Document: internet2-crcc-report-200607.html

Comments to Steve Olshansky
<steveo@internet2.edu>

Authors:
Ken Klingenstein, Internet2
Kevin Morooney, Penn State University
Steve Olshansky, Internet2
Copyright © 2006 by Internet2
and/or the respective authors
Rev. 17-July-2006

 

Final Report: A Workshop on Effective Approaches to Campus Research Computing Cyberinfrastructure

April 25-27, 2006 Arlington, VA

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation - Grant No. OCI-0627970,
Pennsylvania State University, and Internet2

Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material
are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF).

 

Introduction

Cyberinfrastructure has become a key enabler for scholarly research. Faculty and researchers are becoming increasingly reliant on a mix of high-performance computing and communications (HPCC) hardware, software, networking, virtual organizations, and key research computing support professionals. To help develop a greater understanding of the key campus challenges in cyberinfrastructure, NSF sponsored a workshop developed by Penn State, with assistance from Internet2, in April, 2006. This workshop brought together a combination of CIOs and high level campus technical representatives – CTOs and others with similarly broad responsibilities – to share approaches and common problems, and to strategize about ways in which they would be able to improve their respective institutions’ support for the demands of current and future research computing. Attended by almost 70 people, representing 40+ US research universities, NSF and Internet2, the workshop was well received and feedback to date indicates that it was highly valuable to the participants on several levels.

The key findings from the workshop include:

The workshop website, with links to the proposal, agenda/presentations, and roster, is at: http://middleware.internet2.edu/crcc/.

The CIO and Campus Cyberinfrastructure

The first segment of the workshop focused on perspectives, both technical and policy, for CIOs. The CIO participants were particularly interested in the following:

In addition to these recommendations, this report highlights a roadmap of campus issues that identifies key themes emerging from the workshop, a list of potential leverage points to identify possible opportunities for community action, and a map or inter-institutional issues which describes major challenges and approaches to interrealm sharing of resources.

Roadmap of Campus Issues

1. Planning

There are a number of major issues to be considered in planning for campus efforts. While an exhaustive list was out of scope for the workshop, some key issues were discussed.

Some specific issues to consider:

Campuses may also want to consider reward systems to encourage researchers to think institutionally. Space, budget, recognition, and other incentives may help.

2. Development and Implementation

Workshop participants recommended the following areas of focus for development and implementation:

Again, the full breadth of development activities were beyond the workshop scope, but some specific issues emerging from the workshop included:

Potential leverage points

Potential opportunities for community action emerged from discussions:

A Map of Inter-institutional issues

Federated trust, and in particular the facilitation of virtual organizations spanning organizational boundaries, is rapidly becoming a top goal of a broad spectrum of campuses and related service organizations.

Challenges include:

Resources, funding, and support assume different dimensions in this context, including ways to deal with users or resources beyond your borders

Regulatory issues
Boundary conditions tend to influence approaches. Frequently, technology precedes policy, leading to some potentially awkward issues but making a case for a new paradigm for regulatory efforts. Examples include:

Acknowledgements

This report was authored by Ken Klingenstein, Internet2; Kevin Morooney, Pennsylvania State University (Program Committee Chair), and Steve Olshansky, Internet2. Special thanks for contributions by Jim Davis, Iowa State University, and program committee member Patrick Dreher, MIT.

References