1 current uses of computers in uk business and industry kevin j needham met office 20th november...
TRANSCRIPT
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Current Uses of Computers in UK Business and Industry
Kevin J Needham
Met Office
20th November 2001
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The Talk Who am I What is the Met Office? The Weather Machine! Some IT Challenges The Future Summary Questions
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I.e. a Bit of.....
History - what done/learned
Now - what doing
Future - where going
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I was asked to Show how computers enhance the
performance of business users. You will see that "The Met Office needs
IT like a fish needs water.”
– CAN YOU READ THIS OK???
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Who am I? - why should I be here talking to you?
Kevin J Needham Project and Programme
Management and IT Training Programme Manager at the Met Office College in Reading
Been with Met. Office 21 Years from Research, Training, Strategy, Y2K etc
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My Experience Most recent past - Project 2000 - Deputy Project Manager Stage 1-3 Testing & Technical Information
Manager Y2K Business Continuity Manager
for Government Departments (PMS, DHSS, DETR, Home Office etc)
Future - IT?/Met?/????
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What can we do today?
Barely scratch the surface It will be “fast and furious” Give you a flavour Leave you wanting to know
more? Tell you where to find it!!
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Rules if engagement We have a lot to get through,
so Please leave questions to the end
In the unlikely event of you
going to sleep - PLEASE DON’T SNORE zzzzzz
WARNING Laugh at the “Jokes” or they get worse!!!!
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The Met Office - what do we do?
TV forecasts?? BBC & ITV Newspapers?? CEEFAX The Weather programme BUT WHAT ELSE?
The above is less than 1% of our business
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A few vital Statistics As of March 2001..... 147 years old Trading Fund
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History of Met Office 1854 - Established
Meteorological Dept. Of the Board of Trade.
1867 - Became Meteorological Office 1914 - Separate Met. For each armed
force. 1920 - Part of Air Ministry 1964 - Became MOD
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History of Met Office
1990 (April 2) Next Steps Executive Agency
1993 First Charter 1996(April 1) Trading
Fund Met Office run as a business.
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A Business?
Continued and proven improvements in Quality of service
Greater flexibility Sustained improvement for
less money Reduction in staff - increased
use automation
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What’s in a Brand?
When you see this logo - what do you associate with us?
November 2000 “The Met.Office became
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Why?
The Odyssey Project (1998)
examined scenarios of our future. Key outcome - to widen our horizons -
moving the ‘Met Office’ to becoming the nation’s key provider in the wider field of natural environmental services such as hydrology and oceanography, not just ‘weather’.
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Why? To become a key player in development
of European meteorological collaboration. Fully embrace internet, its emerging
technologies and the huge potential of e-commerce.
Did our old Brand say all this??? Does our new one???
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Brand & IT
New templates for fax, letter, web, etc Machine ready brand, logo etc Revamped Web site All products re-badged All customer systems rebadged All on a single day to maintain the
impact…..
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Competitors - do we have them?
YES!!! - lots of them In 1999 - Strategic “arms length”
business unit - to compete on a level playing field– “Buy” services from the Met. Office
– Same services provided to competitors - same charges
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DPDS
Data & Products Distribution Service– Set up 4 years ago to provide our
competitors with “push” or “pull” data and products via internet
– European and world wide
– Ahead of its time
– Continually improved
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A few vital Statistics As of March 2001..... 147 years old Trading Fund Staff - 2213 Directors 10 (plus CE)
– 7 Executive, 3(4) non executive
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Our Management BoardPeter Ewins - CEPaul Mason - Chief ScientistColin Flood - Operations DirectorRoger Hunt - PS Business DirectorJim Caughey - Technical DirectorPhilip Mabe - Finance DirectorMartin Sands - Company SecretaryStephen Lawrenson - Commercial MD
MO Board above + 3/4 Non ExecBut what about IT?
