IVOA Operations Group and Ops Sessions in Sesto

[Tom McGlynn]

Dear Colleagues,

You are invited to join the new IVOA Operations Interest Group which has 
been created to provide a forum for the discussion of operational issues 
in the virtual observatory.  The goal of the operations group is to 
promote the robust, effective use of the virtual observatory.  From the 
charter for the group, its responsibilities include:

 1. Publicize existing forums and encourage new ones for monitoring
    services, notifications, discussions and questions regarding
    “real-time” operations of VO/distributed services.
 2. Promote discussion within the IVOA on standards and practices that
    would increase the reliability of VO implementations.
 3. Develop nominal implementation strategies for VO services as guides
    to best practice in the operational use of VO protocols.
 4. Periodically provide reports to the IVOA executive and WGs
    summarizing availability, quality and usage statistics for
    distributed services and VO protocols.
 5. During the IVOA standards review process, assess the validation
    capabilities that are now required as part of new standards.

This announcement E-mail has been sent to the full interop distribution, 
but further discussion will use the traditional Wiki and mailing list.

The wiki for the new group may be found at http://wiki.ivoa.net/IvoaOps. 
If you are interested in participating in the discussions and activities 
of the operations group please join the Ops discussion list 
(ops at ivoa.net) using the link
http://mail.ivoa.net/mailman/listinfo/ops .


We currently plan for two sessions at the next InterOp in Sesto. The 
first will  focus on discussions of current operations statistics for VO 
services and also how we will organize the activities of the group.  The 
second will be open to discussions in all areas of the Ops charter. If 
you would like to present or lead a discussion please get in touch with 
me as soon as possible.  And if you are interested in a topic, even if 
you don't wish to present yourself, please send in a suggestion.

Looking forward to seeing you next month and working with you on VO 
operations issues.

Regards,
Tom McGlynn
Operations Interest Group Chair