How to meaure economic impact of R&E Networks and Cyber-infrastructure

[One of the major challenges for government is to measure the economic impact of academic research.

Up to 98% of Internet traffic now consists of content that can be cached locally on servers

[It is interesting to see this report from Analysys Mason that confirms my analysis several years ago that most Internet traffic is moving to the edge delivered by Content Distribution Networks (CDN) delivered at Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) around the world.

NSF and XSEDE survey on cloud use cases for researchers and educators

[It is good to see the National Science Foundation (NSF) and XSEDE (eXtreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment) undertake a survey to determine cloud use cases by researchers and educators and plan accordingly for the seamless integration of cloud resources into the XSEDE architecture.

The Future of R&E networks and cyber-infrastructure (eInfrastructure)

[A couple days ago I had the honor of giving a talk on the future of R&E networks and cyber-infrastructure to celebrate Kees Neggers receiving the Order of the Orange Nassau ( the Dutch equivalent of the Order of the British Empire)

How To Use Cloud Computing To Do Astronomy (and other sciences)

[Here is an excellent balanced presentation on the advantages (and disadvantages) of using commercial clouds for astronomy and other research programs.

Why CDNs are critical to future of R&E networks, Big Data and the Internet

[Today Netflix announced that they are deploying their own Content Delivery Network (CDN) for delivery of their video streams to Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) around the world.

Federated R&E networks take a step forward in Europe

[At the recent highly acclaimed Terena networking conference in Iceland there were several significant steps forward to move to “federated” R&E networks in Europe.

How Internet 2 is helping researchers make effective use of commercial clouds

[Here is an excellent article in HPC in the cloud on how the Internet 2 network is helping researchers and educators use commercial clouds.

IXPs and CDNs critical to the future of competitive broadband Internet

[We continue to see consolidation in the broadband market and various games played by the cablecos and telcos to thwart competition or undermine network neutrality (See below).

Software Defined Networks and integration of Wifi with 3G/4G for R&E networks

[A number of R&E networks such as SURFnet, JANET, AARnet, etc are actively promoting mobile services and looking at integration of campus Wifi with 3G/4G networks using Eduroam.

European R&E networks- cloud development and Green IT

[Here are 2 good sources on the latest developments with European R&E networks on providing cloud services to their communities and Green IT.

7 reasons why R&E networks and Universities are critical to future of broadband

[There has been considerable discussion about the future of broadband in terms of infrastructure i.e. fiber, wireless, community owned etc . However, there has been little discussion, to borrow a phrase from Internet 2 , on Net+ broadband services.

Great example of public-private network-computer partnership to support big data research

[Here is a great example of how optical exchange points and advanced networks (STAR LIGHT) working in partnership with public clouds can accelerate fundamental research.

Network as a Service (OpenNaaS) - software defined networks taken to new level

[It is exciting to see the Mantychore team in Europe undertake to move software defined networks to a new level of sophistication and ease of use.

European study (Terena) on the Future Role of R&E Networks and financial sustainability - ASPIRE.

[I am pleased to see Europe, under the auspices of Terena is undertaking an in depth study of the future role of research and education networks.

Critical role for R&E networks+commercial clouds in US government Big Data initiative

[It is great to see US and European governments undertake initiatives to promote the development of research into Big Data utilizing commercial clouds.

Why R&E networks should be aware of the CDN Interconnect initiative (CDNI)

At the recent IETF meeting there has been considerable discussion about interconnection of Content Delivery Networks.

Europe to deploy commercial clouds to support big science

[It is great to see Europe take an important leadership role and recognize the important role that commercial cloud providers can play in providing solutions for big science through their recent Helix Nebula – the Science Cloud announcement.

Amazon's Simple Workflow and Software Defined Networks could transform cyber-infrastructure

[It is very exciting to see Amazon’s new simple Workflow service. Workflow, when combined with software defined networks, could transform the future of cyber-infrastructure or eInfrastructure.

Are cloud applications blocking genuine HPC users from getting necessary resources?

[Over the past few weeks I have had several discussions with administrators from large HPC facilities in USA and Canada, who are part of the XSEDE and Compute Canada consortia respectively.

More companies deploying follow the wind/follow the sun technology

[It is exciting to see more companies embrace the concepts of software defined networks, network virtualization and follow the wind/follow the sun networks pioneered by CANARIE through its UCLP (Argia) and Greenstar network initiatives.

JANET's innovative M2M 3G wireless service with Eduroam global roaming

[Many people may have read the excellent OECD report on machine to machine (M2M) communications which is expected to be the next big thing in terms of the Internet of Things.

NORDUnet's brilliant Internet peering strategy

[NORDUnet, the R&E network connecting the Nordic countries has recently undertaken a brilliant Internet peering strategy that will have global significant ramifications for supporting research and education around the world.

Data Intensive Science in a Carbon Constrained World with Software Defined Networks

[I had the honor of being invited to give the keynote at the recent Internet 2 Joint Techs workshop.  I am very excited to see the new direction of Joint Techs to spend one day focusing on a single topic – as an experimental “Call for Action.”

Why Software Defined Networks and WiFi 2.0 are critical to future of Internet

[Here are two excellent articles on Software Defined Networks (SDN) and WiFi 2.0.

Verizon and Rogers skirt rules on network neutrality versus Free's innovative network

[From will they ever learn department,  we are once again seeing attempts by incumbent carriers to skirt rules around network neutrality.

Must read: The year ahead for IT in Higher Ed

[Here is an excellent article by my good friend Lev Gonick on future trends for IT in Higher Ed.

The advantage of commercial clouds versus HPC for scientific research

[The Department of Energy (DoE) recently came out with an excellent report, called the Magellan report, on the advantages and disadvantages of using commercial clouds versus in house High Performance Computers for leading edge scientific research.