Registration & Breakfast

(Segal)

Key Note Address:
Introduction
e-Science and Cyberinfrastructure

The Internet was the inspiration of J.C.R. Licklider when he was at the Advanced Research Projects Agency in the 1960’s. In those pre-Moore’s Law days, Licklider imagined a future in which researchers could access and use computers and data from anywhere in the world. He funded an elite group of Computer Science Departments in the USA – which he called his ‘InterGalactic Computing Group’ - to explore how to realize his vision.

Today, as everyone knows, the killer applications of the Internet were email in the 1970’s and Tim Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web in the 1990’s which was developed initially as a collaboration tool for the particle physics academic community. In the future, frontier research in many fields will increasingly require the collaboration of globally distributed groups of researchers needing access to distributed computing, data resources and support for remote access to expensive, multi-national specialized facilities such as telescopes and accelerators or specialist data archives. There is also a general belief that an important road to innovation will be provided by multi-disciplinary and collaborative research – from systems biology and bio-informatics to earth systems science and chemo-informatics. In the context of science and engineering, this is the ‘e-Science’ agenda. Robust middleware services will be widely deployed on top of the academic research networks to constitute the necessary ‘Cyberinfrastructure’ to provide a collaborative research environment for the global academic community.

This talk will review the elements of this vision and describe how the scientists and engineers are collaborating with computer scientists and the IT industry to create the new e-Infrastructure. When mature, it is clear that such an infrastructure will support the creation of dynamic ‘Virtual Organizations’ and collaborative environments for many types of application in both academia and industry. This new Cyberinfrastructure will clearly be of relevance to more than just the research community and will support both the e-learning and digital library communities as well as many business applications.  This technology is likely also to change the nature of scientific publication with institutional or subject repositories linked to digital archives containing the primary research data.

Speaker: Tony Hey, Vice President, Technical Computing, Microsoft

(Fletchert)

Platinum Partner Presentation
Sun Microsystems

Open Problems in Network Computing  
Research and Education computing frequently pushes against the limits of the capabilities of hardware, software, and networks.  This talk considers some of the most pressing open problems in Network Computing, suggesting areas of study and directions of investigation.  Some of the areas where problems are concentrated include:   - Multithreading, concurrency, and grids - Data Preservation - Software development frameworks - Integration and Web services - Storage trade-offs   This presentation will contain more problems than solutions, and more questions than answers.

Tim Bray, Director of Web Technologies, SUN Microsystems

(Fletcher)

Breakfast

(Segal)

Identity is the basis for rich and secure relationships, both in the 
physical and digital worlds. As commercial and social interactions 
increasingly occur via the web, establishing legitimacy as a customer 
and as a community member is the key to enriched online experiences. 
Identity 2.0 gives users and websites the tools for both privacy and 
identity veracity.  Users decide where they store their data and 
explicitly authorize its release. Websites can provide personalized 
interactive services to visitors, secure in the knowledge that they 
are dealing with legitimate individuals. In this talk, Dick Hardt 
will share his vision of Identity 2.0, a platform that enables 
authentic identity interactions.  For more background see the video:  
identity20.com/video.

Speaker: Dick Hardt, Founder & CEO, Sxip Identity

Free Space Optics (FSO) Technology for High Bandwidth Point-to-Point Communications
 
Although Free Space Optics (FSO) technology has been in use for almost 40 years, it has only recently become a network solution for businesses needing high bandwidth point to point communications.  The attraction of FSO, high security and high bandwidth, are two of the most pressing needs for businesses as they attempt to extend their network backbones to other facilities.  The proliferations of VoIP, Video and high bandwidth client/server applications demand a technology that can deliver Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet performance.  FSO allows connectivity between buildings having line of sight and distances of up to 3 miles to share the corporate infrastructure and performance without needing costly licenses or monthly recurring charges.  It can be deployed in a day or two versus the time needed for trenching or having the local carrier schedule a network upgrade.  Lastly it can be used along with current networking technologies to provide redundancy or disaster recovery to keep your information and network operating in emergency situations.
 
