The alliance will focus primarily on joint development of a Next Generation Marine Seismic System. Additionally, TMS and I/O will jointly market both companies' products in order to provide complete marine data acquisition systems including streamers, positioning and acoustics, energy sources and in-water and dry-end electronics. Each company will continue to manufacture, support and market their existing product base.

"This strategic alliance will allow us to bring new technology to market much faster and more economically than if we were to continue to work on independent solutions,'' said Tim Probert, Input/Output President and CEO. ``TMS and I/O each bring complementary resources, experience and strength to the alliance. Combining TMS's leading market position in solid streamers with I/O's position as a market leader in acquisition systems and positioning and acoustics gives the alliance a uniquely strong base from which to design and develop a standard-setting next generation marine seismic system."

Chris Jenkins, Managing Director of TMS said, "This alliance is consistent with TMS's strategy to broaden our level of participation in the marine seismic industry beyond our position as the leading supplier of solid streamers. The alliance creates a combination of strengths in technology and engineering skills which will ensure our next generation system will meet the complete requirements of our customers now and into the future."

I/O and TMS expect that definitive documentation regarding the alliance will be executed within thirty days, subject to respective board and any applicable regulatory approvals.

Thomson Marconi Sonar Pty. Ltd. is a leader in the development and production of advanced sonar, acoustic and underwater systems. This leadership position in underwater acoustics has allowed the transition of advanced solid streamer technology to the seismic industry. TMS has a long and successful record in customer driven system integration projects. Information on Thomson Marconi Sonar is available on the internet at www.pty.tms-sonar.com/seismic/ or contact us at tmshouston@earthlink.net.

Input/Output, Inc. is an industry leader in seismic acquisition imaging technology for land, marine, transition zone exploration, production and reservoir monitoring. The Company specializes in technology that creates value for the energy industry in the areas of 2D, 3D, 4D and multi-component seismic data. Additional information on Input/Output, Inc. is available on the Internet at http://www.i-o.com or email them at ir@i-o.com. For the complete press release, click here...

The launch and recovery system will be provided for use with the Maridan 600 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). The all-electric assembly includes a stainless steel lift winch to lower or raise the AUV to and from the ocean surface as well as a stainless steel docking head to stabilize and capture the AUV during launch / recovery operations. The lift winch is contained within the docking head as a highly portable, single, integrated unit and is designed for use with customer-supplied marine deck cranes aboard ships of opportunity.

The lift winch, designed to hold up to 97 meters of 12.70 mm diameter lift line, features a Launch / Recovery mode of operation to lower or lift the AUV through the air-water interface and a constant tension mode providing heave compensation to reduce snap loading on the lift line as the AUV rests on the surface. The electrically driven lift winch is equipped with line tension measurement capability as well as RS-232/485 capability for access and export of line tension data to a customer-supplied auxiliary station. Launch Recovery mode performance is 24,520 N (2,500 Kg) at 0.33 m/s (20 mpm) while Constant Tension Mode performance is 4,900 N (500 Kg) at 1.66 m/s (100 mpm).

The docking head provides a Safe Working Load overboard of 24,520 N (2,500 Kg), fore-aft / lateral swing dampening and a bumper-cushion assembly to protect the top surface of the AUV upon contact. An electric slew drive allows 270 degree rotation of the docking head / lift winch assembly. The launch and recovery system is provided with a Type Approval issued by Det Norske Veritas (DNV) in accordance with DNV "Rules for Certification of Lifting Appliances, 1994."

Jens Pind, CEO, Maridan A/S says "Dynacon was selected as supplier of Launch & Recovery because of their extensive resume for offshore autonomus handling systems. Furthermore, with the knowledge base and experience in the company, Maridan A/S believes Dynacon has provided the right technical solution".

James Stasny, DYNACON's President, stated "As a result of our experience in ROV handling systems, the AUV handling system market is a natural progression for our company's capabilities and product line." Stasny also said "DYNACON looks forward to supporting Maridan's AUV applications and efforts throughout the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere."

Contact DYNACON for additional information at +979-823-2690 or visit their web site at http://www.dynacon.com. Additional information may also be acquired from Maridan A/S at +45 4576 4050 or via their web site at www.maridan.dk

The main differentiating feature is SonarWeb Pro's support for over 1000 coordinate systems. With the SonarWeb Pro geodesy features you can now map survey data into the same projection as the base map, GIS system or customer specified coordinate system. SonarWeb Pro supports more than 1000 definitions of commonly used coordinate systems. This includes all UTM zones, all State Plane Zones, several variations thereof, and many others. Most users never need to use the custom coordinate system editing functions provided. When they do, they can define a new coordinate system on any of the 30 supported projections.

