An astronomy organisation linked to Cambridge University
has deployed one of the industry’s most powerful analytical
databases, alongside utility or grid computing, to accelerate the
processing and classification of extremely large volumes of
research data.
The Cambridge Astronomical
Survey Unit (CASU), part of Cambridge University's Institute of
Astronomy, has deployed Kognitio’s WX2 analytical database which
has business intelligence incorporated into it, as well as utility
computing services from HP.
By the end of 2007 CASU will be collecting up to 500Gbyte of
telescope imaging data every night.
These images are then grouped into catalogues that must be
uploaded, cross-referenced and heavily indexed to enable research
astronomers across the world to ask useful and complex data mining
queries.
“It is analysis of this type of data that has led to some of the
most significant astronomical discoveries but since the speed of
research is closely tied to the speed the data can be catalogued
and mined we were not proceeding at a satisfactory pace.
"Gathering, classifying and cross-referencing very large
quantities of data is a highly demanding process and it requires a
powerful yet flexible technology,” said Jim Lewis, senior research
associate at CASU.
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