Mike Manginella, Western Director of Sales, LightPointe Communications.  
 
(9:05-915am) All-Optical Switches Support for Dynamic Lightpath Provisioning

The subject of dynamic lightpath provisioning has been studied for several years with elements such as DWDM, control plane and optical cross-connects. While these discrete solutions exist, the construction of large scalable networks has not been widely deployed. This talk will review the effects of all-optical switches on optical networks and creation of dynamic lightpath services.

Lenny Chin, Director of Product Management and Marketing, Lambda Optical Systems

(9:15-9:25) Autognostics: The Trend to Self-Awareness
Autognostics: The Trend to Self-Awareness Networks have limited awareness of their own performance or the applications that use them. "Awareness" has become a buzzword in the industry, referring simultaneously to network-aware applications and application-aware networks. This trend has been supported by recent critical developments in standards and frameworks, from Service Oriented Architectures to RTCP-XR. At the end of this road lies the promise of autonomics.

Bill Rutherford, Director, Rutherford Research

Videoconferencing Solutions and IP Network Camera Hardware and their Applications

Rick Richardson, Precision Camera

BCNET's Coolest Applications Contest Finalists
See the winners of the 2006 BCNET Coolest Applications Contest present their award winning applications. Hosted by Sun Microsystems, the winners will be presented with their cash prizes donated from this year's sponsors.

Every year, BCNET solicits university students across British Columbia for the best and most unique online applications for the BCNET 2005/2006 Coolest Applications Contest. We invite full-time and part-time graduate and undergraduate (doing honours thesis work) students from BCIT, University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, University of Northern British Columbia, University of Victoria, Emily Carr and Royal Roads University.

This year's winners are:

Camilo Rostoker, Masters Student, UBC, Computer Science: Interactive Exploration of Financial Market Data

Xin Liu:PhD Student, UBC Computer Science: BitVampire: A Cost-Effective Peer-to-Peer On-Demand Media Streaming System

Anthony Yu, PhD Student, UBC Computer Science. MOPAR: A Mobile Overlay Peer-to-Peer Architecture for Scalable Massively Moving Objects

Albert Meyburgh, BCIT Student: GateKeeper & KeyVault: Secure Communications Layer

(Fletcher)

Bioinformatics: Technology Overview--Lecture
(10:30am – 11:10am)
One View of Systems Biology
The term bioinformatics can be generically applied to the integration of computer and software tools to study biology. However, for a number of decades computers have been used to study and model biological entities in a field of research, which is most correctly referred to as computational biology. In recent years, the large scale activities of projects such as that of the human and mouse genomes led to the need for high-throughput computational approaches for the study of DNA and protein sequences—an activity popularly described as bioinformatics.

Stuart Kauffman, IBI Director and iCORE Chair Biocomplexity and Informatics University of Calgary

Steve Jones, Associate Director & Head, Bioinformatics, Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, BC Cancer Agency.

 
(Terasen)

LightPath Management and Testing — Lecture

Join experts from Netera Alliance and BCNET as they explain the steps to applying for a lightpath for research projects. The configuration, operation, and management of a lightpath will be explained. As well, they will explore specific problems for network operators to test and remotely troubleshoot a lightpath.

What is a LightPath? They empower users to build private subnetworks for customized traffic flows, dramatically increased bandwidth, enhanced performance and optimal bandwidth. For specialized research projects, lighpaths provide researchers with direct point-to point channels or dedicated wave signals to increase data transport capacity for high-bandwidth projects.

