In this issue

• Per Anders Koien: growing activity in a challenging environment
• Star Information Systems at OSEA 2008 in Singapore
• Star Fleet Dashboard: easy fleet overview on the web
• Northern Offshore fits Jack-up with SIS
• Solstad Offshore ASA upgrade for SIS
• Odebrecht to maintain Brazilian rig fleet with SIS
• SIS attended SMM in Hamburg

Per Anders Koien: growing activity in a challenging environment

2008 turned out as another record year for Star Information Systems in several aspects.
We launched new modules for Asset Management and Audit/Vetting, strengthened our customer base and added new staff. Our financial results for 2008 exceeded our estimates, and we are confident that our growth will continue the coming years.

SIS software products continue to attract new customers. We continue to work closely with existing clients to provide them with new and improved software applications. This close working relationship with our customers is symbolic of the trust and confidence they have in our products and services.
A verification of the close collaboration is the record for number of participants at our annual Users Conference, last year in Lisbon. We were 123 persons sharing experiences and knowledge around Star products and services in October. I think we all had a fruitful time exchanging experiences and ideas.

The financial crisis has definitely hit shipping and offshore activities. As a consequence many shipping and offshore projects are on hold. As proven by studies, companies using the Star fleet management systems could reduce their maintenance and operational expenses, save on classification fees, improve the purchasing processes and in other ways make the ship and rig management processes more efficient.

But still, Star Information systems gains new customers such as Northern Offshore, Solstad Offshore ASA and Odebrecht, and we see new prospects coming in.
We are therefore confident about the growing interest in our products in spite of the current financial situation. We have seen crises come and been solved before, and I am confident that the international shipping and offshore industry will survive this one as well.

I wish you all the best for 2009.

Per Anders Koien
Managing director & CEO
Star Information Systems

Star Information Systems at OSEA 2008 in Singapore

Star Information Systems were present at the Oil & Gas Technology trade exhibition between the 2nd and the 5th of December.

OSEA was established three decades ago to be THE industry event for Asia. This international event is projected to bring together, 16,000 industry professionals to address the strategic, operational and technology aspects of the Asian oil and gas industry.

Adam Butt, Einar Langø, Espen Spernæs and Jeffrey Lai were pleased to meet you at the Norwegian Pavilion at Level 6 - located at 6J2-5 at 6th floor.

Star Fleet Dashboard: easy fleet overview on the web

Star Information Systems AS has developed a new module for the office which shows the fleet status of all Star modules. Star Fleet Dashboard is designed to show all Star modules in one view and has the following features:

	Web-based: accessible from the internet or intranet. Tailor view to different user groups: e.g. the managing director sees all data on a high level, QA manager sees only his data whereas the superintendents only see their group of vessels. Drill down functionality: Possible to drill down to the lowest detail.
Integration: Possible to link other applications such as accounting, chartering/operations, etc. in the same view.  Data visualization: Possible to choose between a number of very nice looking charts, gauges and dashboards to illustrate data in the most professional manner.

Northern Offshore fits Jack-Up with SIS

Star Information Systems (SIS) has won a contract with Northern Offshore Ltd. to install SIS software on the fleet of jack-up drilling rigs. Northern Offshore chose the full suite of Star modules, including Planned Maintenance, Safety Management, Document handling, Project, Asset Management and Purchasing. The systems are intended for Northern Offshore's jack-up rigs Energy Exerter, Energy Enhancer, Energy Endeavour, Arctic II and Arctic IV.

In order to preserve the maintenance history from Northern Offshore's fleet, the database from each individual rig will be converted from the original maintenance system to the STAR IPS system. The jack-ups will be operated by Northern Offshore UK Ltd. in Aberdeen, as and when their current contracts with Maersk Oil and Gas are completed.

SIS implemented the Star systems on Energy Exerter in May, followed by training on the software. The rig is now working in the Pechora Sea, offshore northern Russia. Energy Enhancer will have the system installed and the crew trained during September 2008. Arctic II will be the next rig to have the system installed, in November 2008. Energy Endeavour will follow in 2009 and Arctic IV in 2010, after completion of their present commitments.

Northern Offshore was founded in July 2000. In late 2007, a new management team was formed to undertake a growth strategy for the company. This resulted in the introduction of Northern Offshore UK Ltd., which is based in Aberdeen and manages all European operations. In addition to three jack-up drilling rigs purchased from Maersk, Northern Offshore has also recently purchased two semi-submersible drilling rigs: Arctic II and Arctic IV from Transocean. These will operate in the UK Sector of the North Sea. Northern Offshore also operates two drilling units in South East Asia and one floating production vessel, Northern Producer.