“Divisional Structure” - “Matrix work” moving towards a Process Based structure
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Staff
MOD Civil servants & contractors Split 50/50 between
R&D/support/sales and forecasting
Scientists & Admin - single grade structure
Competency based assessment of posts, skills and achievement
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Staff vs Computers
Staff 1970 3500 1980 2750 1990 2500 1996 2138 1998 2204 2000 2219 2001 ????
Computers 1970 2 1980 300 1990 6000 1996 10000 1998 15000 2000 ?????
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A few vital Statistics As of March 2001..... 147 years old Trading Fund Staff - 2213 Directors 11 (inc CE) 100 UK Sites( + Overseas)
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Bracknell Sites HQ - NMC, Ops. Centre, Admin Development, Library Sutton -Business Johnson -Business Systems Hadley -Climate Research Scott-Marine & Archives P Duffryn-Relocation, HR & Services Beaufort Park - Experimental Site Simpson - Stores & Contracts
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Other Sites Met O College - Reading Met Research Unit - Cardington Met Research Flight - Farnborough JCMM - Reading University RSI - Farnborough regional Weather Centres in main
cities - inc London, Cardiff, Manchester…..
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also Port Met Offices ADAS MAFF Lighthouses RAF - UK Navy, ARMY RANGES, Airports Local Councils, Auxilliaries etc
And that’s
just the UK!
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Overseas All RAF bases overseas All military operations overseas
– Mobile unit
Other bases– Cyprus, Falklands
Dependent on ALL other met services in ALL other countries in peace and war.
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Boscombe Down
Defence Defence outstationsoutstations
Boscombe DownBoscombe DownLarkhillLarkhill
Middle WallopMiddle WallopSt. MawganSt. Mawgan
OdihamOdihamBensonBenson
ManstonManstonLynehamLyneham
BRIZE NORTONBRIZE NORTON NortholtNortholtHQSTCHQSTC
ShoeburynessShoeburyness
AberporthAberporth
ShawburyShawbury
WattishamWattishamWitteringWittering
ColtishallColtishallCottesmoreCottesmoreMarhamMarham
ValleyValley WADDINGTONWADDINGTONCranwellCranwell ConingsbyConingsby
Linton-on-OuseLinton-on-OuseDishforthDishforth
LeemingLeemingEskmealsEskmeals
West FreughWest Freugh
LeucharsLeuchars
KinlossKinlossSouth UistSouth Uist
LossiemouthLossiemouth
Subsidiary Forecast Office
MAIN MET. OFFICE
Observing OfficePrincipal Forecast Office
Key:
1 March 1997
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Defence outstations overseas
Main Met. OfficeArea Met. OfficeSubsidiary Forecasting Office
Germany
Gütersloh
LaarbruchBrüggen
HQ 2 GP (RAF)
AscensionIsland
FalklandIslands
GibraltarAkrotiri
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Mobile Met. Unit (MMU)
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With all the tech, pilots still trust the Forecaster
with their lives!!!
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Rainfall Sites
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Basic “Manned”
Land Stations
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A few vital Statistics As of March 2001..... 147 years old Trading Fund Staff - 2213 Directors 11 (inc CE) 100 UK Sites( + Overseas) Turnover ?
37
Money?
Turnover: - £154M Expenditure:- £150M Operating Profit:- £4M ROCE 2.8% = In profit
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Where does the money come from?
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The Met. Office Multi-functional organisation MOD owned Responsible to Government Has diverse responsibilities Is a world-wide and world-class
organisation 24 hour, 365/6 days operation
40
Met Office Our Vision:
Through unrivalled know-how, to enable individuals, society and enterprises everywhere to make the most of the weather and the natural environment.
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Met Office
Our Goals:
To lead the world in advice on weather and the natural environment.
To make the Met. Office a source of pride to our staff, our owner, and the public.
This all requires
VERY effective use of IT
42
The Met. Office is:
Accountable– TARGETS set and measured
by NAO
– eg 84% accuracy general forecast
Chartered Investor in People
43
Gosh, that was really interesting!
