A Brief Overview
Andrew K. BjerringPresident and CEO
New Mandate(2007-2012)
> Five-year funding of $120 million:– $24 M for 2007-08; additional $96 M to be “drawn down” annually
> Two Objectives: – Maintain, extend and upgrade Canada’s R&E Network – Develop innovative technology (shared research tools and next-
generation architectures)
> First year achievements: – Transition to new backbone completed– Selection of initial technology innovation projects nearing completion– Selection of initial infrastructure extension projects nearing completion
CANARIE’s Network
> National Communications Infrastructure for R&E: - Includes traditional layer 3 network- Most of capacity allocated as dedicated, end-to-end lightpaths- NRC and other federal labs operate their own networks using lightpaths
> UCLP was a major innovation during previous mandate – short for “User Controlled LightPaths” – Enables users to manage their own wide area networks – Built around web services and Service-Oriented-Architectures (SOA)
CANARIE’s Network-Enabled Platforms Program
> “Platform” is a new metaphor to capture the same underlying vision and infrastructure as “grids” and “cyberinfrastructure”
– focus is on the shared ICT infrastructure needs of each research community– common features are huge volumes of data, remote equipment and a distributed community of
interest
> Scope includes data repositories, sensor grids and remote equipment control etc.
– much middleware will be common
> International collaboration is key – ultimately, most platforms will serve international communities
> Most platforms will either already have or will require significant funding– funding needed for shared servers, equipment, software etc. – platforms in new areas (e.g. social sciences) present a special challenge
Examples of Emerging Platforms in Canada
> ATLAS: Tier 1 site for LHC data
> Canadian Light Source: Remote beamline control > Compute Canada: Seven regional HPC consortia
> Genome Canada: Bioinformatics
> Montreal Neurological Institute: Brain imaging database
Platforms involving Government Labs
> SAFORAH: Forestry labs (BC, AB, ON, QC, NL, NB) > CRONOS: Environmental earth sensing (CSA, U of A, NRCan (ON, BC,
AB)) > Eucalyptus: Design platform/emergency services (NRC-ITT, NRCan
(Ottawa), CRC, Carleton U) > Space Physics Network: (NRCan, NRC, CSA and U of A) > Neptune: Sensor network (NRCan, F&O, U Vic)
> Global repository of telescope data: (NRC Herzberg)
> OptIPuter: Next-generation distributed computing/visualization (CRC)
NEP Program Update
> Call for Expressions of Interest issued September, 2007> 51 EoIs were received> 14 applicants invited to submit full proposals> Proposals being reviewed by international expert panel > Senior Steering Committee to review proposals March 28, 2008 > Workshop for successful applicants planned for May, 2008 to
explore possible synergies among projects
Thank you !