Update on NOAA's VLab

NOAA's Virtual Laboratory (VLab) has grown substantially over the past year. Not only has the number of projects, communities, and users within the VLab grown by 100%, but the VLab is now an essential and required component in the transition of research to operations (R2O) for the National Weather Service (NWS) Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) II system. We are projecting continued growth in use of the VLab. One example of this growth is the VLab Support Team (VLST) is working closely with the Multiple-Radar/Multiple-Sensor (MRMS) team on how best to streamline R2O by leveraging the VLab for this new and exciting capability that will become operational within the year. Additionally, the VLab now has non-NWS NOAA projects and communities. In preparation for this growth the VLab is moving its hosting to the IDP webfarm in College Park, Maryland. The IDP webfarm will provide the VLab with a stable, redundant, and expandable environment to continue serving current and future customers as well as evolve the VLab to meet future needs.