44
The Talk - where are we? Who am I What is the Met Office?
The Weather Machine! Some IT Challenges The Future Summary Questions
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So how does the Met. Office operate?
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The Weather machine
Observations
Transmission
Input to Model
Interpret
Forecast
Prepare and give Product to Customer
R&DVerification
Support & Infrastructure
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Observations Many types
– Surface, Upper air, satellite, Buoys, Ships, Aircraft, Radar, spherics
Methods– Manual - Met & auxilliary
– automatic
– Semi Automatic
Second, event, hourly… Yearly… World-wide -co-operation Future!!
Why need observers? Why not
fully automate???
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Buoy Network - early warning system
49
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Observations Coded - alpha/numeric
– World wide agreed standard (WMO)
» achievement in itself!!
– Language independent
– World wide recognition!!
– Continually changing - software changing!!!!
WMOWMO
At GMT worldwide - 365/6 days - 24 hours
Surface, Upper air, satellite, radar… War and peace
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081200Z 01001 11380 73104 10032 2001739990 40001 53011 69911 70252 83802 222//
081200Z 01003 31482 70508 11030 2107640223 54000 70222 875//
081200Z 01007 46/// /1403 11073 21121 3023140241 53003 333 91105
081200Z 01008 41484 61302 11069 2110630207 40244 52005 77072 85501 333 8171083618 85628 91106
Code example
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Automatic Observations
SAMOS - Semi
Automatic Observing
System
Still some elements difficult to automate -
eg cloud cover BUT
we are using remote TV cameras
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One Reason to Automate
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Measuring Visibility
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The Weather machine
Observations
Transmission
Input to Model
Interpret
Forecast
Prepare and give Product to Customer
R&DVerification
Support & Infrastructure
60
Think of the number of Obs in an hour!!!
How cope with this amount of data
Global Network– GTS - joint owned and funded
– Largest private network
– Moving to ftp
– Radio to satellite
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Number of Obs One timezone
– Limited lifetime.
– 15000+ individual observations used in 24 hours.
Upper air– radiosonde
– pressure, temp.,humidity, wind
– 2300+ observations
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Number of Obs
•Satellites–Polar Orbiting & Geo-stationary–43000 observations
•Ships, Aircraft, Buoys etc (automated and manual - collecting platforms)
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Number of Obs
•Radar Data•Others - eg Spherics (lightning)•Heavy reliance on technology
–GTS, Observing & reception systems, Message switching etc
Radar systems - data & forecasts direct to users and customers in real time - Warnings of Flooding, erosion etc
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Radar
Co-funded satellite programmes - only as good as calibration & verification data
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New Satellites
Magnitudes more data More Instruments More calibration Greater resolution Storage and transmission Challenges! (We also build and test the satellite
instruments)
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Global Networks Global Observations are Key to
modern Met. WMO maintains framework for
international exchange Bracknell one of several Hubs on GTS. - Tropics - 100s Thousands bulletins
and products to customers and other Met Centres from few K to many Gbytes.
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Tropics -Tandems 4 Highly resilient fault tolerant K1000 systems input 200K messages output 2.5Million msgs Chars/day I/P 800Mbyte O/P 3300Mbyte Peak 15mins I/P 9000 msgs O/P 40000 msgs 12 processors Paired mirrored disks 80Gbyte 192 in/out channels + Backup system. - continually upgraded!!
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Tropics in the future?
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Tropics in the future?•PC/workstation based
•In-built redundancy - increased tolerance
•Standard technology - less specialists
•Cost much less to buy/maintain/upgrade
•Meets greater pull demands for products
75
The Weather machine
G lobeTelec omSystem
C omputerAna lysis &Modelling
Forec asting Servic eProvision
Observations
Transmission
Input to Model
Interpret
Forecast
Prepare and give Product to Customer
R&DVerification
Support & Infrastructure
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Brief History Computing Richardson 1922 Desktop Computer 1950s EDSAC - Cambridge UNIV for LYONS (LEO) -
paper tape-mercury storage lines Ferranti Mark I - Manchester - Storage
Cathode Ray - simple models 1959 - Ferranti Mercury (METEOR) - Valve
Storage -Dunstable to Bracknell 1961- Printers, paper tape 3 level model
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Ferranti Mercury “Console”
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The Move
!
