Simultaneous image distribution and archiving

1. A storage system for enabling the substantially concurrent storage and access of data, comprising:

a. A source of data, wherein said data comprises a three dimensional image wherein said three dimensional image has been processed to identify a presence of a threat item;

b. A random access memory for receiving and temporarily storing said data, wherein said random access memory is adapted to at least four file input/output operations executing substantially concurrently and wherein said data is received from said source of data via one of said at least four file input/output operations executing substantially concurrently;

c. At least two workstations for accessing said data, wherein each of said workstations is configured to access the random access memory through one of said at least four file input/output operations executing substantially concurrently; and

d. A long term storage system for accessing and storing said data, wherein said long term storage system is configured to access the random access memory through one of said at least four file input/output operations executing substantially concurrently, wherein, if said data is not associated with an alarm or a threat, the random access memory transmits the data to long term storage and does not retain said data for access by the workstations.

2. The storage system of claim 1 wherein said random access memory is configured to receive data from said source of data at a data transfer rate equal to or greater than 1.6 gigabytes per second.

3. The storage system of claim 1 wherein said random access memory has a size of at least 32 gigabytes.

4. The storage system of claim 1 wherein each of said workstations can access said data at a speed of at least 100 megabytes per second.

5. The storage system of claim 1 wherein said random access memory is adapted to receive data from said source of data via a first file input/output operation, transmit data to a first workstation via a second file input/output operation, transmit data to a second workstation via a third file input/output operation, and transmit data to the long term storage via a fourth file input/output operation, wherein each of said first, second, third, and fourth file input/output operations executes concurrently.

6. The storage system of claim 5 wherein each of said file input/output operations is executed via a FTP server thread.

7. The storage system of claim 5 wherein said fourth file input/output operation occurs at a rate of at least 200 megabytes per second.

8. The storage system of claim 7 wherein said second and third file input/output operations occur at an average rate of at least 70 megabytes per second.

9. The storage system of claim 1 wherein, upon receiving a request from a workstation for data that is not present in said random access memory, said random access memory is adapted to retrieve said requested data from the long term storage and transmit the requested data to the workstation.

10. The storage system of claim 1 wherein said random access memory receives said data into a TCP offload engine.

11. The storage system of claim 10 wherein said TCP offload engine receives data from an Ethernet switch.

12. The storage system of claim 11 wherein said Ethernet switch is at least a 10 Gb Ethernet switch.

13. The storage system of claim 1 wherein said random access memory transmits data to the workstations via an Ethernet switch.

14. The storage system of claim 13 wherein said Ethernet switch is at least a 10 Gb Ethernet switch.

15. The storage system of claim 1 wherein each of said workstations is configured to display 3-D images.

16. A process for high speed storage and access of data wherein said data comprises a plurality of three dimensional images and wherein said three dimensional images have been processed to identify a presence of a threat item system, comprising:

a. Receiving said data into a random access memory through a first file input/output operation;

b. Transmitting said data to a first workstation through a second file input/output operation;

c. Transmitting said data to a second workstation through a third file input/output operation; and

d. Writing said data to a long term storage through a fourth file input/output operation, wherein said first, second, third, and fourth file input/output operations execute substantially concurrently and wherein, if said data is not associated with an alarm or a threat, the random access memory transmits the data to long term storage and does not retain said data for access by the workstations.

17. The process of claim 16 wherein said random access memory is configured to receive data from a source of said data at a data transfer rate equal to or greater than 1.6 gigabytes per second.

18. The process of claim 16 wherein said random access memory is a RAM buffer having a size of at least 32 gigabytes.

19. The process of claim 16 wherein each of said workstations can access said data at a speed of at least 100 megabytes per second.

20. The process of claim 16 wherein each of said file input/output operations is executed via a FTP server thread.

21. The process of claim 16 wherein said fourth file input/output operation occurs at a rate of at least 200 megabytes per second.

22. The process of claim 21 wherein said second and third file input/output operations occur at an average rate of at least 70 megabytes per second.

23. The process of claim 16 wherein, upon receiving a request from a workstation for data that is not present in said random access memory, said random access memory is adapted to retrieve said requested data from the long term storage and transmit the requested data to the workstation.