MEDIA RELEASE PR37601
Meridium and PIA Group Form Unique Alliance to Provide Asia-Pacific Region with Revolutionary
Data-Hosting Service
BANGKOK, Dec. 16 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --
Meridium, the world leader in asset performance management (APM) software and consulting solutions,
and PIA (Plant Integrity Assurance Ltd) Group Sdn Bhd, a prominent plant integrity services company based in
southeast Asia, have partnered to provide Asia-Pacific customers with a range of Meridium APM tools and
services through a revolutionary data-hosting service.
Meridium, headquartered in the U.S.A. with worldwide locations, and the PIA Group, operating from Brunei
with additional capabilities in Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam, have been working on this strategic alliance
for several months. According to Glen Gannon, Group Operations Manager for PIA Group, "During this global
economic crunch, offering the combined services of both companies could not have been launched at a better
time to provide significant savings to all onshore and offshore high-value, plant-asset-based industries."
The product of this alliance is an exciting new data-hosting service through which PIA Group offers clients a
range of world-class asset integrity management (AIM) analysis, reporting and performance solutions, housed
within the PIA Group's firewalled servers. The data-hosting service, slated to go live in November 2009, is
accessed via the Meridium Web Client, through which users can view, navigate and download their
recommendations, analyses and performance reports within a highly secure environment. The delivery of this
information back to a client's existing computerized maintenance management or enterprise asset
management system can be facilitated through the sophisticated Meridium interfacing tools.
PIA Group's data hosting service offers clients a cost-effective alternative to the implementation and
management of a single- or multi-point asset management solution, such as a Risk Based Inspection (RBI) or
an inspection data management system, without the need to mobilize and train a dedicated AIM workforce.
While PIA Group's data-hosting service has the capacity to take on a large AIM project, this innovative
service can also offer a relatively inexpensive option to smaller or independent operators that are undertaking
yearly compliance initiatives, such as RBI, independent corrosion monitoring programs, Reliability Centered
Maintenance, Root Cause Analysis and single pilot projects.
In another application of this service, a maturing operator who might be considering implementation of the
full Meridium APM software suite can outsource services to PIA as a transitional tool for data warehousing and
analysis, while preparing for an enterprise-wide deployment of Meridium APM. The use of PIA Group's data
hosting services would enable the seamless transition of mechanical and process data.
As part of the Meridium strategic alliance, PIA Group provides regional personnel who are Meridium APM
trained and certified exclusively for implementation projects throughout the Asia Pacific region.
According to Bonz Hart, Meridium President and CEO, "Meridium is excited to partner with PIA Group, a
leader in asset integrity management consulting in Southeast Asia, to provide this simple, cost-effective option
for companies striving to improve plant operations, safety, compliance and overall reliability."
About Meridium
Meridium Inc. is the global leader in asset performance management solutions for process, power, mining
and discrete manufacturing industries. With Meridium software and services, companies will accelerate
profitability through effective asset strategies, thus increasing asset reliability and improving the performance
of their production assets. Developing or improving these asset strategies also has a direct, positive impact on
operational excellence by reducing financial, health and safety, and production risk; optimizing maintenance
costs; ensuring regulatory compliance and decreasing the potential for undesirable incidents. Industry leaders
such as Chevron, Marathon Oil, Anglo Platinum, and Xcel Energy rely on Meridium for enterprise wide asset
performance. Meridium is headquartered in Roanoke, VA, USA, with regional offices in Houston, TX, USA;
About PIA Group
PIA Sdn Bhd are part of the QAF Oilfield Services Sdn Bhd Group and provide advanced Asset Integrity
Management Services including RBI RCM FMEA and CMMS integration capabilities that value add QAF's
extensive on stream inspection services and capabilities. The PIA Group was established to meet the growing
demands of former clients who, whilst acknowledging technological developments within their own high-value
industries, noted a lack of similar advances available from plant integrity suppliers to enable them to maximize
their performance by minimizing downtime, mitigating shutdowns, optimizing ongoing maintenance and
essential forward planning. PIA meets those needs by providing a unique set of asset integrity management
services and skills to industries which include the oil, gas, marine, petrochemical and power generation
industries. PIA's services are a synergy of state-of-the-art software solutions and data housing services,
combined with highly trained and qualified personnel with comprehensive field experience.
QAF Oilfield Services Sdn Bhd currently provides on-stream inspection, advanced inspection, Non
Destructive Testing (NDT) rope access and other skilled engineering services to Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP)
under the existing integrated inspection contract. QAF and PIA are ISO 9001- 14001 - 17020 accredited
including OSHA 18001 H&S MS certification.
SOURCE: Meridium Inc.
CONTACT: Jane Bailey,
Meridium,
+1-540-344-9205, Ext. 1170,
jbailey@meridium.com
NEWS 
