Fujitsu integrates Japan Meteorological Agency’s systems

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Fujitsu says it has integrated two systems managed by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) – the Automated Data Editing and Switching System (ADESS) and the Disaster Mitigation Information Provision System.

The JMA has commenced delivery of data via the new system, having conducted a sequential switchover for data recipients in and outside of Japan on Oct 1, 2013 and again between Feb 3 and March 14 this year.

ADESS, located in Kiyose, Tokyo, is a critical system that plays a central role in exchanging meteorological data with national meteorological services in and outside Japan, and also functions to distribute JMA-produced disaster mitigation information to the network of administrative agencies and the media in Japan.

Another important system, the Disaster Mitigation Information Provision System, provides warnings and emergency warnings relating to weather, tsunamis, and high tides, as well as information on the seismic intensity of earthquakes – collected from meteorological observatories across Japan – to government disaster management agencies and local governments throughout the country. Accordingly, to maintain stable operations in the event of a major disaster, JMA has since 2005 operated both of these systems in eastern and western Japan, in Tokyo and in Osaka, respectively.

Fujitsu’s integration of ADESS and the Disaster Mitigation Information Provision System, using Fujitsu’s middleware to visualize the transmission status of meteorological data and disaster mitigation information on a single screen, has enabled centralized and streamlined system operations.

Moreover, as observational data have become more sophisticated, and with improvements in forecasting precision, the volume of data JMA collects and distributes through the system continues to increase. To cope with this higher level of throughput, Fujitsu renewed the integrated system’s platform. This has made possible stable processing performance and operational continuity even when there is a sudden surge in the volume of data required to be processed as a result of a natural disaster or other cause.