A Boulder, Colo.-based data analysis and software firm is going to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
Actually, the Games are coming to it -- Research Systems Inc. has been providing weather-forecasting applications for the Australian Bureau of Meteorology in Melbourne, Australia, for a decade.The weather information was previously just pertinent to those Aussies planning a sailing trip or a barbecue. But this summer the world will be able to access the data online to see if their country's softball game will be rained out or if a track event will be canceled due to high winds.
Olympic fans visiting Australia's very detailed meteorology site www.bom.gov.au/olympic/ will be able to access the weather Down Under from anywhere in the world, updated at least every 30 minutes.
"This is something that evolved out of the work Research Systems has been doing in Australia for years," said Michelle Asher, a spokeswoman with the company.
Specifically, the meteorology bureau uses Research System's flagship product, the Interactive Data Language (IDL) to supply visual and detailed weather forecasts. The IDL will be used to supply graphs of the wind variation on Sydney harbor and other applications.
"IDL is both powerful for developing applications, and great for visualizing images," said James Kelly, supervisor of regional development at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.
Research Systems employs 155 people.