Marilyn Hay, Manager, Network Engineering, BCNET and Manager, Network Management Centre, UBC
Gary Finley, Director of Networking, Netera Alliance

(Repap)

Potentials for Remote Instrumentation as a TeachingTtool — Lecture

Is it possible to create authentic and engaging “hands-on” scientific experiments over the Internet using remote instrumentation? Can the Internet be used to overcome some of the traditional approaches to lecture and laboratory teaching practice? How can we provide educators and students with shared access to instructional materials, expertise and modern scientific instrumentation to enhance the science learning experience?
 
The use of remote instrumentation is emerging as a legitimate alternative to the traditional "hands-on" laboratory learning experiences for teaching and learning in the basic and instrumental sciences. Advances in scientific instrumentation and web-based technologies are being used in a number of exciting initiatives to share instructional materials, expertise and sophisticated instrumentation across time and place. Please join us to hear how high-speed wireless networks, desktop sharing software and two-way voice and video exchange has allowed pharmacy students at UBC to access and operate scientific instrumentation available at Western Washington University (WWU) during lectures and from the pharmacy undergraduate pharmaceutical analysis laboratory to complete a full laboratory experiment. Hear about the history of this project, lessons learned, our future plans for the development of remote instrumentation as a teaching, learning and research tool as well as see a live demonstration of the technology. This project has been supported by funds from UBC (Office of Learning Technology and the Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund) and from WWU, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Sloan Foundation.

Simon Alban, Senior Instructor in the Division of Biomolecular and Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UBC
Devon A. Cancilla, Director of Scientific Technical Services, WWU

Enhancing Learner Engagement Through New Media — Lecture

To really engage online learners, programs with access to broadband delivery are moving towards new delivery models that go beyond traditional text-based content. This session will illustrate three different models for the delivery of interactive content. The first model example is SFUTV, a new web based television concept developed at Simon Fraser University. The second model shows how an interactive virtual fly-though can be used for promotion and student recruitment. The final model example will show examples of online games and simulations that enhance learner engagement.

Dr. David Kaufman, Director, Learning & Instructional Development Centre and Professor, Faculty of Education, SFU
John Moore, Associate Director,  Learning & Instructional Development Centre, SFU


 
(Labatt)

Collaborative Research in Advanced Applications : The Practice and The Results — A series of lectures, 4 Presenters

( Part 2)

This session will focus on tool sets designed to permit interaction in real-time in a 2D and 3D rich media environment, regardless of location; the use of grid computing and lightpath architecture to make immersive, virtual environments more accessible to businesses, educators and content creators; a haptic system that simulates real tissue for the performance of virtual cataract operations in order to develop surgical skills; and sharing virtual space, an SC05 award-winning application.

 
ENJEUX (Projet SAGE) - Learning about learning in a virtual environment
A team of experts made up of public and private sector participants from every corner of Canada and lead by the Telé-université du Québec (Téluq) are collaborating to develop a multimedia educational game and simulation environment that will exploit the power of the Web Services architecture of CA*net 4. The ENJEUX-S application, designed and developed in both official languages, will be comprised of three tool sets (network tools, facilitation tools, and reference and research tools) that will allow students and teachers to interact in real-time in a 2D and 3D rich media environment regardless of their physical location. Researchers will be able to study the social and cognitive processes integral to group learning in a virtual environment and develop a methodology and system of classification so they can explore new educational applications for advanced networks. The result will be a foundation on which to develop and deliver the next wave of educational tools.
Lead Applicant: Teluq
 
Dr. Louise Sauvé - ENJEUX - Learning about learning in a virtual environment

MediaLightPaths Project (MLP) - Immersive, virtual environments
Imagine being able to travel backwards in time to World War II to observe Canada's role at the Battle of Dieppe; or being able travel around the world to visit a UNESCO world heritage site in the Queen Charlotte Islands. Now imagine it in high-definition 3D with stereo audio, viewed from the comfort of your desk. Researchers at the Netera Alliance are developing an application that will use Grid computing and the Lightpath architecture of CA*net 4 to make immersive, virtual environments more accessible to businesses, educators and content creators for work, education and recreation. As well as providing improved access, productivity and capacity for Canadian researchers and content creators, the project will create new and enhanced business, social and cultural opportunities and clearly demonstrate the potential of new media when delivered over advanced networks.
Lead Applicant: University of Calgary
Website: http://www.ucalgary.ca/mlp

