|
|
August 2006
ORION weathers destructive storms
While devastating storms knocked out power and telecommunications services in several parts of Ontario last week, ORION's recent upgrades to backup services helped the network remain live with few service interruptions. While Nipissing University, where ORION operates its North Bay PoP, was left without power, ORION equipment remained operational. Virtually all the major telecommunications networks experienced interruptions, including Bell Canada, HydroOne, Persona and Ontera. Fibre-cuts between Sudbury and Pickerel River, and between Sturgeon Falls and North Bay brought down power/telecommunication service. Signal repeater huts in Ramore and Englehart brought down ORION switches along the North Bay to Timmins route. However, most of ORION services failed over to its new backup circuits.
Webinar on e-Presence a hit
ORION's first Webinar, a technical update by ORION's Senior Director of Engineering and Operations Sam Mokbel on July 12, was a hit with participants, who signed on from various locations from throughout Ontario. The update focused on details of ORION's network expansion plans this summer, and the installation of state-of-the art ROADM technology. Facilitated by the e-Presence platform, participants were able to view live video and audio as well as presentation materials , while able to interact with ORION staff in real time through text chats. Participants said they appreciated the convenience of the technology, saving time and travel. More webinars are to be scheduled in the months ahead. A stream of the Webinar is available on the ORION e-Presence archive.
ORION Staff changes
Shahid Ajaz, ORION's Manager of IP Technologies has moved on to a new challenge as Smart Systems for Health IP network architect. Among ORION's original staff, Shahid was responsible for designing, deploying, and operating the IP network. Most recently he focused on designing the new MPLS based-ORION IP architecture. Nadeem Junejo, Manager of Optical Technologies takes over the role until a replacement is hired. Ron Neil assumes new responsibilities as Manager of Business Development and Partner Relations, assisting organizations in finding technical and business solutions for connecting to ORION. He will also help provide ORION input on supporting and growing collaborative projects and activities over the network.
MERLOT International in Ottawa
The University of Ottawa and the Cooperative Learning Object Exchange (CLOE) - which won an ORION Award last month, are co-hosting the sixth annual International MERLOT Conference, in Ottawa Aug. 8 to 11, 2006. MERLOT - Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching - is an international cooperative of higher education institutions working to amass the highest quality online resources to improve learning and teaching. Over 350 delegates from throughout North America are anticipated for the conference, at the Ottawa Congress Centre. Visit http://conference.merlot.org/2006.
Prensky opens Summer Institute
Marc Prensky, internationally acclaimed speaker and consultant in education and learning is keynote speaker at the annual ABEL Summer Institute at York University Aug. 22 and 23. "Digital Literacy" is the focus of the two-day event, in which up to 300 school administrators, faculty and students will gather to develop strategies for using broadband and information communications technologies to support teaching and learning. ORION is a sponsor of the event. Registration deadline is Aug. 11. Visit www.abelearn.ca.
UOIT and Northern sign agreement
Northern College in Timmins and Oshawa's University of Ontario Institute of Technology have signed a memorandum of agreement that allows Northern business graduates to obtain a four-year honours degree in just two years plus one semester at the university. Upon completion of a spring or summer bridging semester at UOIT, Northern College Business diploma graduates may now gain direct entry into the third year of UOIT's Bachelor of Commerce Honours degree program.
SHARCNET expands with Phase II
Five new partners - including Trent, Laurentian and Lakehead Universities, as well as the Ontario College of Art and Design and the Perimeter Institute - have joined the Shared Hierarchical Academic Research Computing Network (SHARCNET). The distributed computing project will now link the computational facilities of 16 institutions across Ontario. ORION is a critical partner in SHARCNET, providing 10 gigabits/second network connectivity to most of its partners. SHARCNET reports that since its launch in May 2004, the number of SHARCNET users has more than doubled to 1,200. Visit www.sharcnet.ca.
Sun founder joins HPCVL celebration
Scott McNealy, Sun Microsystems Inc. founder and former CEO was special guest at a gathering of academic and research heavyweights at Queen's University June 15, celebrating the achievements and recent expansion of the High Performance Computing Virtual Laboratory (HPCVL). Sun is a major supporter of HPCVL, the largest installation of its kind of Sun equipment in the world. The expansion welcomes Ryerson University and Seneca College to HPCVL's membership. They join Queen's and the Royal Military College in Kingston and Carleton University and University of Ottawa in Ottawa. HPCVL supports innovative research in a broad spectrum of disciplines. Visit www.hpcvl.org.
Waterloo reaches across the border
Aiming to advance nanotechnology research across the border, the University of Waterloo has reached a collaborative agreement with the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the University at Albany-State University of New York. The agreement allows for an exchange of information in nanotechnology, including technical, economic, education and business and enables international collaboration and partnerships. UW is building a $70-million Quantum-Nano Centre to house the more than 500 nanotechnology undergraduate students anticipated by 2010 and up to 125 graduate students and faculty. The 225,000-square-foot facility will accommodate the new program and Waterloo's Institute for Quantum Computing. Learn more at http://newsrelease.uwaterloo.ca.
People News
George Ross has joined the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation as Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Operating Officer, moving over from the Ministry of Natural Resources where he was ADM of the Field Services Division.
Dr. Thomas J. Hudson is the new President and Scientific Director of the new Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR). Former assistant director of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the MIT Center for Genome Research, he became founder and director of the McGill University and Genome Quebec Innovation Centre in 1996. Dr. Bob Phillips is now Chief Operating Officer of the Ontario Cancer Research Network, which has been incorporated into the new Institute, created last December.
Dr Mona Nemer, coming from the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montreal, replaces Dr. Howard Alper as VP Research at the University of Ottawa, who is stepping down after nine years and joining the International Development Research Centre as a visiting executive.
Nick Cercone, Dean of computer science at Dalhousie University since 2002, and former chair of computer science at the University of Waterloo has been named as the next dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering at York University.
Dr. Anastasios (Tas) Venetsanopoulos has been appointed to the newly-created position of Vice-President, Research and Innovation at Ryerson University. An internationally recognized researcher, scholar, professor, consultant and widely-published author in the field of electrical engineering, he has been Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto for the past five years.
Christopher Loomis, Vice-President, Research, Memorial University was elected Chair of the CANARIE Board of Directors, replacing Lucille Pacey, Executive Director, Arts Umbrella who remains on the board as Past Chair. David Steeves, Vice-President Communications, Industrial and Distribution Sectors ITSA - Global Technology Services IBM Canada Ltd. was appointed Vice-Chair.
Back to Headlines
|
| |
|
