In Pursuit of Innovation...
President and CEO, Robin Winsor
As we begin to expand our services to a larger user group, we need to understand how we fit into the bigger picture of innovation support in the province, and indeed throughout Canada. I’ve been meeting with many people who share my passionate belief that Alberta can be the economic and technology powerhouse of Canada. They are spread throughout the province, but especially in Edmonton, where the government and our largest university member make a powerful combination. Whether it’s government departments looking for ways to establish the broad underpinnings of a world-class competitive landscape; organizations like TEC Edmonton or Calgary Technologies helping individuals and startups with early growth; or industry associations like the ICT Council bringing diverse groups together, Alberta’s innovators have a number of supporters on their side. There are serious challenges however. One of these is broadband connectivity. Twenty five percent of Albertans live in small communities and face difficulties fully engaging the digital economy. If we are to be effective in expanding beyond the campus, we need to ensure that we can reach the widest possible user base. Innovation can happen anywhere, and Cybera intends to be accessible to all innovators, wherever they may be.
NEP Projects Update
Canadian Space Science Data Portal
At the end of April, The Canadian Space Science Data Portal (CSSDP) launched a rebranding of its website. The new design organizes content in a simplified manner so that researchers can easily search and download data from multiple instruments, projects, and sites. The new site also includes information on many of the portal’s features, such as its collaboration capabilities, data federation, scientific workflows, and newsfeeds from NASA and Universe Today.
Expanding CSSDP’s user community has meant national and international travel for CSSDP developer Mark Gordon, who visited the University of New Brunswick in March to facilitate a user group session with resident space scientists. The objective of that meeting was to receive input regarding the workflow requirements and the usability of the portal. This information will be used to help the design team with future work flow and portal updates.
Gordon, along with CSSDP principle investigator Robert Rankin and CSSDP developer Rod Potter, also travelled to Beijing this May to meet with members from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Center for Space Science and Applied Research. There, they presented CSSDP data federation techniques and capabilities, and ask members to consider using the portal to share information. This was the first step towards building a relationship with these organizations, as well as fulfilling one of the larger goals of the project – to provide a wide range of space science data, observations and investigative tools to a dispersed community of researchers.
For more information on the partners and details of the CSSDP project, click here.
Photo: Mark Gordon (L) is pictured here with Luke Tymowski as they discuss the CSSDP project. Tymowski specializes in CHAIN data at the University of New Brunswick.
GeoCENS
The Geospatial Cyberinfrastructre for Environmental Sensing (GeoCENS) team is busy planning a fall workshop and platform demonstration to take place in Banff, AB on September 23 and 24. This event will be held in conjunction with the annual meeting of GeoCENS' Senior Steering Committee and will be co-located with Cybera’s annual Summit event on September 21 and 22. GeoCENS members will be in attendance from NASA, Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), and the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON).
Currently, GeoCENS group members are busy attending and presenting the project at various conferences, most recently at the Where 2.0 Conference in San Jose in March; the Workshop on Sensor Web Enablement in Chicago in May; and the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Technical Committee Meeting in Maryland this June.
For more information on the partners and details of the GeoCENS project, click here.
Summit 2010 – Save the Date
Building on the success of Summit 09, Partnerships in CI Development, Cybera is gearing up to host this year's event on September 21 and 22 at The Banff Centre. Summit 2010 will explore emergent themes in cloud computing, green IT, collaborative networks, and the digital divide, to name a few. Mark your calendars for this provocative and insightful event. Stay tuned to Cybera's website for details as they are confirmed. If your organization is interested in participating in this year's event as a sponsor, please contact Alexis Milinusic.
IDEACITY Partners with Cybera
IdeaCity, Canada's premier "meeting of the minds" conference, will collaborate with Cybera and other provincial network providers this month to deliver its 2010 conference via a live, high-definition online broadcast to audiences across Canada. Using CyberaNet, the high-speed, high-bandwidth network operated by Cybera, audiences at post-secondary institutions across Alberta will be able to participate in the conference program in real-time. Cybera is still confirming its campus locations for broadcasting the event, which is scheduled for June 16 - 18. Details will be posted to the Cybera website.