Brian Corrie - MediaLightPaths Project
Dr. Robert Woodbury - MediaLightPaths Project

Shared Spaces: High Definition Ultra-Videoconferencing -Sharing virtual space
Researchers at McGill University are developing the next-wave of videoconferencing technology. Through the use of advanced network infrastructure and a high-definition panoramic display, the project team is creating a way to share a virtual space, that will allow people to feel, interact, experience and participate as though they are in the same room even if they are thousands of kilometres apart. The project will have a diverse array of applications including corporate communications and cultural interactions.
Lead Applicant: McGill University
Website: http://www.canarie.mcgill.ca/

John Roston - Shared Spaces: HD Ultra-Videoconferencing

Training over Photonic Networking - Remote virtual surgery
Researchers at the University of Ottawa and the University of Alberta are developing a three dimensional virtual environment to teach medical students how to perform surgeries. The application will create a collaborative training environment in which residents can perform virtual cataract operations on virtual eyes using virtual surgical instruments, while receiving immediate sensory feedback from a haptic system that simulates real tissue resistance and facilitates the learning of proper hand to eye coordination. The application will improve patient care and reduce training costs and risks. This collaborative work is possible because of the innovative and revolutionary User-Controlled Lightpath (UCLP) architecture of CA*net 4.
Lead Applicant: University of Ottawa

Pierre Boulanger - Training over Photonic Networking - Remote virtual surgery

Moderator – Susan Baldwin, Senior Director, Operations, CANARIE
 


(Fletcher)

Computations in Space — Lecture

This session will explore the use of advanced computing resources in various areas of Astronomy and Astro-physics research. Robert Rankin from the University of Alberta, Rachid Ouyed from the University of Calgary, and Brett Gladman from the University of British Columbia will share highlights from their current research projects and explain how HPC tools are helping us make sense of the stars.

Robert Rankin ,will illustrate how high-end computer modeling has enhanced our ability to forecast geomagnetic storms, and indicate some of the excitement that has created through the NASA satellite mission THEMIS, which has strong Canadian involvement.
For example, our sun is not static, but instead undergoes periodic behavior within the so-called 11 year solar cycle. During periods of solar maximum, solar activity is associated with an increase in the number of coronal mass ejections. These very large eruptions of plasma from the vicinity of the solar surface can be dangerous to astronauts, satellite systems, ground-based power systems, and long-haul conductors such as pipelines. In recent years, very sophisticated computer models have been developed that allow us to estimate and sometimes even predict how solar disturbances affect Earth's geomagnetic field, and the magnetospheric plasma contained within it.
Rachid Ouyed, will show the crucial role played by WestGrid computing facilities in the understanding of various space phenomena. Collimated outflows in the form of high Mach number jets or wider bipolar outflows occur in many astrophysical environments. They are seen in young stars, black-holes, centers of galaxies and Gamma Ray Bursts. Though they differ vastly in scale and energy, astrophysical jets show a remarkable similarity in their morphology, and show evidence for spatial and temporal variability. These systems are either hydrodynamic or magneto-hydrodynamic in nature and are, as such, governed by highly non-linear coupled equations. The complex physics and mathematics involved requires high performance computation and extreme resolution simulations to study. In this talk, he will briefly discuss the possible consequences to magnetically confined plasmas in the laboratory and the implications to new safer energy sources.
Brett Gladman, explores the outer Solar System with HPC. Modern planetary astronomy has a variety of high-performance computing needs. From an observational perspective, he will describe data analysis needs for a large-scale astronomical survey of the outer Solar System. From a theoretical end, he will describe the forefront research supported by a high performance-to-cost Beowulf installation used studying dynamical astronomy in planetary science applications.
 