SonarWeb supports 30 projections including Transverse Mercator (Gauss-Kruger), Lambert Conformal Conic, Hotine Oblique Mercator, Albers Equal Area, American Polyconic, Mercator, Lambert Tangential, Azimuthal Equal Area, Azimuthal Equidistant. SonarWeb supports eight different datum transformation techniques. The appropriate technique is automatically selected by examining the referenced datum in the source and target coordinate system definitions. The supported techniques are: Molodensky, Bursa/Wolfe (a.k.a. Seven Parameter Transformation), DMA Multiple Regression Formulas, WGS72 conversions, NGS NADCON algorithm and data files, NGS HPGN algorithm and data files, and Canadian National Transformation, Versions 1 and 2. SonarWeb will automatically apply one or more of these techniques, as appropriate, to accomplish the conversion required by the coordinate systems involved in the transformation. SonarWeb's ellipsoid dictionary includes the definition of more than 40 ellipsoids. A complete comparison of features in SonarWeb and SonarWeb Pro is available.

Chesapeake Technology, Inc. provides innovative and high performance sonar data acquisition and processing software including SonarWiz real-time sidescan sonar surveying tool, SonarWeb web-based sonar and sub-bottom mosaicking and reporting engine, the versatile NMEAWiz navigation test and simulation utility and ThermalWiz, their thermal printer utility for image processing and printing almost any acoustic data on the industry leading thermal printers. They also provide GIS, sonar mosaic production and custom software development services for the marine surveying community.

For more information, e-mail Chesapeake Technology, Inc. or visit their web site at http://www.chesapeaketech.com. CTI will be exhibiting their current products and technologies at Oceans 20001 MTS/IEEE in Honolulu, HI 6-8 November 2001.

Steve Withrow has accepted the position of Director of Operations for their ORE Offshore division. Steve will oversee the operational sales and marketing activities for both their Falmouth and Houston locations, and will serve as the new leader for ORE’s global operations. Steve brings with him a wealth of industry experience, which he will draw upon to mold the future growth and direction of the ORE Offshore Division. Steve experience includes his role as the president and founder of Trinity International Consultants, and a 6 year tenure as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for SeaBeam Instruments. Additionally, he is a prominent leader in the oceanographic industry, currently serving as the President of the Marine and Oceanographic Technology Network (MOTN) and the Chairman of the Board for the Slater Center for Ocean Technology.

Steve Withrow’s first course of action was to enhance the staffing at their ORE Offshore Houston, Texas facility. New hires in this office include Jim Manning as the new Offshore Sales Manager, and Peter Eberhard as the facility’s new Administrative Manager.

Jim Manning will take the lead in providing an enhanced sales presence throughout the Gulf of Mexico, representing ORE’s broad array of leasing services and support, as well as ORE’s tracking and navigation products, and their principals’ diverse product lines. Jim, who most recently served as a consultant for TGS-Nopec Geophysical Co, and the Commercial Offshore Marketing Manager for SeaBeam Instruments, possesses a wide array of industry experience spanning nearly a 30-year period.

Peter Eberhard, ORE Offshore’s new Administrative Manager, has been with the Axel Johnson group since 1997. During this period, Peter has held various positions within the ORE Offshore Division and ADS Environmental. Peter brings to the Houston facility 10 years of experience in offshore operations and equipment leasing to the Gulf's oil and gas industry, as well as a degree in Business Management/Accounting.

If you would like to speak with ORE’s newest additions, please feel free to contact Steve Withrow at Tel. USA +508-495-6600 or s.withrow@ore.com; James Manning at Tel. USA +281-879-7277 or jim@orehouston.com; or Peter Eberhard at Tel. USA +281-879-7277 or admin@orehouston.com. For other timely news and information, please visit ORE’s website at http://www.ore.com

The Datasonics-developed towfish acquires multibeam bathymetry, sidescan sonar, sub-bottom profiling and magnetometer data at 1cm resolution in water depths to 3000m to support a range of survey services for offshore oil development work and cable routes.

"Towfish positioning in deep water is subject to inherent ambiguities," said Andrew Hume, Thales GeoSolutions' Geoscience Manager. "The RDI DVL provides a further dimension of information to dramatically improve accuracy." The 600kHz unit has a modified housing to give it a 6000m depth rating.

