El Paso Pipeline Group

Highlights

• El Paso needed to reduce their growing software maintenance costs as they experience a downturn in the economy.
• Management lacked detailed information about actual usage.
• The Open iT solution improved checkout and usage practices and eliminated unnecessary purchases.
• By tracking actual usage patterns, El Paso saved hundreds of thousands of dollars during first year of use.

El Paso Pipeline Group owns the largest natural gas pipeline system in North America, and supplies major markets as the nation’s leading interstate gas franchise. With over 5000 employees in Brazil and the United States, El Paso has established itself as a leading producer in two core areas of business, pipelines and exploration/production.

Business Challenge

El Paso has a large inventory of expensive geosciences and engineering applications to aid their efforts in exploring for hydrocarbons and safely bring them to the surface. In the midst of a global economic downturn, the company spent significant time and effort to reduce their growing software maintenance costs.

High-end software was managed by FlexNet, which allowed the company to view license checkout activity, but lacked the ability to track usage and productivity levels. When the IT department received requests for high-end software claiming they were at full capacity using existing licenses, the IT team knew they needed more detailed information about actual usage. They also needed to limit server-based licensing to avoid potential hardware expansions.