
SANTIAGO, Chile, 31 de Mayo de 2016.- Located at 5,000 meter altitude at the Atacama Desert in Chile, ALMA, Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, the world's largest radio observatory, is literally pushing Cisco technology to the limits.
Having 66 antennas almost 15 meters tall - the eyes of ALMA - operating day and night to capture the signals of the universe to explain how stars and planets were formed is not an easy task. Low temperatures, high winds and snow, low humidity, dust, and a lack of oxygen are tough challenges that the ALMA staff and its network infrastructure have to endure.
To deal with one of the most extreme environments of the planet, it's required a robust and reliable digital network architecture to take all the data from the antennas to the brain of ALMA, a supercomputer capable of processing the information from the ALMA antennas in real-time and transforming it into one cohesive data stream.
Cisco solutions are deeply integrated within ALMA operations, making Cisco an end-to-end solution provider helping ALMA, the world's largest observatory, to fulfill its mission: unveiling the mysteries of the Universe.
ALMA is, in simple words, a factory that produces scientific data and delivers them to the astronomical community, but for this supply chain to work, we need a reliable backbone, where we can support this process, and that is where Cisco plays a fundamental role , said Jorge Ibsen, Director of the Computing Department of ALMA. For over 10 years weve been working with Cisco solutions and have always given us cutting edge technology, which is what ALMA needs to generate large amounts of reusable scientific data. We currently produce about 200 terabyte (TB) TB per year, and that volume of data is expected to increase significantly over the following years in operations .
For a unique operation such as Alma to work, it is essential that the infrastructure operates in extreme conditions, but with the same advanced features and capabilities as if they were in a traditional office environment. One of the secrets to Cisco's success is our ability to customize our solutions to meet the needs in various industries, their special requirements and unique conditions , explained Mariana Portela, account manager at Cisco Chile.
Unveiling the Mysteries of the Universe
For that purpose, ALMA is using Cisco Catalyst 6500 Core switches capable of working at high altitude allowing great reliability in this extreme environment, and advanced functionalities. This critical equipment is installed in a data center located inside of the Array Operations Site Technical Building located at 5000m altitude. The building has oxygen injection, precise cooling systems and power lines to ensure optimal operational conditions, making it the highest data center in the world.
The antennas produce hundreds of gigabits (GB) of data every day, which are processed in the ALMA supercomputer - the Correlator - and then sent to the Operations Support Facility (OSF) at 2.900m altitude, located at 28Km from San Pedro de Atacama in the middle of the desert, through dedicated fiber optics links. The OSF hosts a data center, state-of-the-art labs, offices and dormitories allowing more than 200 persons to work every day, with reliable Internet access, Wi-Fi connections, video conferencing, telephone and presence services through Cisco network equipment, providing critical services given the remote nature of the facilities.
It's at the control room in the OSF, the decision-making neurons of ALMA, where astronomers and operators command all the antennas to observe the universe and where the captured data is stored, essentially acting as the short term memory of ALMA. To do that, a set of servers, storage units and very specialized software is needed to control the 66 antennas. However, a great challenge was presented to maximize the operation throughput of the onservatory, groups of antennas needed to be controlled and operated independently from others and to act as parallel production lines. But duplicating the control hardware and software was too expensive, and the workload for reconfiguring them and to change all the required optic cabling to properly connect each single antenna was overwhelming.
Fortunately, advances in the network industry together with the maturity of the Cisco virtualization technology allowed ALMA to provide a solution that allows replicating the control servers and software without changing their network address definition. This is only possible with virtual routing and LAN capabilities of Cisco core switches. The solution brings increased operational efficiency delivering dynamic reconfiguration of antennas and switches, with minimum time and zero human intervention in the cabling. ALMA pushed the virtualization initiative even further, by migrating classical rack mount servers into Cisco B22-M3, Cisco UCS Blade Servers and Cisco Nexus 5500 Switches, allowing them to standardize and consolidates the control servers and software and to reduce complexity en IT's environment. The advanced administration tools come with simplified dashboards, making them intuitive for users from other departments to manage the antennas.
Data from observations is finally sent to Santiago, where the main ALMA archive node - the long-term memory of ALMA. Resides. The data is stored and processed through high-speed networks using Cisco Nexus switches. After processing, the end data products are sent to the ALMA Support Centers, allowing the worldwide science community to make breathtaking scientific discoveries.
About ALMA
The Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of ESO, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
09/09/2026
Sony Electronics has announced the SEL814G, the company's first fisheye zoom G Lens for full-frame Alpha E-mount cameras. The lens will be available in Octo...
09/09/2026
Telestream has announced an expansion of its Practical AI capabilities across th...
09/09/2026
Haivision and Chyron have announced a technology partnership integrating Haivisi...
09/09/2026
Omaha Productions has released ManningCast: Heist, a short film featuring Peyton and Eli Manning attempting to break into NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's o...
09/09/2026
Imagine Communications will demonstrate the next evolution of XVR at IBC2026 (Stand 1.B73, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14).
XVR is Imagine's channel-in-a-b...
09/09/2026
swXtch.io has announced abbe, an AI-based orchestration layer for live media workflows, making its world premiere at IBC2026 (Meeting Room 5.MR13, Hall 5, Septe...
09/09/2026
NFL Films has announced the second season of Inside the NFL on X as an X Original, premiering Wednesday, September 9. The series marks Inside the NFL's 50th...
