Pangaea Information Technologies, Ltd.

May 28, 2012 - Pangaea Honors our Nation’s Heroes

Today and every day we honor and salute those brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in defending, protecting and serving our nation. You shall not be forgotten!

May 20, 2012 - Introducing a PyUnit-Based Network Monitor

This project grew out of our need to monitor critical IT infrastructure without having to learn and manage a large monitoring system such as Nagios. As a custom software development company, we already utilize Jenkins to manage all of our builds, unit tests and documentation generation. We decided to leverage that existing infrastructure to create a monitoring tool that would work just like a set of unit tests.

The result of this effort is a PyUnit-Based Network Monitor. To use this monitor, modify the config.xml file to suit your needs and deploy the code to Jenkins. Using the “Build Periodically” trigger in Jenkins, you can automatically run this monitor on any schedule you like. Under the “Post-build Actions” section, you can configure sending email for every failed build. This monitor supports formatting the output as JUnit-compatible reports, so you can use the “Publish JUnit Test Result Report” functionality to have Jenkins track your monitor results over time as well.

Note: if you don’t currently have Jenkins, but wish to use this network monitor, you can create a free hosted Jenkins instance at OpenShift which supports python out-of-the-box.

Currently, this tool supports the following types of monitors:

urltest: Test that a URL is valid and accessible. Optionally, check the contents of the returned data against a substring and/or regular expression. Supports various protocols (http, https, ftp, etc.) and supports basic HTTP authentication.
tcptest: Test that a TCP port is open on a particular host
udptest: Test that a UDP port is open on a particular host
filetest: Test for the existence of a file in the filesystem. Optionally, check the contents of the file against a substring and/or regular expression. Additionally, you can assert a minimum and maximum byte size on the file and/or a minimum and maximum modification time for the file.
nofiletest: Test for the non-existence of a file in the filesystem.
disktest: Test the amount of free space on a disk/partition. Under Windows, network disks are supported using UNC notation (Note: you must have the win32api extension installed to support this).

For more details on configuration, see the config.xml schema. For details about how to run the monitor, type python main.py -h to view the help content.

This software is released under the Modified BSD License.

May 9, 2012 - European Space Agency's Earth-observing satellite Envisat is dead in space

Envisat was the world’s largest Earth-watching satellite for civilian use and has been in orbit for the past 10 years.

May 8, 2012 - GeoEye Proposes to Purchase DigitalGlobe

GeoEye has approached Digital Globe with an acquisition proposal that was rejected at this time. The lack of competition resulting from the proposed merger is a cause for concern.

April 24, 2012 - Pangaea awarded Regional Transportation Data Archive project from CMAP

Pangaea was recently awarded a contract from the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) to develop an archival database for regional transportation data. The region’s transportation system operators have invested significant resources in intelligent transportation system (ITS) equipment to collect information which they use for specific tasks on a day to day basis as well as provide to the public for real time travel planning. Having access to an archive of this data will allow agencies to maximize the value of this existing investment by making the data available for transportation planning, design, operations and research needs. This project is the first step in building a roadway oriented data service that will provide evidence based decision support for the region’s transportation systems operators and planning staff and a wealth of information for researchers.

About CMAP

The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) is the official regional planning organization for the northeastern Illinois counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will. CMAP developed and now leads the implementation of GO TO 2040, metropolitan Chicago’s first comprehensive regional plan in more than 100 years. To address anticipated population growth of more than 2 million new residents, GO TO 2040 establishes coordinated strategies that help the region’s 284 communities address transportation, housing, economic development, open space, the environment, and other quality-of-life issues. See www.cmap.illinois.gov for more information.

February 24, 2012 - Pangaea remembers Brian Youngs

Today would have been Brian’s 35th birthday. He was taken from us 7 years ago after a long battle with cancer. For those of us fortunate enough to have known him, he was an amazing person and will always be a part of our family.

February 1, 2012 - Pangaea develops web mapping solution for Ingenuity Incorporated

Pangaea Information Technologies, Ltd. is proud to support Ingenuity Incorporated in developing Artlook, a web based mapping application.

Artlook is a public facing interactive web based mapping application that shows arts programming available at each public school in Chicago. The site is user friendly and designed to facilitate updates as new information about arts programming becomes available. This site depicts the extent of the arts offerings within the Chicago Public School (CPS) system on a school by school basis, focusing on the presence of certified arts instructors and community arts partnerships.

The website can be found at: www.artlookmap.org

About Ingenuity Incorporated

The vision of Ingenuity Incorporated is that all Chicago Public Schools students, from the day they start until the day the graduate, will receive quality arts education at every grade level. Ingenuity is a leading source of information and research on arts education, and a tireless advocate for the arts in education. Foremost, Ingenuity Incorporated is dedicated to supporting the Chicago schools, arts institutions and cultural organizations, teaching artists, and others who recognize the value and importance of the arts in education to bring their benefits to each child, in every school, every day. To learn more about our work visit www.ingenuity-inc.org, or email us at info@ingenuity-inc.org. Follow us on Twitter: @IngenuityIncChi

November 11, 2011 - Pangaea salutes our nation’s Veterans

Pangaea would like to thank and honor all of the brave men and women who serve our nation and allow us the luxury of freedom! We are fortunate to have these brave individuals as part of our team and as our clients. We are fortunate to work with these Heroes! Please take a moment today to think about the sacrifices that these heroes make every day and never forget about the bravery and courage that it takes to wear the uniform.

October 24, 2011 - Congratulations

Pangaea would like to congratulate MAJ Lance Wilson on his selection as the Commander of the Illinois Army National Guard 5th Civil Support Team. MAJ Wilson served as the team’s Analytical Sciences Leader prior to his promotion.

September 21, 2011 - Parsons Team awarded U.S. Army Training Support Systems (TSS) contract

Pangaea is pleased to announce that the Parsons team has been awarded the U.S. Army Training Support Systems (TSS) prime contract by the Department of the Army. Pangaea will serve a key role on this team by providing enterprise IT solutions and geospatial support services to the client. This indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract will provide support to Soldiers in the Live, Virtual, Constructive, and Gaming training domains at installations and locations in the United States and overseas.

Under this IDIQ contract, Parsons and its team will provide the Department of the Army with program management, technical and analytical services, training, and training support services for the Sustainable Range Program, the Combat Training Center Modernization Program, the Mission Command Training Program, the Soldier Training Support Program, and the Training Development Support Program. These programs include the full spectrum of support to the Warfighter, from modernizing, operating, and maintaining ranges and training lands; to individual and small unit live and virtual collective training and exercise support; to the use of gaming and games in training.

Pangaea has been working with Parsons to support the U.S. Army Training mission since 1999.

Parsons and its team will be working to support the TSS Enterprise in its mission to enhance effectiveness and realism by further integrating virtual and simulated scenarios with live training, and to include lessons learned from current military operations. With a strong track record in Army range and training support, Parsons has assembled a team of specialists in each of the training domains, ready to deliver integrated, cost-effective, and sustainable solutions.

Parsons, celebrating more than 65 years of growth in the engineering and construction industry, is a leader in many diversified markets with a focus on infrastructure, environmental, and defense/security. Parsons delivers design/design-build, program/construction management, professional services, and innovative alternative delivery solutions to federal, regional, and local government agencies, as well as to private industrial customers worldwide. For more about Parsons, please visit www.parsons.com.