Introductions by: Jonathan Schaeffer, Professor, Computing Science, University of Alberta

Robert Rankin, Associate Professor, Department of Physics, U of A
Rachid Ouyed, Associate Professor, Department of Physics, U of C
Brett Gladman, Associate Professor & Canada Research Chair, Department of Physics and Astronomy, UBC

(Canfor)

HPC in Earth, Ocean and Climate Research — Lecture

From the seas to the skies, our Earth is constantly changing around us. Benoit Pirenne from the University of Victoria, Andrew Calvert from Simon Fraser University, and Robert Grant from the University of Alberta will share how their research is monitoring this phenomena and how HPC tools help bring them closer to unlocking the secrets behind these changes.

Robert Grant will present an overview of how soil-plant-atmosphere systems are modelled, and how results from this modeling are used in the formulation of some key environmental policies. An example of this would be estimating ecosystem carbon inventories and greenhouse gas emissions under current and future climates as part of Kyoto protocol reporting requirements.

Benoit Pirenne will provide an update on the status of the VENUS and NEPTUNE project. Examples of data from VENUS will be presented. The data mining challenges that this new data are posing will be described and possible solutions – involving computational grids – discussed.

Andrew Calvert explains how WestGrid computing resources have played a role in his research. Over the last 20 years, seismic studies of the Cascadia subduction zone off southwestern British Columbia have revealed many new subsurface structures, including the location of the megathrust fault, beneath which the Juan de Fuca plate descends into Earth's mantle. More recently, monitoring of surface deformation has shown that slow slip is occurring every 13-16 months on the deeper part of the megathrust fault between 20 km and 40 km depth. It is thought that this deep slip could trigger a great earthquake by loading the shallower part of the fault. This slow-slip is also associated with low amplitude tremor activity. These tremors can be located using an automated search of data recorded by seismograph stations of the Canadian National Seismic Network and the POLARIS network. Access to WestGrid has allowed event locations to be estimated from these large data volumes in a practical time frame. Many tremors occur close to the megathrust fault, but the mechanism that generates this new type of seismic event remains unknown.
 
Introductions by: Gren Patey, Professor, Chemistry, University of British Columbia
Robert Grant, Associater Professor, Renewable Resources, UofA
Benoit Pirenne, Assistant Director, Information Technology, NEPTUNE Canada Project, UVic
Dr. Andrew Calvert, Associate Professor, SFU

(Canfor)

Particle Physics in Canada — Lecture

This session will explore four of Canada's major particle physics projects and the HPC infrastructure that supports them.

Experiments at the energy frontier play a major role in improving our understanding of the fundamental laws of physics. In 2007, the ATLAS experiment will start studying proton-proton collisions at energies over 7 times higher than any previous accelerator experiment. Extracting the underlying physics from these collisions requires extensive computing power, not only for reconstruction and analysis but also to select which events to store to tape. The D0 experiment is operated by a collaboration of more than 600 physicists from 80+ institutes in 19 countries. The goal is to understand fundamental components of matter and the forces that govern their interactions. This is accomplished through the collision of protons and anti- protons at the highest energy ever achieved in the laboratory. The BaBar experiment is a large international collaboration operating an experiment at the PEP-II “B-Factory” at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. The main focus of BaBar is to study the difference in the laws of physics between matter and antimatter, known as CP violation. However, this is only one aspect of the broad physics program of the experiment, which includes detailed studies of the Weak interaction, discoveries of new particles, and searches for new physics. Lastly, the GridX1 project is a Canadian effort to deploy a grid of shared resources at several research institutions. The design emphasizes ease of deployment and attempts to minimize the administrative overhead at participating facilities. A unique feature of GridX1 is its interface to the LCG at CERN.
 
