Pipeline - 50 years of excellence

We are celebrating the first 50 years of an exciting journey as we leverage new technologies that change the way pipelines are managed, monitored and optimized.

Breakthroughs in digital computing five decades ago, let industry pioneers such as the experts at our predecessor company, Stoner Associates, Inc. (SAI), create software that helped utilities operate their pipe networks more safely, reliably, and efficiently.

From being a pioneer in this industry’s technology to emerging as a trusted leader in the field has been long and fruitful journey. Today, as part of DNV, we are building on 50 years of domain expertise, constantly developing, updating, and perfecting the technology in order to respond to our customers’ needs and expectations.

50 years of domain expertise - Timeline

The early days

The origin of Stoner Associates, Inc. dates to the doctoral study of its founder, Michael Allen (Mike) Stoner.

His steady-state program could be used to simulate an integrated system composed of all of the elements found in a gas system, including system element parameters other than pressure and flow as unknowns, such as pipe diameter, compression horsepower and valve settings.

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^{The company’s first dedicated computer center, at the 1200 Walnut Bottom Road office.}

1970

On September 29,1970 Dr. Mike Stoner registered the company. The first licence sale for the software was to Southern California Gas, for $5000 in November, 1970.

1972

The company was incorporated on February 22, 1972, pursuing excellence in fulfilling its mission “to develop advanced software and services for pipeline network engineering, operations and management and to provide unsurpassed customer service for its software.”

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^{Engineers from SAI building the equations for digital models}

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^{A very early training class, or what we used to call “City Seminars”.}

1977

The first LIQT service training course was held in early 1977.

Setting the stage for our highly-acclaimed training courses to-date, Dr. Stoner and his team would go to various cities and present 2- or 3-day training events.

1978-81

On July 1, 1978, SAI entered into an agreement with Northwest Alaskan, to enhance its existing gas transient flow service to include heat transfer and temperature transients.

While the project was never built, the GASTHERM service was completed and released in May 1981. The service simulates both the steady-state and transient flow of gas in a serial transportation system composed of pipe and non-pipe elements such as compressors, chillers, heaters, in-line valves and relief valves.

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^{Before graphical modeling, clients’ models were built in text form. The wall behind was used to track the status of the model build. Each small square represented a physical map of the system.}

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^{The office at 1200 Walnut Bottom Road.}

The growth years

Continued growth and a need for a broader range of offerings led to the October 1986 acquisition of DREM Incorporated, in Houston. DREM software included Trainer, Statefinder, Leakfinder and Predictor.

The company was acquired by Severn Trent Plc, and we branched out to Europe. We entered the electric distribution modeling industry by acquiring new assets (Scott & Scott Systems, Inc.) and also acquired Marshall Consulting Inc. in 1999.

The modern era

In 2000, the company served 542 clients in 46 countries. Advantica acquired the company in 2001, creating Advantica Stoner. The company moved its Pennsylvania office to Mechanicsburg in 2006.
In 2007, the company was acquired by GL, and in 2013, DNV and GL merged and became DNV.
Today, with 9 products across 3 core domains serving multiple market segments in 2 diverse industries, our software is used to manage pipelines from design to life extension
With a presence in 6 out of the 7 continents, we make pipelines better across the globe - from the Land of the Rising Sun to the City of Angels
In the US alone, over 2 million miles of pipelines are managed by our software
More than 2 out of every 3 homes in the US are heated by natural gas served by utilities that rely upon our software
We are passionate about our technology! More than 50% of our team has been working with us for over 15 years constantly evolving our products