IRaDS Adds First Value-Added Reseller Client

Integrated Radar Data Services (IRaDS), a program of The University of Oklahoma and the leading top-tier provider of NEXRAD Level-II weather radar data transmission, has signed its first value-added reseller master agreement with Digital RF Technology of Corsicana, Texas. The agreement allows Digital RF Technology to market top-tier data feeds originating from IRaDS in conjunction with Digital RF Technology's fast processing and weather radar visualization software. The data will be delivered, via the IRaDS Level 2 Internet point-of-presence (POP), directly to the end-user's facilities where the image processing will occur. This will significantly reduce latency times and common points of failure found in the broadcast industry.

Steve Huffman, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Digital RF Technology, said, "IRaDS has been a positive experience from the start. Not only do they give excellent service and support, they also approach each situation with a passion for helping small business and weather commerce succeed. Their new value-added reseller approach looks right on target for us!"

Joel Martin, the IRaDS program director, said, "We're excited about our new value-added reseller approach because it allows a business to grow weather commerce by leveraging the stable data provisioning technology developed here at the University of Oklahoma."

Corsicana, Texas-based Digital RF Technology, Inc. (DRFT, http://www.drftradar.com/) has created the highest resolution, full range scale, weather radar display system to date. DRFT software, known as SKYSWEEP™, has been in development for the last 4 years with the main broadcast test facility located at KWTV-9 in Oklahoma City. DRFT incorporates proprietary data processing techniques, which calculates over 16 million data samples per radar sweep, to produce fast and accurate displays of weather radar images. Oklahoma residents will recognize the DRFT software, which produces Gary England's MOAR high-resolution radar display.

Integrated Radar Data Services (IRaDS, http://www.RadarServices.org) is a program of the University of Oklahoma developed as a top-tier provider of data transmission, at cost. IRaDS evolved from the award winning Collaborative Radar Acquisition Field Test (CRAFT) under the Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms (CAPS) at OU. IRaDS became the operational implementation of CRAFT-developed research technologies following a memorandum of agreement between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and OU in April 2004. Prof. Kelvin K. Droegemeier, the director of CAPS, also serves as executive director for IRaDS. Joel D. Martin, a retired Air Force colonel, was brought in as IRaDS director and Carl Sinclair moved from CRAFT to IRaDS as technical director.