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Brief History (2)
1971 - IBM/195 - 10 level model - disks and tape, programs from disk, 24hr forecasts 70 mins, programmer training, punched cards input.
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Brief History (2)
1971 - IBM/195 - 10 level model - disks and tape, programs from disk, 24hr forecasts 70 mins, programmer training, punched cards input.
1974 - IBM 370/158 - gave backup, TSO, links to outside world in 1979. >1000 jobs per day.
1980 - Cray at ECMWF 1981 - Cyber 205 Bracknell - 400Mflops,
Vector Pgming, fed by IBM
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The CYBER 205
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History Computing (3) 1980s - Various upgrades to front end
mainframe more disks, tapes, reduced use cards,
film and plotted output. ETA10 - 10000MFLops - Flopped..... Late 80s/90s - succession Crays Early 90s HDS Mainframe Today.......
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Computers and the Met “The Met Office does not just use,
it abuses computers….” “If you want someone to get 120%
out of a computer - it’s the Met Office”
“The Met Office makes computers do things it wasn’t designed to - and do it well…..”
“They get every ounce out of them..”
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IBM 9672-R45
Installed October 1998 4 CPUs (scalar) 3 Gb Memory Performance 61 MIPS/CPU 2.3 Kilowatts Weight 0.1 Tons O/S 390
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IBM 9672-R45 “Workhorse” Front end Processor & data handler - 200K
Jobs per month Controls Grau Tape Robot and Front end
disks. Feeds and clears up after Supercomputer!! Acts as ftp and intranet site Holds corporate software, backups and
databases
87
IBM Runs Terminal network (IBM 3270 emulation) MVS, UNIX FORTRAN 4 Logical Partitions
– Operational
– Development
– Test
– UNIX
– Managed 24 hours/365
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Second IBM With amount of data handling, system
“slow” at certain times - eg forecast production!
Second IBM installed to provide backup and alleviate hot period
Support for CRAY twins! (more later)
89
Second IBM
IBM 9672 R25 Smaller version of original Avoided Licensing issues (by MIP) 3 months buy - installation Runs all forecast output - greater
consistency for Forecasts Releases R45 for use by rest of Office
90
Future of the mainframe? Distributed UNIX functional systems - September
2001 Prevent maintenance of MVS system
architectures & legacy languages eg JCL Greater use of Proprietary Database (Met
created its own in 70s, as until recently nothing suitable - now ORACLE)
Will it have its place?? How do we convert?
91
T3E Massively Parallel Processor
Date of Installation Number Processors
elements (PEs) Local Mem size
Disk Storage Peak performance Cooling
Oct 96 - april 97 (extended)
840 +40 support (clock speed 450Mhz)
each PE - 128mb (8 have 256)
1152Gb
900Mflops per PE
Liquid
92
T3E Massively Parallel Processor
Power consumption - 200 KWh
Total weight - 9.8 tons Operating system -
UNICOS/mk Backup generators for
operational areas
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Second CRAY Because of volume of
work require a second CRAY T3E 1200 - recently installed and accepted 1999
640 Pes @ 600Mhz Most 256MB Total - 1,500 Billion
calculations per second….
Also “Baby” test T3E
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Second CRAY
Used for Numerical weather prediction & Climate research
To keep ahead of our competitorsEnhanced modelsOverall upgrade by 80% even though 25% fewer processors they run faster
95
T3E Massively Parallel Processor Replaced Cray 90 once all code
converted and tested in parallel at least 5 times faster.
Much of code had to be rewritten to make most use of parallel processors - data exchange....
Connected via Ethernet Change from few fast expensive CPUs
to many small cheap RISK based.
