Abstract
The massive seismic data growth is a typical exponential function. The current size is tens of PB's and it hardly can be managed. As per the acquisition plan, the expected size in few years is a zettabyte (ZB). The team studied many technologies and solutions. The Online and/or the Offline systems will not meet our end users requirements. The Near Line Robotic Tape Library is the comprehensive solution for such issues that fulfill the needs.
The first step was defining the current issues versus the business needs of the users. Next we studied the available technologies in the market e.g. Online RTL, Offline RTL, Near Line in addition to other similar cases in IOC's and NOC's. The Near Line RTL with enhanced workflows and data standards, was the best in our case. It depends on a very strong naming system. The Barcode system insures that no errors occurred. The interactive data allocation exchange between Fast Disk, Slow Disk and Taps are very effective. The loading/exporting are very quick even with hundreds of TB's files.
The Near Line RTL with our customized workflows and data flow system has the advantages of both
other systems i.e. Online and Offline. It is the first implementation in the world. However the challenges are tremendously huge, the system shows a very effective performance and seamlessly interactive environment. The users now can deal with a seismic files with hundreds of TB's easily. The customized system in addition to the barcodes are controlling the process. The asset end users now heavily depend on that system and that is why we expanded that system (in term of capacity). Customizable, easy extendable, friendly system was strongly recommended during planning phase for such purpose. A real case, one of our users has an urgent request (seismic file of 240 TB) and he requested it in less than couple of days, we did it in one hour!
The Conclusion: managing massive data files e.g. seismic, became easier with the RTL technology. The Near Line system with a customized workflows and standards will be a very comprehensive solution that not only fits, but also exceeds the success criteria and the business needs. Many companies now are evaluating such system, where we suggest aforementioned customization.
The Project is a step forward towards the optimized three end-members managements i.e. Technology, People and Processes. The unbalanced management of these resources is a cause of inefficiency and issues/gaps. The magic key of balancing these resources will save the efforts, time which means money in addition to performance enhancements.
