UniLoon is the cloud-based platform for geoscience.
Unidata's Internet Data Distribution (IDD) system has been instrumental in moving geoscience data to U.S. universities for nearly 20 years, and hard-wired networks have played an important role in the growth of data-driven scientific discovery. But moving beyond the wired world is the next important step for cyberinfrastructure, which is why Unidata is proud to announce a new partnership between Unidata, Google, and select U.S. universities to bring truly cloud-based services to the geoscience community.
Building on Google's "Project Loon," Unidata is introducing the UniLoon Cloud Platform.
A prominent Canadian researcher has discovered that the command line argument -ayfs (pronounced "aye-fuzz"), when added to Unidata's Local Data Manager (ldm) software, creates a whole new era in IT infrastructure capability and a radical paradigm shift for mobile platform deployment.
Canadian scientist Steve Emmerson, currently employed by Unidata, added the option in 1993 to the C code base, but didn't get around to trying it until April 1st, 2014. Once he tried it he found that the option creates unprecedented scalability and on-demand self-service provisioning of computer capabilities. "It seemed like a good idea at the time," said Dr. Emmerson about the switch that can be enabled at runtime, "but I had no idea that it would transform Geoscience through innovative data services and enable revolutionary ways of wringing knowledge from an ever-expanding pool of Earth System science data."
After receiving clarification from the National Science Foundation, the Unidata Program Center has cancelled its plans to move its operations to the town of St. Cloud, Minnesota.
"We were a bit puzzled when we heard that the NSF wanted Unidata to focus its energies on moving to St. Cloud," says Unidata Program Director Mohan Ramamurthy. "Frankly, we were a bit worried about losing the high-speed Internet2 connectivity we enjoy at UCAR, but NSF is our primary sponsor, so we went along with it. And the proximity to St. Cloud State University would certainly be an asset to us."
The Unidata Program Center wishes a fond farewell to Russ Rew, who is retiring after 37 years at Unidata. Russ was the first employee of Unidata, and was notable for never missing a day of work in Unidata's 25 years of existence. During that time, he personally answered over 100 million netCDF questions, without ever even making a spelling or grammeratical mistake.
The Unidata Program Center is pleased to announce the completion today of its newest community service facility in Boulder, Colorado. The Unidata Data Hallway provides modern, efficient, 24/7 data services to the university community -- while also making a stylish interior design statement.
"It's great to have such a lavish facility for our 'big iron'," says Unidata Program Center systems administrator Mike Schmidt. "We were excited to be able to showcase our data-delivery infrastructure like this -- it really helps the public understand the level of technical sophistication involved in what we're doing here at Unidata."
Spring is in the air in Boulder, Colorado, and hearts and minds are changing as quickly as the trees are blooming! One unnamed developer within Unidata has had his heart enlarge so much that it would make the Grinch blush.
