of their business strategy, available budget and usage scenarios. Suppliers in the Challenger, Specialist and Entrepreneur Quadrants may meet requirements just as well as the Leaders,” added Mr. Metcalfe.

The Verdantix report recognized that Locus Technologies’ environmental compliance software has evolved into broader sustainable business software. The report states that Locus is one of only two firms in the Entrepreneurs Quadrant that claim more than 10 customers with more than $1 billion in revenue. The report further states that “the Entrepreneurs have more opportunity to win customers in the price-sensitive mid-market.” Overall, Locus scored strong in customer momentum, master data management and financial resources.

“We are very pleased that some of the leading industry analysts, first Gartner, and now Verdantix, have recognized Locus as a potential fit for $1 billion revenue firms in the sustainability, carbon and energy software space,” said Dr. Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus. “With our suite of diverse but well integrated products to organize water, energy, waste and carbon emissions information across different regulatory frameworks, Locus is well positioned to continue to lead the environmental software market. Locus has served this market exceptionally well since 1997, and maintains the leading position in many of its segments,” noted Dr. Duplan.

The environmental software market has become a multi-billion dollar industry with new players entering almost weekly. The current environmental software leaders in the Verdantix report include a mix of startups funded by venture capital and longtime software players from other arenas. According to Dr. Duplan, “Locus stands apart from this competition in terms of its long history and domain expertise. Since its founding 13 years ago, Locus has compiled a proven track record of delivering complex environmental information management and compliance solutions over the Internet to some of the world largest companies.” The company integrates a deep and versatile set of applications that not only manage GHGs but also provide management of other, mission-critical environmental data and information, such as water quality and resource consumption management.

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) Extends the Deadline for Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting

Two-month grace period for operators subject to 1 October 2010 verification deadline

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) announced the deadline extension for operators subject to 1 October 2010 verification deadline

The reason for extension is that ARB understands that most reporters and verifiers are still learning the verification requirements in the Mandatory Reporting Regulation (Regulation) and understanding the verification process. In order to ensure adequate time for reporters and verifiers subject to the Regulation’s 1 October 2010 verification deadline, ARB is administratively providing a one-time grace period of two months for submission of the verification opinions due by that date. As such, verification opinions subject to the 1 October 2010 deadline must be submitted by 1 December 2010.

For more information, please visit: www.arb.ca.gov

Locus Wins Over a Dozen New Greenhouse Gas Verification Contracts

Locus takes the lead in GHG verification services for California Air Resources Board

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., August 16, 2010 — Locus Technologies (Locus), the industry leader in web-based environmental compliance and information management software, has been selected for over a dozen new greenhouse gases (GHG) verification services contracts.

The GHG verification services cover facilities in California that are regulated by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). Locus is accredited as a verification body through CARB and has Lead Verifiers certified in all reporting sectors, including cement plants, refineries, and electrical transactions. As a part of these contracts, Locus Lead Verifiers will perform mandatory verification of CO2 emissions at selected California facilities. While verification is a requirement this year through AB32, companies are also using 3rd party verification to promote their brands and the accuracy of their emissions information.

The new GHG verification contracts include the following companies: Ameresco, Cardinal Cogen Inc., City of Oxnard, DG Fairhaven Power LLC. (owned by Marubeni Corporation), General Chemical, Lehigh Southwest Cement, Monterey Regional Waste Management District, Roseburg Forest Products, SRI International Cogen (operated and managed by International Power Technology Inc.), United Airlines, and US Pipe & Foundry. Several of the new awarded contracts cover multiple facilities.

“We are very pleased to have been selected by so many well-recognized firms for GHG verification services. Locus continues to expand its carbon practice at a rapid pace. Coupled with our carbon software services and domain expertise in all three key AB 32 reporting sectors in California including cement, refineries, and electrical transactions, Locus is becoming a partner of choice for all companies wishing to be credible in their carbon reporting needs.” said Neno Duplan, President and CEO of Locus.

Locus Introduces Worldwide Accreditation of Analytical Laboratories Electronic Data Delivery

Locus Introduces Worldwide Accreditation of Analytical Laboratories Electronic Data Delivery

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., June 28, 2010 — Locus Technologies (Locus), the industry leader in web-based environmental compliance and information management software, has introduced an accreditation process for analytical laboratories to deliver analytical data into Locus’ award winning, cloud-based Environmental Information Management (EIM) system. A growing need exists for a standardized format for transmitting environmental electronic data. There are more than 15 different standards in use in the U.S. alone, most of which are antiquated. Standards in the rest of the world also lack consistency leading to increased processing costs by all consumers of analytical data. The Locus EDD accreditation process is intended to help industry and analytical laboratories drive standards, consolidation, and ultimately, the creation of error-free defendable datasets.

