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Paradigm, the premier provider of advanced petroleum geoscience and drilling technology to the oil and gas exploration and production industry, and T H Hill, the drillstring structural experts, announce their agreement to jointly develop advanced software for Well Planning and Drilling Engineering. Specifically, the two companies will provide the industry with tools that support the use of TH Hill's newly released DS-1 Third Edition Standard for Drill Stem Design and Operation, a major innovation that revolutionizes drillstring design by allowing the quantitative comparison of drillstring fatigue for different well designs. The two companies have signed an agreement giving Paradigm the exclusive right to commercialize software that verifies compliance with the DS-1 Third Edition Design Groups. The initial product verifying DS-1 Design compliance for a well design is a fully integrated add-on module to Paradigm's Sysdrill product line. The Sysdrill product line comprises a tightly integrated suite of Well Planning and Drilling Engineering applications, designed to enable drilling engineers to model all phases of wellbore construction, in order to reduce drilling risk and costs. The addition of DS-1 technology will allow the comparison of well designs from a drillstring fatigue perspective. Approximately 80% of drillstring failures are due to fatigue, and this is the first design tool that effectively addresses this risk. In addition to the DS-1 technology, T H Hill will transfer the technology in its Well Optimizer software to Paradigm, for incorporation into the Sysdrill suite, and T H Hill will adopt Sysdrill as its engineering system offering, to support its Drilling Engineering consulting business. Paradigm's Sysdrill products are fully integrated with its industry-leading geoscience software, and support a wide range of seamless, multi-disciplinary workflows, including 3D well planning in Pore Pressure environments and Geosteering. Paradigm's epos data management and interoperability integration framework ensures unrivalled access to and support for a wide variety of third-party data stores, for maximum productivity and ease of use. T H Hill is the recognized industry leader in drillstring design and quality management. A technology leader since 1980, T H Hill has established DS-1 as the global standard in drill stem design, inspection and operation. The new third edition of DS-1 was sponsored by a global consortium of thirty-six companies and comprises three volumes: Manufacturing, Design & Operation, and Inspection. In addition to its work with the DS-1 standard, T H Hill provides engineering and quality management services to the drilling industry. Shawn Altizer, Vice-President Marketing & Business Development at T H Hill, said, "Our agreement with Paradigm allows us to focus on what we do best - the development of new technologies and their application to drill stem structural integrity. Additionally, we feel that Paradigm's position in the software industry allows us to reach a broader market with the revolutionary fatigue design methodologies found in DS-1 third edition." John Turvill, Sysdrill Product Manager, added, "The agreement with T H Hill reinforces Paradigm's commitment to provide our customers with leading-edge technology in all areas. Full integration of DS-1 Design Compliance verification with the existing Sysdrill applications provides a powerful tool for optimizing well designs for fatigue, thus reducing risk and drilling costs. In addition to the unique benefits of the DS-1 technology, T H Hill has long been recognized as the 'drillstring expert'. Its adoption of Sysdrill software and our close working relationship will enable all our customers to benefit from our mutual expertise." Paradigm and T H Hill will both be featured in the HP booth (#2045) at the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Annual Technical Conference in Houston, Texas, September 26-29. Paradigm provides information solutions to the leaders of the oil and gas industry worldwide. The company has a global network of sales, service and user support, with 22 offices in 19 countries, serving all major oil and gas producing provinces in the world. Paradigm's advanced set of Software Solutions and Integrated Services, in the form of Trace-to-Target workflows, covers every step in the oil and gas E&P process, from Data Processing and Imaging; through advanced Visualization, Interpretation and Earth Modeling; to Reservoir Characterization and Petrophysics; up to Well Planning and Drilling Operations. These solutions are supported by the epos Data Management and Interoperability integration framework.