Mike Popham, chief executive of UK-based Stryde, cheerfully agrees that the market was pretty sceptical when his company came out of nowhere three years ago with a node-based land seismic data gathering solution claiming to be a quarter of the size and around one-fourth of the price of any system on the market.

 “‘Can it be that good?’ is a question I am often asked,” he says. “We have already worked in over 40 countries, and this year we will probably deliver our one millionth node, more than any other onshore nodal provider on the market.