"Working with our provincial network partners at ORION, BCNET, Cybera, and nationally with CANARIE, we will be delivering high quality content accessible by participating academic institutions at speeds that can only be described as the next generation internet," says McLean Greaves, ZoomerMedia Vice-President, Interactive Content.
Past IdeaCity presenters include Conrad Black, Douglas Coupland, Pamela Wallin, and Robert Kennedy Jr. To find out more about IdeaCity 2010, click here.
Three Projects Wrap Up
Cybera announces the completion of its coordination of three pilot projects which have produced innovations in the areas of eHealth, cloud computing, and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The Secure Electronic Health Records Infrastructure (SEHRI) Project, DataGardens Virtualization Project, and TRLabs Service Composition Project were initiated in 2008 and collectively valued at more than $2.5 million.
The SEHRI project was a collaboration between Cybera and researchers at the iCore Information Security Lab in the Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary’s (UofC), and the Health Innovation and Technology Information Center (HiiTEC) at the UofC. Together, they developed a unique system design for protection of data in Electronic Health Records (EHR) that allows only authorized personnel to access patients’ data – guaranteeing that patients’ consent is enforced and their privacy protected.
“Electronic Health Records contain a wealth of sensitive information about individuals. They are of growing interest because they provide a versatile way of sharing patients’ data among health professionals and researchers,” says Rei Safavi-Naini, computing sciences professor and project lead at the University of Calgary. “The SEHRI design guarantees that personal health information will be only accessible to those who are authorized – that's the tangible benefit of the system,” she says.
There are plans to implement the first version of the SEHRI system later this year for use by researchers at the UofC’s Faculty of Medicine. Additional SEHRI project partners included MITACS, and the UofC’s Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Business.
Cybera’s DataGardens Virtualization Project was a partnership with Edmonton-based software development company, DataGardens, to address the challenges associated with managing, synchronizing and provisioning IT infrastructure across multiple sites. A portion of the project was supported in part by the Alberta government's Alberta Innovation Voucher Pilot Program.
“CyberaNet was used as a testbed environment to see how efficient we were about exchanging critical information,” says Geoff Hayward, CEO of DataGardens. “We only want to send critical information because bandwidth between sites is such a precious resource.”
The project partners included Cybera, DataGardens, Alberta Advanced Education and Technology, Precarn, and the University of Alberta’s Department of Computing Sciences.
The third project, the TRLabs Service Composition Project, was a collaboration between Cybera and TRLabs to investigate an efficient mechanism for packaging third-party content, such as movies and TV shows. The results of this project have the potential to benefit large telecommunications service providers.
“If you want to watch a movie, you’ll be able to get content down to the device very efficiently and play the content wherever you may be,” says Bob Davies, Head eHome R&D at TRLabs. “This project was about being able to allocate resources and it kind of opens the world up.”
As these three projects comes to a close, Cybera is looking to leverage the expertise its staff have gained, and the technologies that have been developed into other pilot project initiatives.
“Cybera is currently collaborating on five CANARIE-funded NEP projects, and we are seeking new partnerships in the areas of health, ICT, and energy and environment,” says Jill Kowalchuk, Vice President, Project & Partnership Development for Cybera. “Our specialized expertise and infrastructure facilitates the development and testing of new technologies, advancing innovations and ideas to the marketplace."
Cybera support its pilot projects with numerous services, including project management and consulting the areas of cloud computing, advanced networking, high performance computing, and data management. For more information on Cybera’s Pilot Project Program, please click here, or send an email. To read the full press release, click here.
Photos: SEHRI Project: Rei Safavi-Naini, Mohammad Jafari, and Chad Saunders; DataGardens: Geoff Hayward; TRLabs: Bob Davies.
Cybera Demos GIS in Cloud
Cybera, in partnership with ESRI Canada, has developed a virtual system that enables ESRI’s leading enterprise geographic information systems (GIS) to be deployed in a cloud computing environment. The system was recently demonstrated in Calgary, AB at GeoCanada 2010, the preeminent conference for Earth Science professionals in Canada.
