ZDV CTLR CONCERNED WITH RADAR COMPUTER LIMITATIONS WHEN ENCOUNTERING WX DIVERSION SIT.

Narrative

A MASSIVE TSTM SYS WAS IMPACTING THE ENTIRE MIDWEST FROM NEAR CANADA S THROUGH TEXAS. ONE HOLE IN STORM E OF MCK. ALMOST ALL E/W ACFT WERE FUNNELED TOWARDS THIS HOLE. A COMPLETE SYS FAILURE WAS UNDERWAY. EVERY SECTOR IN OUR AREA WAS SATURATED WITH PLANES. EVERY CTLR WORKING AT THE TIME IN OUR AREA WAS PLUGGED IN. NUMEROUS OTHER CTLRS WERE SUMMONED FROM OTHER AREAS TO HELP WITH STRIP DELIVERY. NUMEROUS MGMNT PERSONNEL WERE IN THE AREA AS WITNESSES TO WHAT WAS HAPPENING. THIS IN ITSELF WAS DANGEROUS; BUT FAR WORSE WAS HAPPENING. THERE WERE NUMEROUS ACFT DEVS OCCURRING. IE; INTRUDER ACFT PLANES FLYING THROUGH OUR AIRSPACE; UNTRACKED; UNCTLED AND WE WERE UNABLE TO IDENT THEM. WHY? BECAUSE CTR-TO-CTR COMPUTERS ARE NOT FULLY INTERFACED. WHY? COSTS TOO MUCH! WE ALMOST HAD MIDAIR COLLISIONS THAT NIGHT. IF WE DID; THE FAA WOULD SPEND THE MONEY TO INTERFACE THESE COMPUTERS. THANK GOD WE DIDN'T! THIS SIT CAN AND WILL HAPPEN AGAIN. CURRENTLY OUR COMPUTER DISPLAYS LIMITED DATA BLOCKS IN OTHER CTRS; SHOWING US BEACON CODES AND ALT. BUT WE CANNOT ACCESS THE FLT DATA WE NEED. WHY? THE COMPUTERS ARE NOT PROPERLY INTERFACED. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR STATES THE NIGHT IN QUESTION REQUIRED SERIOUS ACFT WX DEVS. THE RPTR'S CONCERN IS THAT FLT PLAN PROCESSING OF ACFT NOT DESTINED TO TRANSIT ZDV'S AIRSPACE DO NOT PROVIDE; OR MAKE AVAILABLE; ANY FLT RTE DATA TO ZDV FOR THAT ACFT. A LIMITED DATA BLOCK IS DISPLAYED WITH ALT AS AN 'INTRUDER' DATA TAG. THE RPTR STATED THAT HE FELT THAT ANY ACFT FLYING IN THE ATC NAS SYS SHOULD BE ABLE TO BE ACCESSED BY ANY CTLR. THE CTLR STATED THAT THIS TYPE OF FLT DATA ACCESS PROCESSING IS ALREADY AVAILABLE AT THE TFC MGMNT POS; BUT NOT FOR THE CTLRS. THE NIGHT OF CONCERN; TFC DEVIATING FROM ZKC INTO ZMP RECEIVED APPROPRIATE COORD. BUT WHEN ACFT DEVIATED OUT OF ZMP INTO ZDV DUE TO WX; THEN BACK INTO ZKC; ZDV RECEIVED ONLY SOME OF THE REQUIRED POINTOUTS.