Where to store all this data?
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Future of Super Computing
Has to be parallel Greater speed of processors Less cost More memory LINUX based PC chips? Fewer companies Distributed by function?
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GRAU tape Robot Installed July 1993 5 Towers = 28800 bar-coded
cartridges Two Robots 200 mounts /hour High availability 17.5million Chars/Sec to IBM 250Million to/from Cray (superlink) Job of two staff -No tea breaks
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A Few Statistics 1981 - 10K 1600bpi tapes 1985 - 20K 6250bpi tapes 1995 - 36K 18 & 36 Track
Cartridges - Approx 21.1 Tbytes Now growing at 100+ bytes year 2000 - 600 Tbytes?? 2001 -7- 800 Tbytes?? Current MF Disk Capacity - +1600GB
RAID - HSM
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Future - Mass Storage Replacing ageing Grau with File Tek
MASS storage system Forecast well over a Peta Byte
(thousand Tera Bytes by 2005 Use for all storage and backups? Automated high capacity tape
cartridge silos - dedicated computer system
Where to now???
100
Why Need Such Storage Hi Speed Computers = Hi Res
Models = more data Ongoing Archive of info Operational Backup Climate Data - Keep Forever?? Research - Still comparing
with 20 years ago.
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Models -
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Models -
Limited out to T+48 Global out to T+144 + Special -
Chemet etc Gulf - T+24 104x92x31 Takes 1800secs
CPU Global takes 1 Hour + 1 hour to
process Strict Opnl Schedule Moving to 60 levels 15km & 7km grid….
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Models 2 Operational Schedule 0320Z - 1st Analysis based on
00Z to 6 days 1120 Second update to catch
late info. + background for next run
1200 - update to T+6 1530 - 0000Z repeat Backup ECMWF Washington etc
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However
Cant yet automate everything Need to verify models Need to verify observations Quality only as good as the verification Still rely on HUMAN verification
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The Weather machine
G lobeTelec omSystem
C omputerAna lysis &Modelling
Forec asting Servic eProvision
Observations
Transmission
Input to Model
Interpret
Forecast
Prepare and give Product to Customer
R&DVerification
Support & Infrastructure
113
Outstations Production Unified System - 1990s
Hardware:Vax Server, PCs,Macs Software:Windows,MS Office,
Freelance Network: x400, e-mail, fax async
file transfer, telex Customer Interface Was at 13 Sites Mix Met and WP Standardised Outstations
114
NIMBUS Replacement for ODS Standard across all sites
– Forecasters can use any site to do their work
– Local and central products
– Standards
– Off shelf and tailored software
– Based on NT systems
Project managed - why?
115
Few Issues ? Same all sites Cultural (not let go - always done this
way) Ergonomics each site - desking New cabling Continue services during install Parallel running
116
Few Issues ? Forecaster training across 4 shifts Training Just in time and at site
– Portable system!