“We are committed to leveraging emerging technologies to provide our users with cost-effective, secure and easy-to-deploy options for using ESRI GIS,” said James Wickson, Vice President of Sales and Professional Services, ESRI Canada. “Cybera’s expertise in cloud computing has helped us to demonstrate the ability of ESRI technology to scale and manage geographic information on a Web-accessible platform. This successful demonstration provides a glimpse of what’s to come in GIS service delivery.”
Cloud computing enables systems and applications, commonly maintained off premises, to be delivered on demand as services via the Internet. During the conference, up to 500 users were able to simultaneously access and interact with digital maps of Canada using ESRI’s server architecture, which Cybera transitioned to a virtualized environment. This was achieved by accessing database engines and web servers running on a powerful Hewlett-Packard computer cluster based at the University of Calgary.
“Cybera’s participation in this project demonstrates the use of cloud technologies to provide exciting new approaches to GIS services,” says Patrick Mann, Chief Technology Officer at Cybera. “By deploying GIS in the cloud, users can access these resources on demand and in real-time, enabling Earth Science professionals to be more efficient and better connected with the latest GIS information available.”
To read the full press release, click here.
BCNET/CANARIE Conference Recap
Senior Cybera staff members were among the guest speakers at the BCNET/CANARIE Conference 2010, held May 4-5 in Vancouver, BC. During the conference, Cybera President and CEO Robin Winsor and Chief Technology Officer Patrick Mann presented the session Cybera Pilot Projects - Virtualization, Clouds and Middleware – a reflection on lessons learned through Cybera’s four CANARIE-funded Network-Enabled Platforms (NEP) projects. In this session, Winsor also addressed the need for greater access to cyberinfrastructure in rural Alberta. Winsor suggested a strategy to address the problems of building and delivering cyberinfrastructure services across the province.
This topic was further explored in the panel discussion Advanced Networks: What's Happening in Your Region, which included panelists from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Atlantic Canada, and California. This discussion brought into focus some of the national and regional challenges surrounding the delivery of cyberinfrastructure services to rural communities. Winsor noted that one million Albertans live in rural areas where broadband is often limited to tiny rural centers scattered across the province. This means that people pay a lot of money for poor service. The town of Olds, AB however, is striving to address this problem, and regards cyberinfrastructure as an essential component of a thriving economy in the 21st century. As a part of these regional efforts, Cybera is investigating opportunities to collaborate with Olds and other forward-thinking rural leaders to address these gaps in broadband service.
To read more about Cybera's involvement at the BCNET/CANARIE Conference 2010, please visit the Cybera Blog. To view pictures of the conference, click here.
Government of Canada Launches National Consultations on a Digital Economy Strategy
The Government of Canada has initiated national consultations to develop a digital economy strategy for Canada. The commitment to develop the strategy was outlined in both the government's Speech from the Throne and Budget 2010, and is aimed at positioning Canada for leadership in the global digital economy.
"Through these consultations, we will work with industry and other partners to identify areas where we need to develop our workforce of the future," said Minister Finley.
The consultations will take place until July 9, 2010, and are hosted online. To read the official announcement, click here.
GreenStar Network Connects in YYC
After a few unexpected delays due to Calgary's unpredictable weather, the final connections are being made to install the Cybera-managed datacenter within the GreenStar Network (GSN). A datacentre is a facility designed to house computer systems, and the GreenStar datacentres are know as nodes. There are five nodes within the pan-Canadian network and they are powered by the sun, wind or water. The GSN will enable connected nodes to use renewable energy sources and at the same time facilitate the research necessary to determine the viability of future green networks. The Calgary node is about the size of a refrigerator and rests atop the Alastair Ross Technology Centre. It is powered by eight solar panels and is connected to the GSN through fiber optics. This is the second node to be connected within the network, and the rest are expected to follow within the next few weeks. The first node connected earlier this year and is hosted by the Communications Research Centre (CRC) in Montreal. Similar to the Calgary node, the Montreal node also relies on solar power as its energy source.
The GSN Project is a Canadian Consortium of industry, universities and government agencies, united by the common goal of reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced by users of information and communications technology (ICT) services. In addition, the GSN Project aims to develop resources for building, maintaining and utilizing ICT services that are reliant upon renewable energy sources. To celebrate the Calgary node's installation, Cybera is hosting a launch event on June 29. Information will be available on the Cybera website as event plans are finalized.
