The formula for keeping oil and gas industry employees happy is similar to the strategy that U.S. military is using to boost troop morale in Afghanistan. Both employ a focus on making employees and soldiers feel at home. The problem is, for the next generation of offshore workers and combat troops, feeling "at home" means having 24-hour access to high-speed voice, video and data applications anywhere in the world. Combine that with the cutting-edge enterprise network systems that companies require to do business in the 21st century and you are left with a costly high-bandwidth appetite. In an uneasy global economy, there’s very little room for risky expenses.
   However, the oil and gas industries have discovered that the benefits of a happy crew far outweight the cost of connecting them to their normal lives, as connected personnel are more productive and maintain safer, more alert working environments. For service providers, the goal is to find the right balance between capability and cost. For enterprise managers, the goal is to find the right provider who has the exact bandwidth, services and applications they will need with little waste.
   The 2009 Offshore Communications convention may yeild partnerships that will signal what both parties are looking for in 2010.