Managing rollout with contractors Managing change to system releases
and local products On-going training for new releases
117
The Weather machine
G lobeTelec omSystem
C omputerAna lysis &Modelling
Forec asting Servic eProvision
Observations
Transmission
Input to Model
Interpret
Forecast
Prepare and give Product to Customer
R&DVerification
Support & Infrastructure
118
Customers
PMS - Safety of life & information
– National Severe Weather Warnings
– Storm Tides
– Gale Warnings
– Shipping & inshore
– Pollution
– Information (including WWW & Library)
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Some want their product and delivery kept very simple
Paper & Form based Fax transmission Mobile communications rooms Rely heavily on experience of
staff Reactive to situations and
events
99/739 17
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Customer
DETR - major climate prediction programme, warnings etc
Others want a report following millions of pound of research over several years
World Temps
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Working with all aspects of life
124
Customer
CAA - World area Forecast Centre for civil aviation
5% Tolerance on fuelling based on forecast
Automatic products and
personal briefings
125
Services to Civil Aviation
NATS contract
World Area Forecast System
General aviation
Airlines
Services to airfields
126
Customer
Defence - All armed forces
– presence at all RAF & Ranges UK
– all sites abroad
– Mobile Met. Unit
– NAVY
Special services when they need them - logistics to battlefield - people on the ground to advise
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6 , 3000 20 6 km m heavy becmg km tempo km R
UPPER W INDS HEIGHT
© C R O W N C O P Y R IG H T , T h e M et. O ffice 2 0 0 0 C o n tac t te lep h o n e ex ten s io n 7 2 7 5
100
T h is fo recas t is su b jec t to co n tin u o u s rev iew an d m ay b e am en d ed a t an y tim e . N ex t ro u tin e issu e Z0 5 1 0 3 00 5 3 0 S a ra h L K e n t 0 9
SURFACE W IND
W EATHER
SURFACE VISIBILITY
090 06 06 210 06vrb becmg
, . rain ocnl heavy becmg nil ocnl showers
IS S U E D B Y M E T O F F IC E S H A W B U R Y A T Z . F O R E C A S T E R : S E R IA L N O :
TIME (UTC)
A L L H E IG H T S IN 1 0 0 sO F F E E T A B O V E
A IR F IE L D L E V E L
W IN D S : D E G T R U E / K N O T ST E M P E R A T U R E S : C
(H IL L F O G IM P L IE S V IS L E S S T H A N 2 0 0 M )
(IM P L IE S )
0 C IS O T H E R M0 C
R A IN
D R IZ Z L E
S N O W
H A IL
R A IN / S N O W / H A IL S H O W E R S
F R E E Z IN G P R E C IP IT A T IO N
F O G / F R E E Z IN G F O G
M IS T
S M O K E / H A Z E
T H U N D E R S T O R M
IM P L IE SCB
M O D E R A T E / S E V E R E IC IN GM O D E R A T E / S E V E R E T U R B U L E N C E
M O U N T A IN W A V E S
T R O P T R O P O P A U S E H E IG H T A N D T E M P E R A T U R E
C O N T R A IL S
F E W 1 /8 - 2 /8B K N 5 /8 - 7 /8
S C T 3 /8 - 4 /8O V C 8 /8
S H A W B U R Y T IM E C R O S S -S E C T IO N F O R 0 5 A U G 9 9
HAZARDS , .l ow cl oud thunderstorm
06 08 10 12 14
050
020
010
005
140 10 BECM G240 10
140 10 BECM G240 10
120 10 BECM G230 08
16
SCT CU
FEW /SCT CU
FEW /SCT ST
SCT SCBKN SC
BKN SC
BKNSC AC
EMBD CB
SCT AC
0 C
40 km
UPPER W INDS HEIGHT
280 15
© C R O W N C O P Y R IG H T , T h e M et. O ffice 2 0 0 0 C o n tac t te lep h o n e ex ten s io n 2 1 9 9 /7 3 1 6
100
T h is fo recas t is su b jec t to co n tin u o u s rev iew an d m ay b e am en d ed a t an y tim e . N ex t ro u tin e issu e Z1 2 0 6 0 011 0 6 0 0 1 5
SURFACE W IND
W EATHER
SURFACE VISIBILITY
02-05 140-170 05vrb
nil
IS S U E D B Y M E T O F F IC E L E E M IN G A T Z . F O R E C A S T E R : S E R IA L N O :
TIME (UTC)
A L L H E IG H T S IN 1 0 0 sO F F E E T A B O V E
A IR F IE L D L E V E L
W IN D S : D E G T R U E / K N O T ST E M P E R A T U R E S : C
(H IL L F O G IM P L IE S V IS L E S S T H A N 2 0 0 M )
(IM P L IE S )
0 C IS O T H E R M0 C
R A IN
D R IZ Z L E
S N O W
H A IL
R A IN / S N O W / H A IL S H O W E R S
F R E E Z IN G P R E C IP IT A T IO N
F O G / F R E E Z IN G F O G
M IS T
S M O K E / H A Z E
T H U N D E R S T O R M
IM P L IE SCB
M O D E R A T E / S E V E R E IC IN GM O D E R A T E / S E V E R E T U R B U L E N C E
M O U N T A IN W A V E S
T R O P T R O P O P A U S E H E IG H T A N D T E M P E R A T U R E
C O N T R A IL S
F E W 1 /8 - 2 /8B K N 5 /8 - 7 /8
S C T 3 /8 - 4 /8O V C 8 /8
L E E M IN G T IM E C R O S S -S E C T IO N F O R 1 1 A U G 9 9
COLOUR STATEHAZARDS bl u 1015 partial sol ar ecl ipse at z
15
300
200
050
020
010005
300 10
VRB 02-05BECMG 170
350
07 1709 11 13
BKN SC
BKN CI
BKN AS
FEW CU
BKN OCNLSCT SC
BKN SC
129
Customer
CORE– Gathering & exchange of observations (space &
terrestial) worldwide.