For more information about Northern Offshore, see its web-page at: www.northernoffshorelimited.com

Solstad Offshore ASA upgrade for SIS

Star Information Systems announces that it has won a large contract for Solstad Offshore ASA (Solstad). The agreement, signed in August, covers the entire suite of SIS software, including maintenance, docking/projects, purchasing and asset management modules. Solstad will implement the system at its head office in Skudeneshavn, Norway, at offices in Bangkok and Singapore and onboard 42 offshore vessels, including 8 newbuildings.

This is yet another contract for SIS, whereby a customer has chosen us after a lengthy vetting process and comparison with our main competitors in the market for ship and fleet management software.

"We are very proud to supply a quality-minded offshore operator like Solstad, and look forward to a long relationship," said Star Information Systems' Director of Sales Martin Karlstad.

Solstad's IT Manager Frode Skaar relates how the company chose SIS: "We had been using one supplier for many years, and this system had problems to fulfill our planned maintenance system requirements. We realised that we would need more functionality than was available from our current supplier. We determined our requirements, wrote technical specifications and sent this out to main suppliers," he said.
Solstad's functionality requirements included:

• Rules established in central office and distributed automatically to vessels
• uninterrupted flow of data from shore to ship and back
• easy alarm-handling
• wizards
• a claims module
• a projects module
• integration with a document-handling system, among others

The entire selection process lasted almost a year, and included lengthy testing, a pilot project with two planned maintenance systems and several meetings. Solstad chose SIS by early summer, and the contract was signed in August.

"SIS had good references, and we met up with several of them. We visited other Star users, and talked to them about their experiences. Some of them had the kinds of functionality that we were after. In terms of the solution, Star had the solution that met Solstad's requirements best," said Skaar.

Solstad Offshore ASA is one of the world's leading offshore supply and support companies. The company operates a fleet of modern supply ships, anchor-handlers and construction support vessels from offices in Norway, the UK (Aberdeen), Thailand (Bangkok) and Singapore. The Solstad Group employs approximately 1000, and is approved to ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:2004.

Odebrecht to maintain Brazilian rig fleet with SIS

Star Information Systems (SIS) has won a major contract to supply its full package of integrated systems for offshore operators to Odebrecht Oleo e Gas LTDA. The Brazilian contractor will implement the systems first on a drilling rig due for delivery in 2009, then two drill ships (2011).

“We have run a rigorous selection process with major vendors, and the SIS systems were best for several reasons,” said Odebrecht’s IT manager, Alessandro Alves. “One of the biggest differences between SIS and many of its competitors is SIS’s first-hand experience working with the oil & gas industry. It’s not enough to have skill in software development; you also need knowledge of our industry. SIS proved that it has both.”

Odebrecht rated potential suppliers against a number of key factors. Firstly, because the rigs operating off of Brazil will occasionally lose satellite connections, the system needs to replicate automatically and easily from a central server. Secondly, Odebrecht sought a system that would be easy for its officers and engineers to operate. Finally, the company wanted a system that would integrate easily with its ERP business system from Oracle. Alves confirmed that the SIS package fulfilled all of these criteria best.

Odebrecht is a strong and growing player in a Brazilian oil & gas industry that operates according to the world’s strictest safety and performance standards,” said Star Information Systems' Area Manager Philippe Perrier. “We have demonstrated our commitment to the oil & gas industry, with dozens of important contracts worldwide, and to the Brazilian market, where we have a local member of our global network.”

Odebrecht signed the contract with Star Information Systems in October. The contract covers the standard SIS package for the offshore industry, including Star Planned Maintenance, Star Event, Star Document, Star Guarantee Claims, Star Asset Management, Star Project, Star CBT, Star Counter Reader and Star Barcode Reader.

SIS Attended SMM in Hambourg

Star Information Systems had a very good show at the SMM exhibition.
	Among many new prospects and visits from our existing customers, the State Secretary of Norway Ms. Rikke Lind visited our stand and used our exhibition table as pulpit when presenting  the Ship of the Year award to the new building “Island Wellserver”, to the audience and press. From SIS, Jan Qvale, Jan Kalland and the representative of our agent in The Netherlands, Mr. Dirk van Krimpen of MirTac BV, enjoyed an active week on the stand.  The visitors showed great interest for our integrated fleet management solution, including the project / docking module. Many users of competing maintenance systems asked for the possibility to use our docking module as a stand-alone system. The advantage of the docking module is that it is integrated with the purchasing, maintenance and inventory modules, so it is preferable to use it as an integrated solution.
SIS’s e-commerce solution, SISCommerce, is well known to most equipment suppliers and ship chandlers in the maritime industry. Many of the suppliers expressed interest in a closer integration with SISCommerce.