The GreenStar Network Project is funded by CANARIE through the Green IT pilot program. The GSN project is led by École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) de l'Université du Québec. Project partners include the Canadian Standards Association - Climate Change Services, the Grid Research Centre, University of Calgary, RackForce Networks Inc., Prompt Inc., Bastionhost Inc., Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), iDeal Consulting, Communications Research Centre Canada, and Inocybe Technologies. Associate partners include Ericsson, Cisco, HEAnet, i2CAT, IBBT, ESnet, Calit2, SigmaCo and NRDC. For more information please visit the GreenStar Network.
Eucalyptus Training for CESWP Team
Participants in the Cloud Enabled Space Weather Platform (CESWP) project took part in a Eucalyptus training workshop May 11-13 at the University of Alberta. Representatives from Cybera, the University of Alberta, University of Calgary, University of Waterloo, University of New Brunswick, and University of California, Los Angeles - the locations where the CESWP project will eventually have a cloud availability zone - joined Edmonton Cybera staff to learn how to set up multi-cluster, multi-region clouds. Participants also learned Eucalyptus best practices and trouble-shooting techniques from California-based Eucalyptus specialist Tim Gerla, who led the training.
“The benefit of this specialized training was getting a multi-cluster Eucalyptus cloud running and getting an in-depth, hands on feel for how all of the pieces fit together,” says Everett Toews, Senior Developer for CESWP.
Eucalyptus Systems specializes in the private cloud software that is used by CESWP to build the virtual platform of the Canadian Space Science Data Portal (CSSDP). This cloud environment enables space physicists to share, run, and collaborate on modeling and simulations using space data that is uploaded to CSSDP by scientists around the world. The CESWP cloud will eventually run in different availability zones across Canada. These zones are engineered to be isolated from failures that may occur in other regions, and provide inexpensive, low latency network connectivity to other availability zones in the same region.
During the training, participants set up an experimental Cloud Controller at the University of Alberta with a single local availability zone, and an experimental remote availability zone at the University of Calgary. Participants were then able to create virtual machines in each of the availability zones (i.e. on both university's clusters). Following the intensive workshop, the CESWP team is now poised to start implementing the CESWP cloud infrastructure, and will start to do so over the coming weeks by setting up the Cloud Controller and their first availability zone at the University of Alberta.
Photo: Participants from the Eucalyptus training workshop.
New Staff Announcement
Cybera is pleased to welcome six new staff members to our team:
|
|
Alex Joseph joins Cybera as the Executive Director of the Water and Environmental Hub. He is the past Executive Director of EnerVision, a not-for-profit green building company. He is currently working on an MBA from the University of Calgary, where he is specializing in Global Energy Management and Sustainability. |
|
 |
Brenda Harll has joined Cybera as the Executive Assistant to Robin Winsor, Cybera President and CEO, and Jill Kowalchuk, Vice-President, Project and Partnership Development. She has worked as an executive assistant in the corporate, legal and philanthropic sectors. She is also a volunteer for numerous organizations in Calgary, including the Calgary Park Rangers and Bike Program. |
|
 |
Joni Evans joins Cybera as a Communications Officer, focusing on project communications. Her background is in freelance writing and journalism. In 2009 she received her Bachelor of Communication Studies degree with distinction from the University of Calgary. |
|
|
|
Long Li has joined Cybera as a Senior Systems Administrator, responsible for Cybera's infrastructure and cloud services. He has over 10 years experience working in system applications analysis, IT administration, and software development. He holds both a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Computing Sciences. |
|
 |
Naurin Narsinghani joins Cybera as Bookkeeper. She is currently pursuing her degree in Accounting with the goal of becoming a Chartered Accountant. She volunteers at the Ismaili Center and assists high school students with English and Math.
|
|
|
|
Ryan Kazmerik joins Cybera as a summer student to assist the project team with web development and design. He is currently in his fourth year of studies at Mount Royal University and will be among the first graduating class from the University's Bachelor of Computer Information Systems program. |
