On the back of successful demonstrations at MINExpo International in Las Vegas in September, Maptek has announced that its Maptek Vestrex ecosystem for automation and orchestration is open for early access customers.
Vestrex creates extraordinary value by making connections between diverse data sources without constraints of product, application, process or format, Maptek says. Data in the cloud encourages stakeholders across mining roles, teams and organisations to collaborate and explore new use cases for their technical data beyond traditional applications.
Automation streamlines operations through real-time data and process integration and accelerates decision making processes, while orchestration builds on computational power and automated workflows to unlock value from technical data and mining systems.
Global Strategy Manager, James Mackenzie commented on the interest surrounding Vestrex during MINExpo: “Everyone we spoke to could immediately think of a way they could apply Vestrex to their organisation. All of the ideas were different and all of them were achievable, because Vestrex enables collaboration on many levels, limited only by imagination!”
Mackenzie added: “Customers can expect effortless data transfer between cloud and desktop environments, with data managed securely from a centralised platform. They will also be able to work with Maptek to orchestrate custom processes that handle their particular challenges.”
The new platform is based on three key pillars – data services, cloud computing and orchestration – sharing a common vision for solution integration and inter-process workflows.
Maptek Data Systems (MDS) is the integration hub for ingesting data from anywhere through open APIs. MDS enables native in-app integration with Maptek desktop solutions and manages version control and publishing permissions through Maptek Account.
The second pillar in the Maptek ecosystem, Maptek Compute Framework (MCF), is already powering machine learning and optimisation in Maptek scheduling and domain modelling solutions, according to the company. Time-consuming calculations can be completed on scalable resources for on-demand results.
The third and newest pillar, Maptek Orchestration Environment (MOE), is the key to unlocking value through collaboration, according to Mackenzie.
“Vestrex connects algorithms, executables and transformations to leverage computational power, scalability and parallelisation across business and technical systems,” he said. “If you can get your data into Vestrex, Maptek can help transform it into value.”
An important feature is the flexibility to incorporate ‘human in the loop’ review and analysis at any stage within automated processes, Maptek says. Customisation of decision trees and unrestricted complexity mean the use cases are limitless. Robust data security includes encryption and backup protocols that protect sensitive information for operational continuity.
Mackenzie sees the true power of Vestrex as the ability to bind data and computations to create automations that streamline processes and data pipelines, integrating them within broader business workflows.
Mackenzie concluded: “Making data accessible and consumable across multiple stakeholders, including non-technical users, at every stage of the mine life cycle fosters collaboration that can discover new and unexpected use cases in a way that redefines industry standards.”