1. WIS DATA-COMMUNICATIONS FUNCTIONS AND SERVICES WIS shall provide various types of services (with different quality of service) to meet the different requirements EC emphasized that with the sustained progress benefiting from Information & Communication Technology (ICT) development made in its implementation, operation and upgrade, the GTS, including satellite-based data-distribution systems and the Improved MTN, would effectively contribute to the WIS implementation as the core communication component for exchange and delivery of time and operation-critical data and products.

2. A) The first phase of the WIS as regards time and operation-critical data is in place and in operation: the GTS, under continuous upgrades and improvements. The operational data exchange service provided by the GTS, which is currently mainly focused on WWW requirements, will be extended to operational requirements of other programmes as part of the WIS; B) The second phase in current development is the further upgrade and extension of WIS space component, so-called IGDDS, for satellite-data distribution; C) The third phase, which is providing more flexible discovery and access to all users as well as more comprehensive data is the target for the GISC-DCPC demonstrations and (some) pre-operational implementation by end of this year.

3. IGDDS GTS Data pull Data push WIS WIS DATA-COMMUNICATIONS FUNCTIONS AND SERVICES (for weather, water, climate and related data and products) WIS/GTS: for time and operation-critical data & products WIS/IGDDS: for space-based data & products WIS/DAR: data discovery, access and retrieval Data push: routine distribution of data & products Data pull: access to and retrieval of data & products DAR

4. IGDDS WIS/GTS: for time and operation-critical data & products WIS/IGDDS: for space-based data & products WIS/DAR: data discovery, access and retrieval Data push: routine distribution of data & products Data pull: access to and retrieval of data & products Data pull Data push WIS DATA-COMMUNICATIONS IMPLEMENTATION (for weather, water, climate and related data and products) Essentially through telecom. with guaranteed quality of service, e.g. leased circuits, dedicated data com network services, sat.-based systems,.. Essentially through satellite based data distribution systems, e.g. DVB-S GTS Essentially through the Internet (HTTP, FTP, VPN…) DAR WIS