May / June 2006
ORION Access Grid server comes on stream
ORION's new Access Grid server only came on stream in March, but Ontario researchers are already making use of the new collaborative capabilities it is enabling.
The new server has been used to power a demonstration of the Laboratory for Collaborative Diagnostics' Malaria TV, at the recent APECTEL 33 international conference in Calgary in April, and it's about to be pressed into service by the Canadian Design Research Network.
Access Grid is a collaborative communication software that offers distributed video, audio conferencing and the integration of non-traditional data streams, such as diagnostic data and near real-time machine control information. The ORION server is basically a computer which runs open source software that enables individuals from various locations to "dial in" through the network, to collaborate in real time.
The venue server was set up as a joint project between ORION and the Laboratory for Collaborative Diagnostics (LCD) at the University of Toronto (www.lcd.utoronto.ca). In addition to being used by the Laboratory for Collaborative Diagnostics, it will be part of the Design Grid being setup by the Canadian Design Research Network-(www.cdrn.ca)
The prototype server is initially supporting the work of the lab at the University of Toronto to facilitate collaborative review of digital microscopy-based diagnostics by individuals at different institutions. The initial focus is on the examination of blood from people infected with uncommon parasitic diseases like malaria.
Researchers affiliated with the Centre for Landscape Research at the University of Toronto and the Integrated Centre for Visualization, Design and Manufacture at the University of Waterloo also plan to use Access Grid to facilitate design reviews across Ontario.
The fact that ORION is hosting the venue server is important to the research community. "Network administrators will be less reluctant to open firewalls to specific ORION IP addresses and ports, because ORION is a known and trusted entity throughout the province," says Dr. West Suhanic, Executive Director of the LCD, who is spearheading the project.
The ORION server runs Fedora Core 4, the Linux distribution of Access Grid software, which has broad support in the Access Grid community.
Learn more at about Access Grid at www.accessgrid.org.
Back to Headlines
|
|
