1 Current Uses of Computers in UK Business and Industry Kevin J Needham Met Office 20th November...

1

Current Uses of Computers in UK Business and Industry

Kevin J Needham

Met Office

20th November 2001

2

The Talk Who am I What is the Met Office? The Weather Machine! Some IT Challenges The Future Summary Questions

3

I.e. a Bit of.....

History - what done/learned

Now - what doing

Future - where going

4

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???

5

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

6

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?/????

7

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!!

8

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!!!!

9

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

10

A few vital Statistics As of March 2001..... 147 years old Trading Fund

11

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

12

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.

13

A Business?

Continued and proven improvements in Quality of service

Greater flexibility Sustained improvement for

less money Reduction in staff - increased

use automation

14

What’s in a Brand?

When you see this logo - what do you associate with us?

November 2000 “The Met.Office became

15

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’.

16

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???

17

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…..

18

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

19

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

20

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

21

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

23

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

24

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 ?????

25

A few vital Statistics As of March 2001..... 147 years old Trading Fund Staff - 2213 Directors 11 (inc CE) 100 UK Sites( + Overseas)

26

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

27

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…..

28

also Port Met Offices ADAS MAFF Lighthouses RAF - UK Navy, ARMY RANGES, Airports Local Councils, Auxilliaries etc

And that’s

just the UK!

29

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.

30

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

31

Defence outstations overseas

Main Met. OfficeArea Met. OfficeSubsidiary Forecasting Office

Germany

Gütersloh

LaarbruchBrüggen

HQ 2 GP (RAF)

AscensionIsland

FalklandIslands

GibraltarAkrotiri

32

Mobile Met. Unit (MMU)

33

With all the tech, pilots still trust the Forecaster

with their lives!!!

34

Rainfall Sites

35

Basic “Manned”

Land Stations

36

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

38

Where does the money come from?

39

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.

41

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

45

So how does the Met. Office operate?

46

The Weather machine

Observations

Transmission

Input to Model

Interpret

Forecast

Prepare and give Product to Customer

R&DVerification

Support & Infrastructure

47

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???

48

Buoy Network - early warning system

50

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

51

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

52

Automatic Observations

SAMOS - Semi

Automatic Observing

System

Still some elements difficult to automate -

eg cloud cover BUT

we are using remote TV cameras

53

One Reason to Automate

58

Measuring Visibility

59

The Weather machine

Observations

Transmission

Input to Model

Interpret

Forecast


R&DVerification


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

62

Number of Obs One timezone

– Limited lifetime.

– 15000+ individual observations used in 24 hours.

Upper air– radiosonde

– pressure, temp.,humidity, wind

– 2300+ observations

63

Number of Obs

•Satellites–Polar Orbiting & Geo-stationary–43000 observations

•Ships, Aircraft, Buoys etc (automated and manual - collecting platforms)

64

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

66

Radar

Co-funded satellite programmes - only as good as calibration & verification data

69

New Satellites

Magnitudes more data More Instruments More calibration Greater resolution Storage and transmission Challenges! (We also build and test the satellite

instruments)

70

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.

71

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!!

73

Tropics in the future?

74

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


R&DVerification


76

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

77

Ferranti Mercury “Console”

78

The Move

!

79

Brief History (2)

1971 - IBM/195 - 10 level model - disks and tape, programs from disk, 24hr forecasts 70 mins, programmer training, punched cards input.

80

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

81

The CYBER 205

82

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.......

83

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..”

84

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

85

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

88

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

93

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

94

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?

96

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?

97

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

98

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

99

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.

101

Models -

105

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….

107

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

108

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

112

The Weather machine




Observations

Transmission

Input to Model

Interpret

Forecast


R&DVerification


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




Observations

Transmission

Input to Model

Interpret

Forecast


R&DVerification


118

Customers

PMS - Safety of life & information

– National Severe Weather Warnings

– Storm Tides

– Gale Warnings

– Shipping & inshore

– Pollution

– Information (including WWW & Library)

119

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

122

Customer

DETR - major climate prediction programme, warnings etc

Others want a report following millions of pound of research over several years

World Temps

123

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

128

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

150

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

151

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??

152

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

155

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

156

Internet based

services

157

Weather on other’s sites

158

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

159

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

160

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!!!

161

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”

162

VACANCIES

Are you right for the job?

163

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

164

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

165

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

166

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

167

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….

168

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

169

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]

170

Questions?

171

Thank You

172

"The Met Office needs IT like a fish needs water.”

“To provide what it needs to survive”

1 Current Uses of Computers in UK Business and Industry Kevin J Needham Met Office 20th November...

Documents

Transcript of 1 Current Uses of Computers in UK Business and Industry Kevin J Needham Met Office 20th November...