Introductions by: Michel Vetterli, Professor, Physics, Simon Fraser University/TRIUMF
Dan Vanderster, GridX1 (UVic)
Dugan O’Neil, Assistant Professor, Dept of Physics, SFU
Christopher Hearty, Associate Professor, Dept of Physics and Astronomy, UBC
Roger Moore, Assistant Professor, Physics, U of A


(Labatt)

Innovative Security Solutions by Students
Dr. Konstantin Beznosov is the Director and Founder of the Laboratory for Education and Research for Secure System Engineering (LERSSE) at UBC. Through courses, projects, research, workshops and seminars, LERSSE exposes students to a wide range of practices in security assurance, secure system design and secure software development. For this session, join Dr. Beznosov as undergraduate students under his supervision present their projects encompassing a diverse array of security-related topics.

Project #1
Hey - What Time Was It? A Case Study of a Covert Channel over TCP Timestamps

The need to hide the very existence of data transmission is often
overlooked as maintaining the secrecy of visible transmissions is focused upon. However, simply hiding the contents of a message can be insufficient; in some cases, simply knowing that information was sent is revealing too much data. Scenarios such as a political blogger who wishes to remain anonymous or a governmental spy who does not want to be exposed are immediately apparent. A covert channel is deemed useful if it is practically undetectable when used.
 
TCP over IP is the most frequently used protocol on the internet, and
its optional timestamp field is being used by increasing numbers of
operating systems, making it a good potential carrier. DEVCC is the
most referenced (and in fact the only commonly available) covert
channel which uses TCP timestamps. The flaws in DEVCC which make it detectable will be presented, as well as solutions to these flaws.

Dan Anderson, undergraduate student, departments of
Computer Science and Mathematics at UBC

Project #2
Security Analysis of an RF Biometric Fingerprint Scanner

The security policy of RF biometric scanners is concerned with origin integrity. To achieve this, there are three layers of security that a user must pass through: the scanning layer, the processing layer and the storing layer. We managed to compromise a device at the scanning and storing layers. At the scanning layer, the biometric tool can be fooled by an attacker using a gummy finger – a fake mold of a fingerprint that is recognized by the scanner as an authentic fingerprint. At the storing layer, the template used to compare the complementary data can be accessed and corrupted so that the user will no longer be able to login, or it could be recovered remotely by an attacker if it is stored on the computer’s hard drive. We conclude that the APC BioPod’s security policy can be breached because of its vulnerabilities at the two layers.

Project #3
Cryptanalysis of Cilia

The presentation reports on the results of our security analysis of cryptographic pseudo-random number generator Cilia. The presentation explains Cilia and shows how Cilia can be broken more effectively than with brute-force search of the key space. We explain how to break Cilia using timing and input-based attacks, state compromise extension attacks, and various key search attacks.

Henry Ng

Project #4
Access control to repository objects: from SAML-based web services security profile to XACML policies  

SAML is used by most federated security solutions to transmit assertions from the requester to the supplier. While SAML provides a comprehensive language for providing detailed attribute specification, it is missing the decision making logic, present in languages like XACML, that is necessary for enforcing policies and protecting resources.  Our solution bridges this gap by allowing SAML-based federated security systems to enforce  policies that protect resources while enabling XACML policies to scale in large repositories.

Ashok Shah

Chair: Dr. Konstantin Beznosov, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UBC

Project #5
Building DNS-Based Rate Limiting Analysis into Ethereal
Ethereal, an open-source network monitoring tool, provides rich features to dissect and filter packets from nearly 750 of network protocols. However, highly detailed reporting leaves much of the analysis effort on the network administrator. Pushing traffic analysis intelligence into the tool itself reduces the burden on the network administrator, as automated alerts can notify the administrator of suspicious activity. Wong et al demonstrate the effectiveness of a DNS-based rate limiting algorithm on TCP traffic against network scanning activity associated with virus propagation. This project involves implementing a simulation of this DNS-based rate limiting algorithm in ethereal. The advantages of the simulating are twofold - real network traffic is not disrupted with false-positives and the implementation as an application does not require kernel changes to the network protocol stack, dramatically simplifying deployment. Simple staged network scanning scenarios provide some preliminary evaluation of the prototype.

