May / June 2007




Waterloo hosts CANHEIT 2007
ORION is once again a sponsor at CANHEIT, the fifth annual Canadian Higher Education and Information Technology conference, this year hosted by the University of Waterloo and taking place on the campus of Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo. The May 27-30 national conference brings together senior administrators, managers, and staff who are responsible for the management and evolution of their campus information systems, learning systems, and computing systems and network infrastructures. Keynote speakers include Richard N. Katz, VP of Educause, and Richard Spencer, Senior IT Strategist at the University of British Columbia. Session topics include digital game-based learning and information literacy, server virtualization and disaster recovery, the future of identity management in higher education, e-classroom experiences, wireless telephony in residence, Moodle and Skype, mobile devices and the university environment, research computing and directions toward centralized support, and more. Visit https://fortuna.uwaterloo.ca/canheit.

U of T webcasts convocations
For the first time, the University of Toronto will webcast all convocation ceremonies being held this June. A small number of convocation ceremonies were webcast as a pilot project last year and the feedback was very positive, according to Professor Mariel O'Neill-Karch, co-chair of the committee to review convocation and principal of Woodsworth College. Due to the limited number of seats in Convocation Hall, family members of students who were not able to get tickets can still view the ceremony online. Also, relatives of international students from countries around the world and unable to travel, can still see their loved ones accept their degrees. "Webcasting also means you can replay the ceremony as many times as you want afterwards and watch it in any time zone around the world," said Prof. O'Neill-Karch. For more information, visit www.news.utoronto.ca.

Research and Innovation Award winners
Premier and Minister of Research and Innovation Dalton McGuinty honoured Ontario's top research and innovation talents recently at the inaugural Premier's Innovation Awards. Winners in the Premier's Catalyst, Discovery and Summit awards programs were recognized for their achievements in everything from life-saving medical research to innovations that are revolutionizing business and industry. Winners of the Premier's Discovery Awards for individual research achievement are: Spencer C.H. Barrett, University of Toronto, for Life Sciences and Medicine; Andreas Mandelis, University of Toronto, for Natural Sciences and Engineering; Regna Darnell, University of Western Ontario, for Social Sciences and Humanities; and Aaron Fenster, Robarts Research Institute, for Innovation Leadership. The Premier's Summit Awards program provides research support to a small number of outstanding medical researchers, in partnership with their sponsoring institution. The winners for 2007 are: John E. Dick, University Health Network; Tak Mak, Princess Margaret Hospital, University Health Network; Anthony J. Pawson, Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital; and Peter St George-Hyslop, University of Toronto and University Health Network. These award programs are part of the government's strategy to attract and retain Ontario's best research and innovation talent. Learn more at www.marsdd.com.

Commercializing university research
The University of Toronto and the Council of Ontario Universities (COU), in partnership with MaRS Discovery District, host a one-day international symposium on commercializing university research on Thursday, May 24th at MaRS. The theme is "Today's research, tomorrow's prosperity." The symposium offers an opportunity to interact with international leaders from business, industry, government and academia. Panel topics include "Getting the Job Done: International Experiences in Technology Commercialization" and "What Business Wants: The Business View of Technology Commercialization." Keynote speakers include David Naylor, President of U of T, Ross C. DeVol of the Milken Institute, and Ted Sargent, Canada Research Chair in Nanotechnology. For more details, visit www.research.utoronto.ca/events.

Support for Windsor web portal
The University of Windsor has received an in-kind grant valued at $1 million U.S. to build a Web portal for the campus community. Through the Campus EAI consortium's in-kind contribution, the university will gain access to tools and services already developed, programmed and tested by other institutions. Roger Lauzon, executive director of the university's Information Technology Services, described the campus portal as "a personalized Web-view of the university." It is intended to provide members of the campus community with a single point of access to online information on their integrated teaching and learning interests, student services, and extracurricular activities. The first phase of the campus portal, which will concentrate on student needs, will be launched by the beginning of June 2007. More features for faculty, staff and other users will be rolled out over time. The CampusEAI Consortium (CEAI) is a global not-for-profit information technology services and consulting provider focused on helping its members implement enterprise e-business solutions timely and cost-effectively. Campus EAI also hosts the Open student Television Network (OSTN), which partners with ORION to showcase Ontario student film and television production to global audiences over global research and education networks. For more information, visit www.uwindsor.ca/.

New IPv6 Land Speed Records
Internet2 announced recently that an international team led by the University of Tokyo has set two new consecutive Internet2 Land Speed Records (I2-LSR) in the IPv6 single and multi-stream categories. These records mark the ninth and tenth time a University of Tokyo-led team has achieved an Internet2 Land Speed Record. As an open and ongoing competition for the highest-bandwidth end-to-end networks, the Internet2 LSR awards represent the fastest rate at which data is transferred multiplied by the distance traveled. A team, including CANARIE in Canada, collaborated to create a network path over 30,000 kilometers in distance, crossing 6 international networks - over 3/4 the circumference of the Earth. In doing so, the team successfully transferred data in the single and multi-stream categories at a rate of 7.67 Gbps (230,100 terabit-meters per second (Tb-m/s)). Next, the team used a modified version of TCP to achieve an even greater record. Using the same 30,000 km path, the network was able to achieve a throughput of 9.08 Gbps which is equal to 272,400 Tb-m/s for both the IPv6 multi and single stream categories. In doing so, the team surpassed the current IPv4 records, proving that IPv6 networks are able to provide the same, if not better, performance as IPv4. For more information, see http://data-reservoir.adm1 and http://data-reservoir.adm2.

People News
Andrew Bjerring, President and CEO of CANARIE, has announced his plans to retire by March 31, 2008. Andrew has held the position since 1993, the year CANARIE was inaugurated. Allison Sekuler, professor of psychology, neuroscience and behaviour and Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience, recently became the Acting Vice-President (Research) of McMaster University, while a replacement can be found for Dr. Mamdouh Shoukri, who is the President-Designate of York University. Eugene Siciunas recently retired from his position as Director of Computing and Networking Services at the University of Toronto. Dr. Robert Chambers stepped into the position earlier this month. After 44 years at the University of Waterloo, Roger Watt has retired from his position as Director, Network Services in the Information Systems and Technology department. Claude Dufresne, Director, Computing & Communications Services at the University of Ottawa recently retired after 17 years at the institution. Peter Hickey was named Acting Director. Robert Luke recently started in his new role as Director of Applied Research at George Brown College, where he is responsible for developing the college's research capacity. Tyson Vickers, Systems Administrator at ORION, leaves ORION this week after three and a half years to join TUCOWS.

Back to Headlines