The buzz word “real-time” crops up all the time now in everyday life. Increasingly it is also permeating oilfield terminology. What is meant by the term real-time? Is it just a buzz word, a new way of working, or really just a new way of expressing an old fashioned value? “Yes” is actually the correct answer for all three questions. Although Dean’s mom maintains that “my whole life has been real time, what other kind of time is there?”, this talk will explore some of the various definitions currently being used for “real-time. It will discuss what some of the practical implications, implementations, and applications are of “real-time” technologies. Finally it will maintain that “real-time” is not a new concept, but rather a new way of implementing an old fashioned value.