THE IRIS DATA MANAGEMENT CENTER: ENABLING ACCESS TO RELATIONAL DATABASES USING DISTRIBUTED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES
An overview will be given of the methods through which users can access the information in our relational database systems as well as the mass storage systems in order to conduct their research. A discussion of three distinctly different approaches will be presented. These include an email-based method, a web-based method as well as a multi-tier distributed computing environment we call the Data Handling Interface (DHI) will be presented.
The DHI is based upon Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) and provides direct connections between client applications, normally provided by IRIS, and data center servers established at several data centers within the United States. The DHI presently supports the distribution of information about seismic events, information about the seismic stations that record the time series and finally the time series (seismograms) themselves. The system is capable of transmitting seismic waveform data in real time. The system that currently exists provides the infrastructure needed to develop a distributed system of interconnected data centers using the DHI framework.
IRIS has plans to extend the DHI framework to other disciplines such as geodesy. We also intend to build bridges between the DHI and other large data integration activities such as the GEOsciences Network (GEON).