By Bruno BLEINES, Communication Manager
After undertaking a far-reaching program to consolidate our resources in 2001, CGG has launched one of the most powerful data centers in Europe. Located in Redhill, UK, this new center serves CGG’s Eastern Hemisphere centers, which are already connected to it.
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Boasting 100 TB of storage capacity and 2 Gb per second throughput, the center considerably cuts the time it takes to process surveys, which represent ever increasing volumes of intermediary data. “During a typical project our field teams will acquire around 5 TB of raw data which needs to be processed,” explains Laurent Delorme, IT Division Manager. “To turn this information into a usable seismic survey, and provide complex 4D mapping, the original data expands tenfold in the processing stage to about 50 TB.” The system, based on Metastor technology, was selected for its reliability in handling very large data volumes and its rapidity of throughput. The planned transition to Distributed Migrated File System (DMFS) architecture will put an end to the previous hierarchical system of storage and significantly reduce downtime and other operating costs. The number crunching will be done by 2048 PC Linux clusters, whose number is expected to rise.
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By centralizing our IT resources on a single platform, CGG guarantees that all our products will be of the same high standard and that all clients, irrespective of their geographical location, will have access to the intensive data processing capabilities now on offer. “The high-speed links between our processing centers and Redhill, which now reach 34 Mbit/s are of enormous benefit for large surveys and will make it easier for collaborative work to be undertaken between sites,” explains Cato Bolstad, Manager of the London center. It will also now be possible to share experience gained on our different sites, guaranteeing the highest operational and geophysical standards throughout our centers.
The advantage of this reorganization of our resources for clients will be a significant increase in operating efficiency. The new facilities available at the centers will allow geophysicists to concentrate on enhancing quality of service and increasing geophysical added value.