The formal process includes the generation and upload of test EDDs to ensure that each Laboratory Information Management System or LIMS can deliver data according to Locus EIM and customer requirements. This testing is followed up by a training session that covers how to upload EDDs into EIM and resolve common errors that may be automatically flagged as the EDDs are evaluated for errors. The objective of the accreditation process is to have laboratories gain the necessary experience and expertise to routinely deliver error-free submittals of analytical results to EIM, thus allowing the data to become actionable and consumed by consultants and site owners almost immediately.

There is a nominal accreditation processing fee and annual renewal that is easily recovered through gained efficiency. Laboratories that would like to become accredited and meet certain criteria can apply at Locus’ web site. The accreditation process may take up to 90 days. Once accredited, the labs are added to the list of accredited labs on the Locus web site. During the initial round, Locus accredited the following laboratories: US: TestAmerica (TN and CA), Accutest (NJ and MA), Calscience (CA), Lancaster Labs (PA), Columbia Analytical, Air Toxics, BC Laboratories, Del Mar Analytical, Merit Labs, Xenco Labs, and Oilfield Environmental and Compliance, Inc; Worldwide: Maxxam, Canada; BMG Engineering, Switzerland, ALS Environmental, Australia, Wessling Laboratory, France, Eurofins (Analytis), Germany, CHELAB s.r.l., Italy, LAV s.r.l., Italy, Analytico Milieu n.v., Netherlands, Pace Labs, Puerto Rico, and Pro Analysis, Argentina.

In 2007 Locus introduced a set of standard Electronic Data Deliverable (EDD) formats for the reporting of environmental laboratory analytical data. Since that time, Locus has witnessed exponential growth in the number of EDDs submitted from the laboratories directly into the company’s flagship product, EIM™. Locus customers, analytical laboratories, and consulting companies have benefited from the standardized format and automated workflow process for transmitting EDDs directly into EIM via the web, bypassing the manual email-based approach, thus significantly reducing processing and rework costs.

The contents and flexibility of the Locus EDD formats permit data to be validated on arrival into EIM to EPA’s Level II, if a customer so desires. Locus envisions its formats to be transitional for the companies and laboratories that are not yet ready to adopt XML-based technology, but are tired of dealing with multiple and antiquated file formats, which only serve to increase costs. In addition, some of the old format “standards” suffer from the requirement that data be submitted in multiple files, while other formats have antiquated requirements related to field lengths or valid values that originated at a time when hard disk space was at a premium. Locus’ EDDs eliminate these requirements.

“Locus believes that the promulgation of a standardized single-file format will allow laboratories to reduce the costs of creating EDDs, minimize errors in the transmission and reporting of data, and more quickly support new EIM clients while reducing processing costs,” said Locus’ president and CEO, Neno Duplan.

TestAmerica President and CEO Rachel Brydon Jannetta offered, “Our clients are acutely focused on data management and deliverables challenges and it is key to our mission to provide solutions in this regard. Whenever we can work with a firm such as Locus to enhance the link from the lab data to environmental decision making, we know we have added value to our client’s objectives.”

“As the leader in environmental data management software, Locus strives to provide guidance, direction, and endorsement to the best ideas in an effort to standardize data management processes. Such efforts are sorely needed in an industry that is experiencing explosive growth in the volume of analytical testing. Currently, there are more than 15 different standards for analytical data submittals, and this needs to change. We believe that the standards that Locus has introduced and that much of the industry now follows, coupled with our accreditation program, will help drive greater uniformity, lower overall costs, and lead to better and faster reporting of environmental data,” added Neno Duplan.

Locus’ flexible EDD processing tool will continue to support all major regulatory driven standards such as U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) based Staged Electronic Data Deliverable (SEDD) format and the State of California’s Water Resources Control Board AB2886 reporting requirements also known as EDF.

 

ABOUT TESTAMERICA
TestAmerica is the leading environmental testing firm in the United States, including 36 laboratories and 33 service centers. TestAmerica provides innovative technical expertise and comprehensive analytical testing services. Specialty analyses include source and ambient air, aquatic toxicity, explosives, specialty organics, dioxins, drinking water, sediments and tissues, emerging contaminants, radiochemistry and mixed waste testing.

For more information, visit www.testamericainc.com or contact Mr. James H. Miller, Vice President, at 716.691.2600

SJ Business Journal Business Profile: Locus Technologies helps manage clients’ environmental footprint

The company says its flagship product, Environmental Information Management, is the world’s largest commercial, on-demand environmental data management system.