Science acknowledges breakthrough potential of lightpath technology
Today five research projects in the Netherlands are awarded the main prize in the “Enlighten Your Research” lightpath competition organised by SURFnet and NWO. The scientists win a lightpath and the sum of 20,000 Euros for integrating the use of the lightpath in their research.
The winners are:
• Distribution of radiology images in the NELSON lung cancer screening study – University Medical Center Groningen and University Medical Center Utrecht with dr.ir. P.M.A. van Ooijen from Groningen as the main team member. • Lightpath for the high-throughput genome-wide analyses in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) – University Medical Center Utrecht and the University of California, Los Angeles with Utrecht scientist dr. J. Veldink as the main team member. • Intelligent CCTV monitoring at Arke Stadium – Submitted by Telematica Instituut, University of Twente, Twente Regional Police, FC Twente, NDIX (Netherlands-German Internet Exchange) and T Xchange. The main team member for this lightpath project is dr. ir. W. Teeuw from Telematica Instituut. • Electron microscopy using lightpaths – Leiden University Medical Center, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven en SARA Computing and Networking Services. Leiden researcher dr. J. Valentijn will use lightpaths to share measuring instruments by connecting three research institutes. • Remote High-Resolution Visualisation of Climate Data using Pixel Streaming – The proposal involves a lightpath between Utrecht University and SARA Computing and Networking Services in Amsterdam with prof. H. Dijkstra of the ESSENCE project at Utrecht University as the main team member.
The winning proposals come from different scientific disciplines and are characterised by a high degree of social relevance. The submissions for this first edition of the “Enlighten Your Research” lightpath competition show that scientists are aware of the added value of lightpaths for their research, for instance to share scarce resources such as measuring equipment. The scientist expect that their lightpath will contribute significantly to accelerating or improving their research.
The “Enlighten your Research” lightpath competition was organised by SURFnet in collaboration with NWO with the aim of promoting the use of lightpaths for scientific research. Lightpaths are a new feature of the hybrid SURFnet6 network and are characterised by high transmission speeds and reliability, a low and very constant network latency and a high degree of security. These properties make lightpaths extremely suitable for scientific research and offer researchers in the Netherlands the possibility of moving in new directions.
Further details and the jury report are available at http://lichtpad.surfnet.nl/info/en.
About SURFnet
SURFnet enables breakthrough education and research. We develop and operate the national SURFnet6 network and provide innovative services in the areas of security, authentication and authorisation, group communication and video. Over 750,000 academics, staff and students in higher education and research in the Netherlands have daily access to the Internet using SURFnet6. SURFnet is a partner in SURF, the organisation for innovative ICT facilities in which academic universities, universities of applied sciences and research institutions collaborate at the national and international levels.
About NWO
NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research) supports the future of academic endeavour in the Netherlands. Together with academics, (inter)national organisations and companies, NWO funds and develops top quality research programmes. About 4,500 researchers working at universities and (NWO) institutes are funded by an NWO subsidy. The core budget amounts to over 400 million euros annually.