1. Automation of NMCs for GTS operation
Guangzhou, Dec. 8, 1998
SHI Peiliang
NMC, CMA

2. A Typical Conceptual Diagram of NMC
GTS
Satellite
Broadcast
Communication
System
Local
Users
Local Area Network
Database
Data processing
& display

3. Technology Development Overview
GTS
Faster, more reliable links
X.25 being widely used, but the technology is becoming obsolete
TCP/IP to be introduced gradually (WMO Guide on the use of TCP/IP on the GTS)
Satellite Broadcast
Will become major data source for most NMCs in terms of data volume

4. Washington
Moscow
9600
9600
Novosibirsk
7200
Khabarovsk
64 kb/s
Almaty
7200
9600 50 75
9600
4800
Bishkek
9600
7200
9600
Tokyo
PyongYang
Ashgabad
Tashkent 75
Ulaanbaatar
Offenbach 75 75
N/O 75 75
Baghdad
Dushanbe
64 kb/s
Tehran 50 50
Beijing
64 kb/s
64kb/s 75
N/O
9600
7200
Kabul
Offenbach
Seoul
4800
Kuwait 50
N/O
100 50
9600
200
Karachi
9600
9600 50
New Delhi
1200
Bahrain
Hong Kong
Jeddah 50 75
1200
Doha 50
N/O 75
Kathmandu
Macao
9600 50
1200
100
Moscow
Emirates
200
100
9600
Cairo
Muscat
2400
100
Hanoi
Algiers
N/O
Dhaka
200
Manila 50
Sanaa
Vientiane 75
Colombo 75
Cairo 50
Yangon
1200
200
64 kb/s
Male
N/O
Melbourne 50
200
RTH
Bangkok 75
NMC
N/O
Phnom Penh
1200
Melbourne
Centre in other region
Kuala Lumpur
MTN circuit
Regional circuit
Regional Meteorological Telecommunication Network for Region II (Asia) point-to-point circuits implementation (transmission speed in bit/s)
Interregional circuit

5. Technology Development Overview
Computer
faster PC---->Workstation---->super computer
cheaper
easier to maintain, modular design, low environment requirement
operating system - dominated by UNIX
network protocol - dominated by TCP/IP
The rapid advances in high performance computing technology make it possible for smaller centres to do NWP operation, e.g. MM5

6. Technology Development Overview
Local Area Networks
Ethernet, 10/100 mb/s, cost-effective, HUB/Switch connection, meets most of the requirements of a NMC
FDDI - very mature LAN backbone technology, 100mb/s, widely used at big centres
ATM - cell switching based, speed varies from 155mb/s to 622mb/s or even higher, good at multimedia applications, suitable for campus area network backbone, relatively new technology, not cheap
Gigabit Ethernet - new technology, 1000mb/s, needs time to mature

7. Technology Development Overview
Database
File based appropriate databases are still widely used, efficiency is the main reason
Commercial DBMSs becoming more and more popular, Sybase/Oracle/Informix etc, efficient and very flexible for small pieces of data

8. Experiences and lessons
Buying equipment is easy, while designing and implementing your operation system is not; you know your applications better than anybody else
Hardware devalues quickly, so the time between installation and production should be made as short as possible

9. High Performance Computers at NMC-Beijing

11. NMC’s LAN at present Hubs/switches providing Ethernet access to each
office rooms
Alpha
servers
STK tape
library R
Cray J90
VAXs
FDDI ring
Cray C90
SGI
workstations R
IBM SP
Other National level
Centers and buildings
in the CMA campus

12. RTH-Beijing, 1998 FDDI Database Ring DECNET Domestic TCP/IP,
Networking
Centre
TCP/IP,
DECNET
FEP
Alpha
1000
FEP
FDDI
Ring
Database
Cluster
Alpha
1000
FEP
FEP
Super
Computers
RTH-Beijing, 1998

13. Recent developments at RTH-Beijing
Computer upgrading completed last year
Main system for MSS: VAX780 --> DEC Alpha 1000 Cluster
Database computer: VAX6340/ > Alpha 4000 Cluster
New SCSI Disks on front-end processor
FDDI Network interface on all Alpha servers
OpenVMS provides good portability from VAX/VMS
MSS software enhanced for T4 fax handling

14. Recent developments at RTH-Beijing
Circuit upgrades
9.6kbps analogue ---> 64kbps digital for Beijing-Tokyo (11/97), and Beijing-Offenbach (6/98)
T4 fax operation
Average transmission time for one chart cut down from 20 minutes to 1 minute
Beijing-Moscow: LAPB ---> X.25 PVC