Mike Wood

 
(Terasen)

Disaster on Campus: Are BC Universities Prepared? — Panel

From environmental disasters, to acts of terrorism and sabotage, to cases of system or utility failure, there are many threats to network and IT infrastructure that can result in disruption of service and loss of data. This session will provide an overview of how BCNET member campuses are responding to the challenge of disaster recovery; what kinds of disasters they have focused on; how prepared they are and what the repercussions are if they are not. The goal of the session will focus on stimulating discussion around how BCNET members may work together to improve the future of disaster recovery planning among higher education institutions in BC.

Andrew Coward, Risk Analyst, Office of Budget and Capital Planning, UVic
Steve Grundy, Associate Vice-President Academic and Chief Information Officer, Royal Roads University
Ray Hryciuk, Manager, HSE Management Systems, UBC
Steve Beaudry, Systems Analyst, Computer Services and Information Technology, Royal Roads University
Thomas Armstrong, Senior Systems Administrator, UNBC
(Canadian Pacific)

Reducing Risk: Is your Business Protected from Disaster?

The recent spate of natural disasters and terrorism incidents has provided an eye-opening realization of the potential threat and consequences of the failure to prepare. This session will cover how to protect your business, recover your technical infrastructure and, most importantly, get your people serving your customers again. Art will share his experiences building and maintaining a comprehensive Business Continuity Planning (BCP) capability at Export Development Canada. Not only establishing a BCP strategy, but also testing it to be confident that it will work when needed. The presentation will focus on the practical, and not the theoretical, aspects of BCP and will draw on real life observations from Export Development Canada's experience over the years, including twice "going live" in a BCP mode.

Art Pelletier, Head of Client Services, Export Development Canada

(Repap)

Collaboration Technologies for Research and Teaching: Current Internet-based Technology Versus Future Opportunities— Panel
 
Using a question and answer interview format, the four speakers will engage in a wide-ranging discussion with each other and the audience on their recent experiences with internet-based collaboration technologies and the applications they have used. In their experience working at three different campuses of SFU, as well as UBC, and UVic. The four panelists have found that internet based collaboration can be broken down into three categories: what works reliabily, what is working most of the time, and what is on the frontier or doesn’t quite work yet or hasn’t been fully tested.

Of course, working as a technology doesn't begin to address the larger question of what is it good for? For each of these collaboration technologies, the panelists will talk briefly about how it works and when it works, but then go on to describe what they use it for and how it enhances teaching, research, and/or administrative/ service functions.

In the first part of the session, we will look at three IP-based collaboration technologies that we know work reliably and the applications/uses that they support or enhance. Some of the topics to be discussed in this part of the session include: -

* voice and text-centric instant messaging as a mode of researcher-to-researcher interaction and collaboration, as a mode for graduate student supervision, and as a tool in administrative functions;
* IP-based videoconferencing as a support tool for teaching, health delivery, and general administation (meetings); and
* web based conferencing as a tool for hybrid delivery of classroom instruction to remote students.

In the second part of the session we examine a few cutting edge IP- based collaboration technologies that we have experience with and describe some of the possible uses that they might find in a research institution. One example of this is multipoint multiplatform videoconferencing on laptops and desktop computers.

In the third part of the session we talk about what is on the horizon with a focus on mixing IP technology with other modes of collaboration (the telephone and telephone network-based audio and videoconferencing bridged to IP-based audio and videoconferencing, for example).

Each of these will be briefly demonstrated with examples, screen shots, typical configurations, and recommended platforms/systems.

