CANARIE

1. CANARIE CANADIAN RESEARCH KNOWLEDGE NETWORK RÉSEAU CANADIEN DE DOCUMENTATION POUR RECHERCHE MONTRÉAL, SEPTEMBER 24, 2008 CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE What is it? Why should You Care? Walter Stewart Senior Advisor e-Research & Network Enabled Platforms

2. First of all the metaphors: Cyberinfrastructure e-Infrastructure Intelligent Infrastructure e-Science Infrastructure E-Research Infrastructure Grids Service Oriented Architecture Web Services Clouds Virtualization What is It? Choose Yours!

3. What is it? What/Why/How

4. What is it? • The key issues identified by the committee to fully enable e-Research in Australia are: • Human Capabilities • Access to Data • Need for Linkage of e-Research Resources • Structural and Cultural Change • Lack of Awareness and Support • Need for a focus • More collaboration in Research • Australian e-Research Co-ordinating Committee – September 2005

5. CT Watch Quarterly February 2006 Cyberinfrastructure is now essential for advancing scientific discovery and the state-of-the-art in engineering. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the inner workings of the universe, or the inner workings of the economy, the design of a new chemical process or the design of a new material, new insights into how cells function or the delivery of personalized medicine, the spawning of a tornado or planning urban development. The basic fact remains the same – cyberinfrastructure is now a driver of science and engineering. Without it science and engineering will not reach their full potential.

6. NSF January 20, 2006 Cyberinfrastructure integrates hardware for computing, data and networks, digitally-enabled sensors, observatories and experimental facilities, and an interoperable suite of software and middleware services and tools. Investments in interdisciplinary teams and cyberinfrastructure professionals with expertise in algorithm development, system operations, and applications development are also essential to exploit the full power of cyberinfrastructure to create, disseminate, and preserve scientific data, information, and knowledge.

7. NSF NSF will play a leadership role in the development and support of a comprehensive cyberinfrastucture essential to 21st century advances in science and engineering research and education. NSF – January 20, 2006

8. OECD Report on Grids Grids need to be treated as research infrastructure in their own right comparable in scope and focus to other big undertakings such as high intensity X-ray sources, large optical and radio telescopes, and genomic databases. As a critical research tool, Grids should be assigned the resources for assuring robustness, accessibility and reliability that are typical of advanced research infrastructures. Grids can serve many users and communities and are not just add-ons to individual science projects. Accordingly governments should consider whether they need to modify or create institutional or organisational arrangements to ensure that Grids benefit from the correct priorisation, planning, funding, and oversight mechanisms. Governments should also consider taking steps to strengthen the international mechanisms for co-operation and co-ordination at the scientific, commercial and intergovernmental levels. - OECD Report on Grids

9. Other International Efforts • EGEE • UK e-Science • EU Frameworks 6 & 7 • D Grid • TeraGrid • LNCC & SINAPAD – Brazil • Naregi – Japan • K*Grid – South Korea • Mareka and the CHPC – South Africa • Garuda India

10. GARUDA • GARUDA is a collaboration of science researchers and experimenters on a nation wide grid of computational nodes, mass storage and scientific instruments that aims to provide the technological advances required to enable data and compute intensive science for the 21st century. One of GARUDA's most important challenges is to strike the right balance between research and the daunting task of deploying that innovation into some of the most complex scientific and engineering endeavors being undertaken today.

11. What is it? • Cyberinfrastructure is the coming together of the devices that acquire data – sensors and specialized instrumentation; the computers that process and visualize that data; the data repositories that allow for its management, storage, and reuse; and the networks that connect all these elements together and provide access to users who turn that data into information and thence to knowledge.

12. What is it? Make no mistake it is infrastructure!

13. What is it? But like all infrastructure it cannot be well used without the assistance of skilled professionals to operate it and assist users in its use. Hence the statement from NSF: Investments in interdisciplinary teams and cyberinfrastructure professionals with expertise in algorithm development, system operations, and applications development are also essential to exploit the full power of cyberinfrastructure….

14. Why should you care? You are among those professionals critical to the effective use of elements of cyberinfrastructure - particularly those with respect to the storage, management, and reuse of data.

15. Why Should You Care? Some Interesting Issues for the content provisioning community: • The mediation continuum • The whole issue of reuse • Dynamic iteration • Authority

16. Where are we in Canada? BEHIND!

17. Where are we in Canada? There are many interesting developments: • CRKN • Neptune/Venus • CLS • Atlas • Canadian Virtual Observatory • Canadian Brain Imaging Research Network • Compute Canada • Research Data Canada • and others

18. Where are we in Canada? They are all examples of the Canadian genius for bottom up efforts to build discovery in this country. The problem is, unlike similar efforts in other jurisdictions, they meet a top down vacuum. It is very difficult to build real infrastructure from the bottom up even with the best of intentions.

19. Where are we in Canada? What we need from the top: • Policy frameworks • Funding models that match those policy frameworks • Gap analysis and response • Political and bureaucratic will

20. Where are we in Canada? What do we do in the vacuum? • Understand the context of our work • Work to understand other elements in the context • Be as catholic as possible in our vision • Place the burden of proof on not collaborating • Seek every opportunity for dialogue and co-operation • Keep to the message and keep the pressure on the top.

21. A Whole Different Reason for Cyberinfrastructure • ICT creates more carbon emissions than world-wide aviation. • Who new data are dirty? • Server proliferation is becoming the world’s greatest consumer of electricity – more for cooling than operating • The ultimate paradox – the IT manager driving a Prius. Less impact driving an SUV and being careful to use Green IT. • Cyberinfrastructure is critical to Green IT and to ensuring that we can make a success of the knowledge based economy without poisoning the planet

22. CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE THANK YOU