ORION has dramatically ramped up its consultations with network users, responding to growing demands for new tools and resources to take advantage of ORION's exceptional capabilities in enabling research, education and innovation.

"We've really entered a new era in our history," says ORION President and CEO Phil Baker.

As ORION welcomes new member organizations and as network traffic grows at a phenomenal rate, network users - from academics, researchers, students and IT specialists - are starting to focus on how best to collaborate and make more effective use of their inter-connectivity over the network.

ORANO staff and, more recently, ORANO's Board of Directors have met with key network stakeholders representing researchers, educators and scientists from various disciplines, seeking their views on ORION's future network technology and service priorities.

The feedback is clear - there is a growing expectation for ORANO to take the lead in providing for services on top of the network, while maintaining its mission of operating a state-of-the-art network platform to support Ontario's priorities in research, education and innovation.

While ORION is cautioned not to recreate what already exists, the organization is encouraged to build on what is currently in place, and to introduce and integrate new services and applications over the network. "This is essential feedback," said Baker. "It helps inform our priorities and our decision-making in the months and years ahead."

What the organization also heard is that Ontario researchers expect ORION to "take risks" and "to be on the leading edge of innovation, providing infrastructure and resources which extend opportunities to researchers, teachers and learners, even if the tools and infrastructure are not final solutions."

The "last mile" on campus is also identified as a significant challenge. Demands by researchers are already placing significant pressure on the local infrastructure, whether it is for gigabit speeds across campus or for fibre to the labs. Institutions are facing increasing challenges and significant costs to keep up with the expanding opportunities beyond the campus.

Users caution that one of ORION's challenges will be to meet growing expectations and demands for leading-edge advanced network capabilities and responding to the unique requirements of cross-institution and region "just-in-time researchers" and a dynamic, not planned, research environment.

Access to "bigger pipes" is a growing necessity, especially for activities like post-production digital cinema work where 10 Gbps capacity is no longer sufficient. Ideally, future network infrastructure will need to support greater capacity to facilitate a real-time, multi-player post-production environment.

This increased capacity is rapidly becoming a necessity in many areas, such as scientific visualization and other shared multi-party environments, say researchers and network users.

ORION's Partnerships and Strategic Alliances team has also been reaching out and engaging researchers, educators, IT managers and students on identifying potential tools and resources over the network and leading working groups with wide user representation on web-based collaboration services, IP videoconferencing and backup and shared services.

ORION is also working with network users on exploring the deployment of an interactive learning and digital media platform over the network, following up on earlier consultations on the need for ORION to support and enable an IPTV platform for Ontario postsecondary institutions.

"ORANO has consistently sought input from our stakeholders. From ORANO's genesis, it is a hallmark and a principle of how ORANO operates," says Director of Corporate Affairs and Finance, Sophie Maksym, who has helped lead and participated in several of the organization's consultation exercises. "There is a strong expectation from our Board and stakeholders that we consult on an ongoing basis," she says, with regular liaison, to roundtable discussions, forums, advisory and working groups, briefings and regular surveys.

Going back to ORION's earliest days to more recent stakeholder roundtables in 2006, 2007 and again in 2008, the network continues to seek feedback not only from its users, but from government, the private sector and the broader research, education and innovation communities.

ORANO is also addressing the need to upgrade ORION's capacity and capabilities through a reinvestment in the network's core equipment infrastructure. As a result, the organization has been active in developing options and scenarios, and seeking the advice and support of Ontario's science, research and academic leaders.

"This is a long but absolutely critical process," says Baker. "We can't rest on our laurels. We have to act now if we want to make sure Ontario remains competitive and at the cutting edge with a world-class research and education, innovation platform."