AWIPS is the integrating element of the NWS modernization and is the primary tool in NWS forecast offices for producing forecasts and warnings. Despite the conversion from HP Unix to Linux, the AWIPS system has maintained the same basic underlying software architecture for the last ten years.

AWIPS is undergoing an extensive re-architecture and conversion to a Services Oriented Architecture (SOA). Raytheon will be converting the AWIPS infrastructure to an SOA over the next year, then migrating the current baseline software and functionality to the new architecture by FY2009. Deployment of the next generation of AWIPS is expected to be complete in FY2010.

This paper defines the path and activities necessary to establish a new architecture and convert almost 5M lines of code to the new infrastructure. This paper also describes some of the attendant benefits of the new architecture and approach.