USGS Deploys Isilon Gear

SEATTLE -- Isilon Systems (NASDAQ: ISLN), the leader in clustered storage, today announced that the United States Geological Survey (USGS) has selected Isilon’s IQ clustered storage system as the primary repository for High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) data. HiRISE, currently orbiting Mars onboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), is an advanced digital imaging project led by the University of Arizona. HiRISE is focused on collecting groundbreaking, high-resolution images of Mars’ terrain to deepen scientists’ understanding of the planet’s evolution, and assist in planning future Mars missions and landings. With Isilon IQ, the USGS Astrogeology Research Program is able to efficiently and cost-effectively consolidate all its HiRISE images – with file sizes often exceeding 2 GB – into one, single global namespace and file system, delivering unmatched scaling of capacity and performance to meet the rapidly growing storage demands of their massive digital imaging data sets.

“With the advances in photographic telescopes and aerial cameras, the digital images we are able to capture with HiRISE are unique in their incredibly high resolution and complexity, thereby creating visual depictions of Mars much greater in detail – and file size – than ever before,” said Chris Bradshaw, Senior Engineer, USGS Astrogeology Research Program. “We found that only Isilon clustered storage was capable of cost-effectively and efficiently storing this type of digital imaging data, as it delivers the unparalleled scalability of capacity and performance we require to store, process and analyze our valuable imagery of Mars and its terrain.”

Isilon Systems Inc.