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935
NOUS41 KWBC 201855
PNSWSH

Public Information Statement 17-32
National Weather Service Headquarters Washington DC
255 PM EDT Wed Sep 20 2017

To: Subscribers:
 -NOAA Weather Wire Service
 -Emergency Managers Weather Information Network (EMWIN)
 -NOAAPORT
 Other NWS partners and NWS employees

From: Craig Hodan
 Chief, Dissemination Systems Branch

Subject: Soliciting comments until October 24, 2017, on the
 proposed termination of the EMWIN ByteBlaster and
 HostMaster services

NWS is accepting comments until October 24, 2017, on the
proposed termination of the EMWIN ByteBlaster and HostMaster
services on or about April 30, 2018.

ByteBlaster is a client-server software application which has
been implemented in privately developed and commercial software
offerings. The NWS operates four ByteBlaster servers as a public
service, actively pushing all products appearing on the EMWIN
satellite broadcast to users operating a ByteBlaster client or
other compatible software over the Internet. Users may connect
to the NWS ByteBlaster servers without the approval of, or
intervention by, the NWS. HostMaster is a ByteBlaster server
load-balancing software application used to manage the clients
connected to ByteBlaster servers and automatically transfer
connected clients from one known server to another in the event
of a server failure.

Weather, water and climate products disseminated by the NWS
ByteBlaster service include national and international watches,
warnings, advisories, observations, forecasts and remote sensing
information in text and picture (binary) formats. As an
Internet-based service, ByteBlaster client-server connections
can be operated from any location, worldwide, with Internet
access.

The NWS is in the process of consolidating its dissemination
services into a common architecture. Transitioning ByteBlaster
into this new architecture will require significant NWS
resources and time. Alternate public Internet-based methods are
available for acquiring the products disseminated by
ByteBlaster. These alternatives provide users with the
opportunity to replace ByteBlaster in their local operations. A
sample of these services and their comparative equivalence to
ByteBlaster follows:

1. EMWIN File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Archive
- Interface: file pull initiated by user
- Text Products: all text files on EMWIN satellite broadcast, in
ZIP file format
- Binary Product: all binary files sent on EMWIN satellite
broadcast in ZIP file format
- Reference: click on the link "eEMWIN FTP Service Description
draft v0.2 (Draft)," available here:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/emwin/#documents

2. NOAA Weather Wire Service (NWWS) Operational Interface (OI).
- Interface: automated XMPP file push to registered users (no
fee)
- Text Products:  NWS US weather watches, warnings and
advisories; does not include International products and non-
weather emergency messages.
- Binary Products: none.
- Reference: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwws/

3. Global Telecommunication Service (GTS) Internet File Service
(GIFS)
- Interface:  user initiated web browser Graphical User
Interface (GUI) and a command line interface over public
Internet
- Text Products: limited to International products for North
America, Central America and Caribbean; virtually no US WFO
generated products
- Binary Products: none.
- Reference:  click on the "GIFS Open Access RMTN Users Guide"
link here: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/iscs/documents.html
Web browser link:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/iscs/documents.htmlhttps://ra4-
gifs.weather.gov/data/RMTN/

4. All EMWIN binary products may also be obtained by users
directly from the web pages accessed by EMWIN, which are
documented in the "EMWIN Image and Data Capture Catalog," here:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/emwin/EMWIN_Image_and_Text_Data_Capture_
Catalog_v1.0_r170301-1500a.pdf

The final disposition of the EMWIN ByteBlaster and HostMaster
services will be determined after the NWS has reviewed all
comments.  NWS will issue a Service Change Notice in the event
termination is approved.

Partners and users are encouraged to email comments regarding
this proposal to:

 nws.emwin.support@noaa.gov

National Public Information Notices are online at:

 http://www.weather.gov/os/notif.htm