Cybera News September 2008

President's Message

What is eScience?

Research, development and business are increasingly conducted on computers across networks, in “cyberspace”. This activity is often called “eScience” and is supported by “cyberinfrastructure”. The term “cyberinfrastructure” is typically used in North America and the term “eScience” is typically used in Europe. Cyberinfrastructure or eScience include computers, networks, middleware, data, analytics, sensors and visualization, and Cybera suggests that the definition also includes the people that support and deliver associated programs and services. The Wikipedia entry is here.

More and more, eScience is becoming understood to be a necessary foundation for an innovation-based economy. eScience understanding and adoption is a core economic driver that directly impacts industrial competitiveness in world-leading organizations. It supports all other disciplines (life sciences, energy, environment, physics, chemistry, biology, nanotechnology, etc.) in addition to being a discipline itself. eScience is currently supported in Alberta by SuperNet (provincial community network), CyberaNet (provincial advanced network) and WestGrid (grid-enabled advanced computing).

Although some innovators and early adopters already use or foresee the benefits of cyberinfrastructure and eScience, many others do not yet understand them or know how to use or access cyberinfrastructure. Cybera is here to help both those who know they want it and to help educate others. If you'd like more information, please contact us at info@cybera.ca.

Lynn Sutherland
President and CEO

Cybera Summit 08 Update

Cybera's second annual summit is fast approaching. Please join us in Banff on September 29 and 30 for Cybera Summit 08: Driving Business Innovation. We're adding new speakers, as well as networking and learning opportunitieson an ongoing basis. Our two newest sessions include Speed Networking (business networking meets speed dating) and a demonstrative workshop on cloud computing. So far, confirmed speakers and panelists include the following:

Kevin Dahl | Manager, Business Networking & Cluster Development, Calgary Technologies Inc.
Richard Hodges | President, GreenIT
Shaheel Hooda | Executive in Residence, TEC Edmonton
Michael Hrybyk | President, BCNET
King Chung Huang | Technology Solution Analyst, University of Calgary IT
Rainer Iraschko | VP Research, TRLabs
Ken Kleiner | Climate Change Central
Lee Kruszewski | Director, Software and Information Technology, Advanced Education and Technology
Jacques LaPointe | Senior Investment Manager, IVAC
Guy Levesque | Manager, NSERC-Prairies NSERC
Scott Montgomery | Industrial Technology Advisor, IRAP West, National Research Council
Paul Strong | Distinguished Research Scientist, eBay
Nora Young | Producer and Host of Spark, CBC Radio

Also, two new sessions have recently been added to the program:

Speed Networking
Business networking meets speed dating... Here's your chance to pitch an idea, download knowledge, and cultivate a relationship in these face-to-face, pre-scheduled meetings with influential funders, investors, technologists, and researchers. Make your first impression or follow-upon that fifth email. Spaces for these sought-after sessions are filling up fast, so make sure to book your 10-minute “date” today. To view our lineup of Speed Networking participants and to sign up, visit the Summit 08 webpage.

Cloud Computing Workshop
If you’ve got data to crunch, store, mobilize or virtualize, the answers can be found in the clouds. Have you made the leap yet? Join us for a demonstrative workshop that will experiment with cloud computing solutions and report on the capabilities, ease of use, performance and pricing.

For a complete list of Summit 08 sessions, as well as more details on the event, please visit the Summit 08 webpage.

Cybera is celebrating! Two of our pilot projects were amongst nine projects from across the country approved for CANARIE Network-Enabled Platforms (NEP) funding this spring. The two projects -- GeoChronos and the Canadian Space Science Data Portal -- are leading-edge collaborations based out of the University of Alberta. Cybera is hosting a Project Launch Reception to toast the research and technical teams involved in these projects. If you'd like to attend, please RSVP no later than Friday, Sept. 5, to bproce@cybera.ca.

Cybera NEP Project Launch
(Reception)
Tuesday, September 9
3:30 - 5:00 pm
GSB 315
University of Alberta

TRLabs Launches Disruptive Technology Challenge

A window to a future shaped by bold imagination has opened with TRLabs' official launch of its $100,000 Disruptive Technology Challenge (DTC). TRLabs is one of Cybera's 23 member organizations. Up to four DTC awards will be made to support faculty and student information and communications technology innovation that has the potential to disrupt or create markets, disrupt current thinking in a field, or provoke new avenues of research with strong commercialization potential.

"Disruptive technologies are game changing, with a potential to quickly revolutionize the way we go about daily life," said TRLabs VP Research Rainer Iraschko. "While we have a core research program that is highly successful, the DTC is a symbiotic way to recognize the research value of higher risk, more 'blue sky' thinking."

The DTC is open to faculty and students at universities affiliated with TRLabs - the Universities of Alberta, Calgary, Saskatchewan, Regina, and Manitoba. All submissions must be received by 14:00 MST, October 31, 2008. Winners will be announced in December. Intellectual property considerations resulting from successful project completion will be guided by the policy of the university of the Principal Researcher. Iraschko will be holding information sessions regarding the DTC in Winnipeg (September 22), Saskatoon (September 23), Regina (September 24), Calgary (September 25), and Edmonton (September 26). More information about the DTC can be found here.

EDM Completes Phase 1

Phase 1 of Cybera's EDM Pilot Project, a rendering farm, is complete. EDM Studio, a Calgary-based interactive animation company, was able to transfer a large animation job to a cluster of high-performance computers at the University of Calgary. The rendering engine deployed by the Grid Research Centre at the University of Calgary deploys Toronto-based SideFX's Houdini 3D-animation software and is part of a multi-phase project between the university, Cybera and EDM Studio.

The test environment for Phase 1 was set up to render 36,000 frames that will be composited and mixed with sound to complete the final 3D animation. Nearly 28 processors at the University of Calgary's HP Data Centre took about two weeks to complete a job that may have normally taken as long two months. Phase 2 of the project will see a more dynamic, or elastic, environment that would see Cybera and the Grid Research Centre develop resource-provisioning tools that grow and shrink with demands for computing power. This is a key piece in developing shared and powerful cyberinfrastucture. If you are interested in learning how cyberinfrastructure can help your business or research project, please contact us at info@cybera.ca.

Cybera at Moonlight in the Meadows

On August 20, 2008, Cybera joined more than 80 business and technology exhibitors at Moonlight in the Meadows 2008. More than 400 people converged at the event, which was hosted by the Edmonton Council for Advanced Technology (ECAT) at the Whitemud Equine Centre in Edmonton, AB. Moonlight in the Meadows celebrates the growth, diversity and energy of Alberta's diversified technology enterprises, and is one of the region's premier networking opportunities.

Alberta Deputy Minister of Advanced Education Annette Trimbee challenged the attendees to continue evolving as significant contributors to the diversification of Alberta's economy. She was followed by lively entertainment, a harping down of the sun and a wrap-up as the traditional piper urged on the August moon. Cybera staff made inroads on several cyberinfrastructure-related business opportunities. If you are interested in learning how cyberinfrastructure can help your business or research project, please contact us at info@cybera.ca.