Funding, direction questions crop up as CANARIE begins cyberinfrastructure work

By Stefan Dubowski

As CANARIE Inc begins the process of hammering out a new national cyberinfrastructure strategy for Canada's research community, those associated with the project say it could result in better tech services — as long as the funding takes a new direction as well. More money might be part of the equation, but it's perhaps less important than how the funds flow, says Phil Baker, president and CEO of the Ontario Research and Innovation Optical Network (ORION).

"Redirecting or setting new priorities in current funding programs related to advancing cyberinfrastructure awareness, training, use and tool development is necessary," says Baker. "But let's develop the vision and identify priorities first before talking about redirected or new funding priorities."

These are early days for the CANARIE-led project. It started in earnest this month, when CANARIE met with representatives from various optical regional area networks (ORANs) — including Alberta's Cybera — as well as high-performance computing (HPC) platform provider Compute Canada, and the Canadian University Council of Chief Information Officers (CUCCIO).

Although a multi-stakeholder project, CANARIE is leading the process. During the organization's user forum in Banff earlier this year, members decided that this group should take the helm, because it's seen as having the clout and experience to make the vision a reality.

Canada's lags the world in CI development

According to ORION, this is a plan to help Canada catch up with the rest of the world. In an article in the latest ORION newsletter, the organization notes that researchers feel that Canada lags other countries in terms of R&D infrastructure, and that the country needs a new cyberinfrastructure vision to give Canadian researchers the same technologies available to researchers elsewhere.

The new vision would have to be comprehensive, encompassing network technologies, compute and visualization resources, middleware and data storage, ORION notes. CANARIE has convened a panel including universities, researchers, and private industry to develop a draft vision for the fall of 2010, with consultations to be held throughout the fall and a final report by the end of 2010.

CANARIE, Compute Canada, and CUCCIO couldn't be reached before press time. But ORION's Baker says the initiative could be significant. It acknowledges the importance of an integrated system for research and learning, and it addresses Canada's competitiveness. The ability to participate in major national and international collaborations is a key driver, he says.

Robin Winsor is the newly-appointed president and CEO of Cybera, which underwent its own cyberinfrastructure adjustment beginning in 2005 when the ORAN started implementing technologies beyond network connectivity. These days it's involved in information storage, application middleware, and pilot projects covering everything from multimedia-transfer advancements to wide-area data synchronization.

According to Winsor, an important part of Cybera's cyberinfrastructure strategy is the link between R&D and people's lives. All of Cybera's projects connect the research to benefits for Canadians in general. That needs to be an important element of the CANARIE-led cyberinfrastructure vision, he says. "It's for that reason governments fund these projects."

Cybera's VP of project and partnership development (Jill Kowalchuk) attended CANARIE's preliminary panel meeting the week of December 14, Winsor says. Although it's too soon for him to say just what role the ORAN will play in the cyberinfrastructure vision development, he says the project bodes well for his organization. Cybera already employs a comprehensive cyberinfrastructure vision, so the group may be well positioned to win more CANARIE funding in the future.

ORION's Phil Baker says his group is also involved in the vision, and he hopes to play an important part as the project matures. But it might be too soon to tell if that will happen. "Who should take on future roles is to be determined by the initial work," Baker says.

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