09/09/2026
LiveU has announced an expanded partnership with The Associated Press, deploying the largest fleet of LU900Q intelligent production units in the industry as par...
09/09/2026
Diversified has announced plans to consolidate its four existing New Jersey locations into a new facility in Newark, expected to be fully operational by the end...
09/09/2026
Wisycom will exhibit new RF products at IBC2026 (Stand 8.D60, September 11-14), including the MATF Wideband Antenna Matrix, PFL Portable RF over Fiber Box, and ...
09/09/2026
Guntermann & Drunck (G&D) and VuWall, both Panoptec companies, will introduce vsNEO at IBC2026 (Stand 8.B63, September 11, RAI Amsterdam). Pre-orders open in ea...
09/09/2026
Mo-Sys has completed a business restructuring and relocated to a new facility in Canada Water, London. As part of the reorganization, Selin Kemal has been promo...
09/09/2026
Aicox has integrated TAG Video Systems' Core monitoring platform into Telef nica's TSAmediaHUB audiovisual contribution and distribution infrastructure....
09/09/2026
Blackmagic Design has released DaVinci Resolve 21.1, a free update available now through the Blackmagic Design website. The release adds new AI tools, workflow ...
09/09/2026
ESPN and Apple Music have announced a collaboration on music curation for Monday...
09/09/2026
Sacramento Production Services has completed a wireless audio overhaul at Sutter Health Park, home of the Athletics during their three-year residency in Sacrame...
09/09/2026
NDI and NVIDIA have announced a collaboration to develop AI-powered workflows enabling broadcasters to create and distribute multilingual content from a single ...
09/09/2026
Christopher Chip Adams, Troy Aikman, Jim Dove, Jim Eady, Bucky Gunts, Robert A. Iger, Charlie Jablonski, Robert Kraft, Tom Rinaldi, and Dick Stockton to be ho...
09/09/2026
ND2 returns as the primary unit, While FNIA gets SSQC and new flexible Rover...
09/09/2026
New parts aimed at hip-hop and pop productions
The latest update to Celemony's innovative virtual session musician expands the collection of built-in in...
09/09/2026
Save up to 40% until 21 September 2026
Sonarworks are currently running their Autumn Sale, with discounts of up to 40% currently available across their rang...
09/09/2026
Upcoming title officially launches in September 2026
Bjooks' celebrations for this year's 909 Day will be welcome news amongst drum machine lovers, ...
09/09/2026
NITV to bring First Nations netball to audiences nationwide
9 September, 2026
Media releases
Every match of the 2026 First Nations Tournament will be live ...
09/09/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) invites eligible Tier 1 and 2 South African production companies to submit proposals to serve as the Facilitating ...
09/09/2026
Italy launch follows UK and Germany as Nielsen expands product across EMEA
Milan, Italy, September 9, 2026 - Nielsen, a global leader in audience measurement, ...
09/09/2026
Planned solutions tackle accuracy, cost and latency barriers to deploying AI at ...
09/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/09/2026
Studio Technologies, a leading manufacturer of high-quality audio, video, and fiber-optic solutions, introduces its new Model 791 Control Console at IBC 2026 (N...
09/09/2026
Maxon, maker of powerful, approachable software solutions for creators working in 2D and 3D design, motion graphics, visual effects and visualization, is headin...
09/09/2026
NUGEN Audio unveils DialogCheck v1.2, the latest evolution of its intelligent dialog intelligibility and compliance tool, at IBC 2026 (Pod P27). With a sharpene...
09/09/2026
Trusted Partner Network Launches Fix It or Risk It to Help the Entertainment Industry Tackle Everyday Security Risks
Industry-Wide Campaign Launches at IBC2...
09/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/09/2026
AI has moved firmly beyond experimentation in UK advertising, with more than eight in ten marketers (83%) now actively using or piloting AI in production, accor...
09/09/2026
IBC2026 - Stand 7.D22
At IBC2026, Pixitmedia by DataCore will showcase its latest capabilities designed to simplify distributed production, accelerate workflow...
09/09/2026
Stockholm, Sweden September 9th, 2026 At IBC2026, on booth 1.B47, Net Insight will showcase Open Live Media, its architecture for delivering resilient live ...
09/09/2026
Net Insight today announced that DMC Production Norway is continuing the use of its Open Live Media technology for premium European football, deploying Nimbra 5...
09/09/2026
Amagi, the media industry cloud platform for unified broadcast, streaming, and monetization, will showcase four new AI-native capabilities at IBC2026, Hall 5, S...
09/09/2026
Limecraft today announces version 2026.6 of its AI-powered production platform, extending capabilities for connected media operations. An AI-assisted approach t...
09/09/2026
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, today announced the next evolution of its Practical AI strategy, evolving its comprehensive portfoli...
09/09/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the appointment of Brian Doheny as Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
09/09/2026
LiveU is now a Clarus Integrated Reseller, bringing Starlink's fast, reliable broadband directly into LiveU's cellular bonding EcoSystem through a singl...
09/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/09/2026
Wisycom is showcasing the latest additions to its ecosystem of professional RF technologies at IBC 2026 (Stand 8.D60). This includes its new MATF Wideband Anten...
09/09/2026
AMSTERDAM, IBC2026 VisualOn, Inc. and Cires21 today released an updated joint whitepaper at IBC 2026 demonstrating measurable, high-impact improvements in visu...