A Dallas-based technology investment group led by R. Douglas Cronk of Rampart Petroleum has purchased Grapevine, Texas-based Metrix Networks Inc., a three-year-old oil-service company that provides remote monitoring services for rotating equipment, gas and liquid measurement, rod pump control and tank level status. Cronk was senior vice president, operations, for Irving, Texas-based Magnum Hunter Resources, which had owned Metrix and was purchased recently by Cimarex Energy Co. (NYSE: XEC). "As the operations manager for Magnum Hunter, I saw firsthand the improvement in field effectiveness and efficiencies that the Metrix monitoring-system technology brought to our organization," Cronk says. Metrix uses satellite telemetry and proprietary software to offer monitoring in oil and gas producing regions around the world.