Thursday, August 17, 2006

WILMINGTON, NC - The NOAA Undersea Research Center at UNC Wilmington (NURC/UNCW) is one of CIO Magazine's Top 100 Award winners for 2006. CIO Magazine, aimed at chief information officers around the nation, awards this exclusive ranking to today's technology leaders. The award will be presented at CIO 100 Symposium Aug. 20-22 in Coronado, Calif.

The awards recognize organizations for their achievement in creating new business value through IT-enabled innovation. The honorees range from small organizations with a few million in revenue to multibillion dollar global powerhouses, and they span numerous industries.

NURC/UNCW operates the Aquarius undersea laboratory, as part of the Aquarius Reef Base. In addition to the underwater lab or habitat, the reef base includes a research base on shore in Key Largo, a seafloor observatory next to Aquarius at Conch Reef, a telecommunications and life support buoy above the habitat and an underwater robot that can fly from the habitat.

Under the direction of Dominic Landucci, network administrator and Aquarius dive technician, NURC has upgraded the Aquarius Reef Base computer network, including wireless broadband connection from the seafloor to the Web. The habitat is networked to Key Largo via cable from the habitat to the Life Support Buoy, which transmits wirelessly to the base station. The Orthogon Systems wireless radio can deliver high quality video and audio plus much more data in real-time to the Internet.

Aquarius undersea science has supported groundbreaking research to help the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary understand and manage the coral reef ecosystem. NASA also uses the laboratory to simulate outer-space environments and train astronauts for future shuttle, International Space Station and Lunar Base missions. The new technology has allowed NOAA to better serve these missions and deliver high-quality audio and video for its worldwide outreach programs.

Andrew N. Shepard, director of NURC/UNCW, observed, "We are keeping pace with the world leaders in IT and applying these innovations to our non-profit science, education and outreach needs."

Earlier this month Landucci was recognized for his work by UNC Wilmington with a Staff Award of Excellence in the innovations category.

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More information on the awards is available at www.cio.com/archive/081506/winner.html?id=338

Visit the Aquarius Web site at www.uncw.edu/aquarius/