Ligado, George Mason to Test Weather Content Delivery Network

Ligado, pushing use of a cloud-based content delivery network as a way to distribute National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite data (see 1607280022), plans to test a beta version of such a CDN in conjunction with George Mason University. In a news release Thursday, it said they plan to jointly evaluate weather data delivery using the CDN, including speed and reliability. It also said the CDN potentially could expand to provide free NOAA data access to schools, libraries and the public. Some in the weather data community have been skeptical of use of a CDN to address Ligado terrestrial low-power service interference with NOAA satellite downlinks (see 1611250033).