– Operation NWP models
– NMC - interpretation & adjustment model output - guidance
– R&D to improve overall efficiency & effectiveness.
– Core Customer Group - agrees programme & targets
– BBC
130
Customer
Commercial– All industry, Medai, commerce
– eg Utility demand forecasts, Open Road, Transport, N.Sea Oil, Newspaper, TV, Supermarkets, Legal, Building, MIST, MetFAX, WWW, Overseas - TOMMS
Products tailored for each customer
131
Commercial Products
132
OpenRoad system
RST
Weather Centre
MES
SSFM
T3E
Sensor dataHighwayauthority
133
International OpenRoad sites
134
CUSTOMERSNon Core R&DAdmin & FinanceAll audited against very strict performance & Business targets eg advice pollutants within 30 mins, annual improvements in forecast accuracy
135
Keeping it all going
Own engineers for instruments Single source maintainers of Computers 24X365 Help Desk Operations team 24X360
136
Keeping it all going
Tivoli management system across - monitoring events across all platforms
Allow OPS staff to concentrate on resolution management not problem tracking
137
Help for the Customer 24 x 365 Customer Call centre Single number local and 0800 calls Help across range of services Knowledge based responses During Floods - peak 2K calls per hour
138
Recap - The Met Office
Deliver World Class forecasts Best possible accuracy Lowest unit cost delivered appropriate to Customer needs
– Lots of delivery methods
– 10000+ stock products ?? others
– 20000+ “significant” customers
139
NT Project
“Standardised NT desktop” Standard “functional” software
– eg not 30 word processors
Managed software Supportable centrally Cost effective Compliant
Delivered on time to budget by experienced Project managers with appropriate resources and staff
140
IS Strategy Covers all uses of IT in Met Office Core observing, NWP,
Forecasting research commercial– Interfaces to Customers Product
format, transmission, security
Continual Process Directions not technical Solutions
141
Standards Comms: TCP/IP, X400, LAN Environments M.Frame, Workstation, PC Operating Sys. MVS,UNIX,NT Data Storage. Central Graphics GKS, CGM ProgrammingFortran, C Analysis/Design SSADM, CASE
142
Software? Standards & User group? Standards documents Documentation? Earliest Code 1972? Lots Versions of languages System dependent? Software management Software backups - dangers?
Who uses
standards?
143
Areas of uncertainty
FORTRAN and OO - latent impact of language changes
JAVA, PERL and C++ Training for the new millennium FORTRAN training!!! UNIX vs MVS
144
Other Issues Centralised Purchasing Single Source Maintenance Use of Partners - Core business issues Central File Storage Virus Control System & Data Integrity System and Service Monitoring Databases Standards
145
Integration & Testing
146
Integration & Testing
ISO900 and TickIT Processes mapped to services Critical services need to be protected Offshore and support for other met
services systems as greater international use of Met Office systems
Increased maintenance issues
147
Supporting “our” systems
Now need 24 X 365 for software and Hardware
Cultural issues Help desk support groups Criticality of services defined and tested
contingency and recovery plans in place
148
So who does use these computer things?
