Re: Policy on use of the IDD (fwd)

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Robb Kambic                                Unidata Program Center
Software Engineer III                      Univ. Corp for Atmospheric Research
address@hidden             WWW: http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 04 Nov 1999 11:48:19 -0700
From: Dave Fulker <address@hidden>
To: Roger Getz <address@hidden>
Subject: Re: Policy on use of the IDD

Roger,

First, permit me to apologize for failing to respond to your October
14th message questioning the Weather Underground's participation in
IDD and how that relates to Unidata policy.  Robb forwarded it to me,
but it got submerged during a time when I was on travel.

The Weather Underground, Inc., has a unique place in our data access
system by virtue of an understanding between Unidata and Alden, struck
to facilitate transitioning from FOS to NOAAport and simultaneously
circumventing potential reliability problems with NOAAport.

This Unidata-Alden understanding (which also involved the University
of Wisconsin) was based on the concept that a nationally distributed
set of (4) NOAAport downlinks--configured for redundancy through the
use of LDMs--could provide a HIGHLY reliable data source for all of
the primary players.  In broad terms, the understanding entailed:

 - cessation of Unidata payments to Alden for injecting FOS data into
   IDD (a substantial saving to Unidata);

 - Alden injection of NOAAport channel 3 data (in place of FOS data) 
   into IDD at no cost to Unidata;

 - Unidata assistance to Alden in making this transition, including 
   the use of a Wisconsin-built NOAAport ingester;

 - Unidata assistance to Alden in providing one customer (which turned
   out to be the Weather Underground) with a NOAAport receiver and
   ingester, linked to the Unidata-Alden set of redundant downlinks;

 - Alden purchase of a NOAAport receiver for installation at a
   university of Unidata's choosing (which turned out to be Louisiana
   State, for geographic and Internet-related reasons);

 - redundant injection of NOAAport channel 3 data into IDD (for
   subsequent use by all Unidata universities) at every downlink,
   including Louisiana State, Weather Underground in San Francisco,
   and Wisconsin, in addition to Alden, near Boston; and

 - Unidata coordination of the 4-downlink redundant injection effort,
   assuring that the required reliability is actually achieved, but
   not flooding the network with duplicate products.

The redundant downlink network was expanded to 5 sites when the COMET
downlink at UCAR was made available for Unidata use.  The reliability
benefits have been demonstrated on several occasions, with most
recipients being totally unaware that downlinks have failed.

In summary, there actually are two commercial players in the IDD, and
both are performing NOAAport downlink/ingestion functions under a
memorandum of understanding that benefits Unidata and Alden.  Neither
of the commercial players receives any data from IDD beyond those from
NOAAport channel 3, which the players also receive independently via 
their own downlinks (except during times of failure).  I believe this
arrangement is completely consistent with Unidata policy.

I hope this explanation answers your question, but if not, please feel
free to seek additional clarification.

Dave


--On Tue, 2 Nov1999 09:01 -0600 "Rodger R. Getz" <address@hidden> wrote:

> Dave-
> 
> I am puzzled by the e-mail message below from Jeff Masters. He indicates
> that they are having problems with their IDD feed at the University of
> Michigan. His return e-mail address is wunderground.com, obviously a
> commercial company and one of my competitors. Is it not against the stated
> policy of Unidata that the IDD is to be used for "research and education"
> purposes to feed a commercial site like the Weather Underground?
> 
> It would appear that the University of Michigan is feeding the IDD to the
> Weather Underground, Inc. My company pays Alden and WSI thousands of dollars
> for our data feeds. I sure would like to reduce my costs plus get access to
> other feeds via the IDD. How can my company get this same free access like
> the Weather Underground? I would also question the license issues of various
> software packages. Is the Weather Underground getting access to software
> that is free to universities but costs me thousands of dollars?
> 
> I would appreciate your feedback on these issues.
> 
> Rodger R. Getz, President and CEO
> AWIS Weather Services, Inc.
> 1735 East University Drive, Suite 101
> P.O. Box 3267
> Auburn, AL      36831-3267         http://www.awis.com
> ph: (334) 826-2149 ext 104 (voice)  (334) 826-2152 (FAX) 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
>> From: address@hidden
>> [mailto:address@hidden] On Behalf Of Jeff Masters
>> Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 1999 7:41 AM
>> To: address@hidden
>> Subject: network problems at umich
>> 
>> 
>> We are having trouble with one of the routers at the University of
>> Michigan, I am seeing 50% packet losses into and out of our building, and
>> we are not getting much in the way of ldm data data. It would be wise for
>> users of blueskies or aldehyde.sprl.umich.edu to fail over to their backup
>> sites until this network problem can be resolved.
>> 
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>  Dr. Jeff Masters (address@hidden)