ICT solutions buyers in the oil & gas sector, or, indeed, any other, vertical – who are naturally interested in the fact (and cost-effectiveness) of the solutions they need rather than the details of the constituent mechanisms that contribute the solution – tend to be technology agnostic.  Yet, the physical circumstances of oil & gas resource exploitation, and the industry requirement to link multiple sites – for example, inland and offshore – necessitate that companies in the sector buy wide area networking services which utilise various combinations of wireline, terrestrial wireless, and satellite platforms.  Therefore, it is incumbent on communications industry operators and service providers to ensure that their offerings to the oil & gas sector continue to provide multi-platform, multiple technology, hybridised solutions to meet the complex and extensive voice, data, and video applications needs of this vertical environment.  Panel 3 will investigate and explain how this is being achieved, and explore what more needs to be done.  Examination of the current and future contribution of such varied wireless technologies as Bluetooth, WiFi, and BGAN will be included in this session.