DigitalGlobe's massive IT upgrade nears completion

13.03.2006
DigitalGlobe Inc., the company responsible for creating the satellite images accessed by users of Google Inc.'s Google Earth function, has nearly completed a massive upgrade to its IT infrastructure.

DigitalGlobe officials said the project was undertaken to add support for two more satellites that the company plans to launch over the next two years to bolster its imagery business.

Longmont, Colo.-based Digital-Globe said that an upgrade of its storage capabilities is the key piece of the project.

To date, the company has added more than 200TB of high-end and midrange storage capacity with the installation of new systems from Hitachi Data Systems Corp. In addition, DigitalGlobe has installed new data management software from Advanced Digital Information Corp. (ADIC).

The upgrades have already quadrupled productivity, said Luc Trudel, director of IT operations at DigitalGlobe.

In addition, the company has rolled out Gigabit Ethernet ports throughout its LAN, and it plans to install 10Gbit/sec. Ethernet connectivity later this year in other parts of its infrastructure. Additional Satellites