A Department of Energy-sponsored technology that allows natural gas and oil explorers to drill safer, more productive wells by using a high-speed, down-hole communications system has crossed a major milestone: A prototype is being successfully tested in a full-scale commercial well for the first time, putting it on the fast track to commercialization. The technology, called Intellipipe(TM), is able to transmit large bits of data to the surface as a well is being drilled. About 1 million bits of information including temperature, geology, pressure, and rate of penetration can be transmitted in a single second, which is unprecedented. The tool relays data going in the other direction just as quickly, allowing operators to direct the drill bit more precisely toward oil- and gas-bearing sweet spots, and away from less productive areas almost instantaneously.