The Cyberports are leading edge videoconferencing and collaboration facilities operated by Cybera and based at the Universities of Alberta and Calgary. The Cyberports enable users to collaborate with colleagues over long distances by connecting to institutions around the province, country and world using high-definition videoconferencing and file sharing technology.
Booking Procedure
Please email your Cyberport booking requests to booking@cybera.ca. Please include the date and time you wish to book the facility. All videoconference meetings require one hour for setup time to test the connection to the other institution(s). Cybera is happy to provide Cyberport demonstrations to new or current users. To book a demo, or if you have questions regarding the Cyberports, please contact Aiden Buckland at aiden.buckland@cybera.ca or 403-220-8900.
The Cyberports are available 24/7. If your meeting runs outside of regular business hours, please book at least one week in advance. This will ensure the room is setup according to your meeting type and there will be a technician available to assist you with your technical needs.
Cyberport Features
- High-definition videoconferencing technology
- Teleconferencing technology
- Three 50” plasma screens
- File sharing capability: Interactively share documents with your colleagues, whether they are in a different room or a different city
- SMART Board Interactive Display: Create, organize and save notes and drawings. Capture your work to edit or save directly into a variety of formats.
Examples of Cyberport use:
- Communities without Boundaries hosting a day-long videoconference, connecting 20 rural communities across Alberta
- PhD defenses between University of Alberta students or faculty and other universities around the world
- University of Alberta lectures and gatherings videoconferenced to students and colleagues in other cities
- Research seminars hosted between academics at the University of Calgary, University of Alberta, University of Lethbridge and the University of British Columbia
- Broadcasting of daylong webinars, distributed meetings of government representatives, the Coast-to-Coast lecture series and the WestGrid Seminar Series
- Regular videoconferenced meetings between Cybera's pilot projects’ distributed development teams
- Pan-provincial Cybera Annual General and Board of Directors meetings
Who can use the Cyberport?
The Cyberport is available to university faculty, students and staff with priority given to those in the Departments of Computing Science. The Cyberports are also available to Cybera’s other member organizations around the province. The Cyberports can be rented to non-member organizations at a rate of $100 per hour, however, academics and members are given priority.
Technical Requirements
Cybera operates both Access Grid and Lifesize videoconferencing systems. The party you are connecting to should be using one of these platforms. LifeSize is a hardware-based, high definition H.323/H.264 video conferencing system which supports up to six-way calling and presentation sharing for your meeting needs. Access Grid is open-source software that is downloaded for free at www.accessgrid.org. Using Access Grid clients can connect to an established, well supported network of research institutions across the country. More information on how to install Access Grid and connect to the WestGrid venueserver is available here .
Technical Support
Technical support is required for any Cyberport booking that involves videoconferencing or file sharing technology. To ensure technical support is available for your meeting, please book the facility at least one week in advance.
Cyberport Rental Fees
Rental fees apply to non-member organizations only. To learn about becoming a member, please visit www.cybera.ca/membership. The rental fee for bookings requiring videoconferencing or file sharing is $100 per hour. All videoconferencing meetings require one hour of setup time to test the connection to the other institution(s).