Perhaps better who not? Messengers?
– Email, Bookings, Memos, corporate info….
Security - surely not– Janus, Memos, Email, etc
Cleaners– Timesheets - corporate information
– Compared to even 5 years ago….
149
Relocation
Between 2001 and 2003 the Met Office will relocate all its Bracknell functions to Exeter
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Some IT Challenges of Relocation
New Building, working practices and Desktop New Operating systems Keeping continuity of services
– Parallel running
– End to end testing - right into customer sites
Moving goalposts of technology Support infrastructure in Exeter area
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Some IT Challenges of Relocation
Chance to re-write code or not? Is there time? Loss of experts in short term? Change of operating system to UNIX? Get rid of legacy - will there be time? Training between sites Increased home and mobile working Paperless Office??
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Met on the net
Web Site - Oct 95 Business Site - Jan 96 Intranet System Monitoring
20 - 40K hits per day
Pay as go services
http://www.metoffice.com
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Internet based services Met where you need it, when you need it Based on WAP, internet and mobile
computing What customers are demanding Low cost, high volume Problems of “technology” Use of packages “Dreamweaver” to provide
standards, and ease of training
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Internet based
services
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Weather on other’s sites
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Future Greater diversity requirements
– Hydrology, Oceanography, Environmental etc
Greater Customer drive for more effective services at lower cost - reduced errors etc
Even greater reliance on appropriate IT for cost effective solution
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Future More effectively managed IT Centralise Storage? Centralise Services etc Greater use of effective SLAs Centralise production (NMC) - get more
info to point use/sale faster. Always need bigger and better facilities Continue to get most out of kit etc
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Use of Computers OK to be reliant on computers Must not be led by computers Must not be slave to
computers An effective organisation relies
on appropriately skilled, allocated, resourced and motivated STAFF - computers are after all just a TOOL!!!
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What is most important?
“The Met. Office’s most valued asset is its staff - in a crisis they are always there…”
“You can buy a new computer - not so easy to buy expertise”
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VACANCIES
Are you right for the job?
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The Job Science & Technology
– Improving performance of models
– Climatic and environmental investigations
– Support and development of comms, remote sensing & computing
Specialist - HR, Finance, Marketing & Sales, Property management
IT Specialists - eg Workstation support, Internet development
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IT Specialist Are you
– A graduate or have experience in computing or a physical science
– Fluent in FORTRAN and UNIX / configuration management
– can demonstrate aptitude to IT in scientific environment
– excited by computer systems, networks or applications
– keen to apply your skills to real problems
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IT Specialist Do you want to
– apply your knowledge to weather forecasting and environmental sciences
– work across the range of systems from the web to supercomputers
– make a positive contribution to development and IT service provision
– help us to take advantage of exciting developments in local and wide area networks
– develop your existing computer skills
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The Job - graduate Starting Salary - £12,740 - £32,619 Terms - Permanent and Fixed. Qualifications:
– good degree (or other professional qualification & experience)
– in:
» maths
» physical discipline
» computer science
» meteorology
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Application forms & info
Capita RAS, Innovation Court, New Street, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG21 7JB
Tel - 01325 745500 (24 hours) www.rasnet.co.uk
Register interest - see web site… Placements….
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The Met Office Is
Equal Opportunities Employer seeks to achieve excellence through it's
most valued asset - the people it employs. Keen to hear from suitable applicants Vacancies regularly. SEE WEB SITE FOR DETAILS
www.metoffice.com
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How to contact me Kevin J Needham Met Office Met Office College Shinfield, Reading, Berks, RG2 9AU phone: 01344 855232 fax: 01344 855410 email: [email protected]
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Questions?
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Thank You
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"The Met Office needs IT like a fish needs water.”
“To provide what it needs to survive”
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