Seatronics also bought three 1200kHz Navigators for its rental pool, two of which are already at work on a cable-tracking project in up to 500m water depth, a further 600kHz instrument to join a 300kHz DVL and several Sentinel acoustic Doppler current profilers in the company rental pool.

A further prestigious sale is to BAE Systems Ltd, UK. This is a custom-designed, concave transducer head 600kHz Workhorse Navigator-based DVL for installation on the company's Marlin autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) under development for the UK Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA). Marlin is an electrically powered vehicle intended, ultimately, to launch from the torpedo tube of a submarine. The present BAE Systems/DERA programme calls for a one-off system for a vehicle fitted with seabed imaging sensors, although the design is sufficiently modular to allow alternative future payload fits. It will operate either fully autonomously or via an expendable fibre optic communications link.

The RDI Workhorse Navigator DVL is a multi-function sensor that gives precise velocity and altitude updates and may be integrated with other navigation systems on ROVs and AUVs. RDI Navigator DVLs are installed on over 90 per cent of the world AUV fleet and on over 100 ROVs. Patented bottom detection algorithms in the RDI Navigator, together with single-ping bottom location, allow robust and reliable bottom tracking even over uneven terrain. Multiple ping averaging is not required to get highly accurate bottom readings and so the vehicle receives more frequent positioning information than with other navigation systems. This means that precise positioning is available during station-keeping (hover) modes and also in holding position on survey lines.

For more information, e-mail Graham Lester, RD Instruments or visit their web site at http://www.rdinstruments.com

HYPACK® MAX is the most complete hydrographic survey software package available in the Windows® operating environment. It is a fully integrated hydrographic software package for survey design, data collection, post processing, volume calculations and plotting. Using HYPACK® MAX’s intuitive user interface, your boat crew can be collecting accurate multibeam data on a standard Windows-based PC with only a few days of training.

HYSWEEP® is the multibeam module for the HYPACK® MAX hydrographic survey package. It provides programs for sensor alignment calibration, data collection and display, and data editing.

For more information, contact Lourdes Ramos at Lourdes@coastalo.com . You can also visit the company website at http://www.coastalo.com

Carroll W. Suggs, PHI's Chairman and CEO, said, "We are very proud of this contract and our ability to continue to provide services to one of the petroleum industry's leading companies. PHI looks forward to the opportunity and challenge of supporting Shell's helicopter transportation requirements. Safety and customer service will remain our focus for Shell, as it is for all of the customers we serve industry-wide."

Under the terms of the new contract, PHI will continue to provide 18 full time aircraft. The fleet consists of Bell, Sikorsky, and Eurocopter model helicopters operating from several of PHI's domestic bases in the Gulf of Mexico. PHI provides helicopter transportation and related services to a broad range of customers including the oil and gas industry and air medical programs. PHI Common Stock is traded on the NASDAQ SmallCap Market (Symbols PHEL and PHELK). For the complete press release, click here...

The 1086NT has several new features, most notably an Ethernet Interface for logging data to Network Drives in XTF Format. A new 32 Bit Pentium class CPU board optimizes data throughput and minimizes internal components. Resolution has also been increased to 256 shades of gray.

A VGA Output allows operators to connect the 1086NT to a monitor to view the Operating System. Other improvements include: Speed Correction, On-Line Help, Comprehensive GPS Interface, and Auto-annotation. The 1086 Series is the industry standard for hard copy presentation of side-scan sonar and sub-bottom imagery.

For more information, e-mail EPC Laboratories, Inc. at tedc@epclabs.com or visit their web site at http://www.epclabs.com

In seismic business for over 30 years, following a formal post-graduate education in mathematics and physical oceanography. Numerous varied roles & positions held ranging from professional duties as an oceanographer & as a geodesist to recent work in the formal Product Development & Management.

Ph.D. Candidacy, Physical Oceanography (completed all comprehensive Ph.D. prelim exams); M.S. Physical Oceanography, B.S. Meteorology, cum laude, HONORS (at Major University). Active Member of organisations such as NOIA, ESPG, APSG, THSOA, ASCM, ION and MTS including Vice Chair (NOIA Technology Policy Committee ), Trustee & Director (THSOA) and member of EPSG Geodesy Working Group. Also served as President of a 3000-member international non-profit organisation.

Looking for position where experience, skills and abilities would be used to advantage. Detailed Work History is available with full details on positions held.

Currently Available. For detailed Resume/CV including references, E-mail:infocdj@e-pageads.com