ECMWF was founded in the 70s and has installed new computer systems on a regular basis - typically every few years or so. There is nothing magic about 2006. The National Weather Service similarly does computer system upgrades every 2-3 years, and has been doing so for a very long time. They just installed a new system last year and will be installing another new system in the first half of 2017 and another system in 2019, under an existing contract. There aren't any "long over due upgrades" - they upgrade on a regular basis as HPC technology warrants. One can argue that the size of the systems should be larger but the frequency of upgrades is pretty much in synch with what makes sense to do based on technology changes. The system are typically tens of thousands of CPUs.
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Originally Posted by bagboy
That's great news about the long over due upgrade being worked on. 2006 was the year when the ECMWF was upgraded and of course there have been many since as you stated. I have high regard for the scientists and meteorologists who work tirelessly to provide us with potential live saving information and forecasts. They deserve the best software/hardware available. In my opinion, they should have had that long ago, an eternity ago even. Thank you for your contribution to this project. For everyones safety, I hope the upgrade is a success.
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