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Taking it's exclusive VORTEX™ data to the next level, WSI
introduces a revolutionary new way to view radar.
Billerica, Massachusetts and the National Association of
Broadcasters (NAB) Show, Las Vegas, Nevada, April 7, 2003. Today
at NAB (Booth C3758), WSI (Weather Services International),
the leader in professional, on-air weather technology for broadcast
and cable television, unveiled a new tier of radar-based imagery
services for their exclusive and renowned VORTEX™ data stream.
WSI's VORTEX data, introduced at last year's NAB as the driving
force behind WSI's live and interactive presentation system,
TrueView™, is a high-value data stream that transforms volumes
of complex meteorological data into very local, high resolution
weather displays that give viewers the most realistic view of
past, present, and future weather conditions.
"For this year's NAB, we're excited to show how we've taken
our proprietary VORTEX technology and expanded it to include
sophisticated application of radar imagery," explains Bill Callahan,
senior product manager for media data services at WSI. "With
so many meteorologists and news directors telling us that TrueView
has had a huge impact on their ability to cover local weather,
we decided to incorporate enhanced storm tracking capabilities
to further expand its breadth of use - especially during breaking
events," continues Bill.
A new service tier, called VORTEX Severe, has been created to
deliver highly evolved severe weather products. Two of these
products, Premium NOWrad® and FutureRad, offer superior animations
and rapid update cycles that significantly improve how radar
is presented. Premium NOWrad is based on WSI's NOWrad® technology
which set the standard for mosaic radar imagery. "We capitalized
on our existing capabilities to present the broadcast industry
with an even more advanced radar product," states Bill. VORTEX's
Premium NOWrad provides 1km resolution radar imagery updated
every five minutes, as opposed to the previously available 15-minute
cycles. The result is cleaner, smoother animations. Premium
NOWrad is the only product of its kind available anywhere.
FutureRad is based on MIT's Growth and Decay Storm Tracker algorithm
and allows on-air talent to show radar data projected into the
future. Because it is generated from quality-controlled imagery
and delivered as a mosaic, FutureRad flows seamlessly with Premium
NOWrad to accurately display past, present, and future movement
of evolving precipitation events. Its quality assured nature,
which involves removal of non-precipitating echoes such as AP
and ground clutter, ensures that only 'real' radar echoes will
be presented to viewers. The approach of forecasted, high accuracy
radar mosaics is also a WSI exclusive.
WSI is also incorporating additional advanced storm tracking
capabilities such as NEXRAD Level 2 integration and Early Warning
Storm Detection into the VORTEX Severe package. The resulting
service delivers the most technologically advanced and sophisticated
storm tracking tools available.
When combined with WSI's TrueView display technology, the VORTEX
Severe package provides unsurpassed live and interactive storm
following capabilities, opening the door for any station to
become number one in everyday weather story telling as well
as live, late breaking storm event coverage.
About WSI
WSI Corporation is the world's leading provider of weather-driven
business solutions for professionals in the energy, aviation
and media markets. More of America's leading broadcasting and
cable companies choose WSI than any other weather provider.
WSI is headquartered in Billerica, Mass., with offices in Birmingham,
England, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Landmark Communications.
More information about WSI can be found at: www.wsi.com.
For more information & press graphics contact:
Linda Maynard
WSI Corporation
(978) 262-0715
lmaynard@wsi.com
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