Vibration Testing and Analysis: Diskless Computer Technology

m+p international, the recognized solution provider for vibration and acoustic applications, successfully completed a project to establish secure, remote network integration for vibration testing and analysis at the
Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Saving time and money, making operations more efficient and improving computer security are the main benefits of using diskless computer technology in a manufacturing setting.

"This test bed successfully demonstrated the ability to establish a remote networked logical drive that behaves like a local hard drive for, in this case, a vibration analysis gage," said Curt Holmes of Y-12 Technical Computing Department. "The operating system and application software for the vibration gage were downloaded from a remote computer, and the real-time data from the vibration analysis testing were captured and stored on a logical drive at a remote classified computing facility. The result is a secure local workstation without hard drives or media-writing capability. It's a clean environment when you start and it's clean when you stop."

Diskless technology has several benefits in sensitive manufacturing facilities like Y-12. It can eliminate the use of removable write-enabled storage devices from personal computers, workstations and factory floor systems. Networking will enable an enterprise-wide secure environment with a significant improvement in operational efficiency by moving computer security issues away from the local workstation to a remote, certified, classified computing facility. Besides the production data are captured in real time during operation, enabling electronic data capture, backup and retrieval.

The diskless computer technology can be supplied to a wide range of work at Y-12. "We started with the most difficult application and completed it successfully," noted Holmes, "so we know we can use this for other applications. We believe there is potential for significant saving".