Chair: Richard Smith, Associate Professor, School of Communications, SFU
Keir Novik, PhD, Manager, Information Technology, BCNET
Mike Keating, Manager, Education Services, UVic



(Canadian Pacific)

VOIP Campus Initiatives

Voice over IP (VoIP) technology is increasing in popularity and widespread use.  With benefits that include VoIP to VoIP calling from anywhere in the world without the long distance or roaming charges of regular cellular or phone services as well as integration with Internet-based  services such as video-conversation, instant messaging, data exchange and multi-point conferencing, VoIP technology has significant implications for collaboration and mobility.  This panel will consist of representatives from BCNET member institutions who will provide a brief overview of VoIP initiatives on their campuses.  Joined by government and industry representatives, this panel will also explore the potential for VoIP across the province, current practices and challenges of implementation and opportunities for future deployment.

Chair: ChairTedd Dodds, Associate VP Information Technology and CIO, UBC
David Burkholder, Network Services, TRU
Worth Johnson, Director of Computer Operations, SFU
Brian Crinkley, Network BC, Office of the CIO Province of BC

(Canadian Pacific)

The Changing World of Broadcast Media — Lecture

The advances in computer networking are providing educators with new and innovative methods for enhancing the quality and impact of delivering distance education services and content.  Syntagma Network Services is collaborating with The Nimble Company to showcase how IPTV technologies can be applied to the creation of educational content. The television industry is about to go through a paradigm shift bigger than anything seen since the invention of the remote control. From HDTV to timeshifting to portable media, the days of "appointment" viewing are long gone. The Nimble Company is a media company born in the broadband era. Syntagma Network Services was created to deliver Next Generation Application services such as broadcast video.  This joint presentation will cover how IP technology and changing business models in the media industry are creating new opportunities while old ones erode. In addition to the emerging technologies for creating new media content, the presentation will cover new distribution methods, digital rights issue, audience behaviour and more.

McLean Mashingaidze-Greavees, President, Founder, The Nimble Company
Paul Amodeo, VP Sales, Syntagma

The Emergence of New Content Delivery Models
For most of the 90’s delivering Internet content to end-users has been an obstacle to most Internet Content Providers growth. With the emergence of new content delivery models in the early part of 2000’s, content providers like CBC/Radio-Canada are now able to use those models in a cost-effective manner to deliver both http and streaming content to their end-users. This presentation will highlight the rationale behind CBC content delivery strategy and will focus on the peering model in partnership with BCNET.

Bernard Jules, Sr. Project Manager of Internet and New Media Technology, CBC/Radio-Canada

(Canfor)

Rich Media over the Net — Lecture

This session contains a series of three rich media presentations on projects and programs that are taking place at the Emily Carr Institute and the Banff New Media Institute. These two facilities are leading the way in rich media development over the network. The Banff Institute will give an overview of the exciting new media projects that are taking place. One of the two Emily Carr presentations will be on the internationally performed, “Four-Wheel Drift”, which examines the interactive and experimental nature of cars and their related technologies. The second Emily Carr presentation will focus on a new multimedia art installation that is currently in the works for Vancouver. The electronic media project, “Flow”, will engage the public through images that are displayed continuously. Both Emily Carr and the Banff Institute are engaging in dynamic projects that are not only moving new media forward but they are also utilizing the network and technological resources that are available.

Chair: Mark Zuberbuhler, Executive Producer/Director for Telestudios, UBC
Julie Andreyev, Associate Professor, Emily Carr Institute
Slavica Cerperkovik, Production Coordinator, Banff New Media Institute

(Canfor)

The Future of National Networks: Canada vs the US — Panel

With the emergence of national networks, people in any given country are feeling more and more interconnected, but there are still challenges and problems that need to be addressed. This session explores what Canada is doing right and what the US is doing right and how each can learn from the other. The question that will be answered is, whether it is cooperation or competition that is spurring innovation.

Tom West, President & CEO, National Lambda Rail
Andrew Bjerring, President & CEO, CANARIE
Steve Corbato, Director of Backbone Network Infrastructure, Internet2 (via videoconference)

(Terasen)