The National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) component provides researchers with access to national peak computing facilities and high performance computing tools. The agreement to deliver NCI has been signed with the Australian National University for $26 million. Negotiations are underway with organisations such as CSIRO, GeoScience Australia and the Bureau of Meteorology to gauge their demand for computing resources as well as to secure their partnership and further investments in national computing capabilities.
The Interoperation and Collaboration Infrastructure (ICI) component will provide grid enabled technologies and infrastructure to enable seamless access to research facilities and services. The agreement has been signed with the Victorian Partnership for Advanced Computing (VPAC) for $20 million. It will provide funding to VPAC to distribute to project participants through a joint-venture. The joint-venture consists of service providers across Australia who are contributing computer and data support systems over the distributed grid system and is known as the
Australian Research Collaboration Service (ARCS).
The Australian National Data Service (ANDS) will ensure researchers are able to identify, locate, access and analyse any available research data.
A contract has been signed with Monash University for an ANDS Establishment Project through to June 2008. Under this agreement, Monash will work with the Australian National University, CSIRO and potentially a range of other parties to develop the necessary elements to move to full ANDS implementation from 1 July 2008.
The Australian eResearch Infrastructure Council (AeRIC) is responsible for ensuring that world-class infrastructure, services and expertise are identified, developed and delivered nationwide in ways that sustain the strategic motivation and promotion of e-research. The Council has responsibility for overseeing investments in ANDS, NCI and ICI. The Council is chaired by Professor Tom Cochrane from the Queensland University of Technology and Dr Rhys Francis is the Executive Director of the Council.
The National eResearch Architecture Taskforce (NeAT) has been established to provide guidance on the evolution of the national eResearch infrastructure and to identify and scope activities that broaden the appeal of eResearch services. NeAT will recommend projects for investment within the ANDS and ICI components. The Taskforce is chaired by the Executive Director of AeRIC, Dr Rhys Francis.
Australian Access Federation
The Australian Access Federation (AAF) project is an initiative funded by the Government to provide a shared infrastructure for all users working in multiple environments/ institutions to have seamless and secured access to resources online. Once established, the AAF will provide a national authentication and authorisation framework for the higher education sector and research community, and will hence play a critical role ensuring the accessibility of NCRIS infrastructure and research data. See http://www.aaf.edu.au/ for more details.
Australian Research and Education Network
Following a comprehensive review of the higher education sector’s access to bandwidth and its future requirements as detailed in the report
A Framework for an Australian Research and Education Network, the Australian Government agreed to fund the establishment of the Australian Research and Education Network (AREN) from the Systemic Infrastructure Initiative (SII), part of the Government’s Backing Australia’s Ability programme. From 2003 to 2006, the Australian Government systematically invested $88 million in the AREN, comparable to the most advanced international optic fibre research and education networks. The network connects universities and research institutes in all capital cities and many regional centres, as well as isolated research facilities such as radio telescopes. Its international footprint is significant, connecting the east coast of Australia to multiple points of presence on the west coast of the USA and the west to Singapore, Frankfurt and on to European networks.
Dr Rhys Francis
Executive Director, AeRIC
Email: rhys@pfc.org.au
Enquiries in regards to the implementation process for Platforms for Collaboration should be directed to the following leaders for each of the components:
ICI – Professor Anthony Williams
Executive Director, Australian Research Collaboration Service (ARCS)
South Australian Partnership for Advanced Computing (SAPAC) University of Adelaide
Level 1, Physics Building
UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE SA 5005
Australia
Tel: +61 8 8303 3546
Fax: +61 8 8303 3551
Email: Anthony.Williams@sapac.edu.au
ANDS – Andrew Treloar
Room 156, Building 203
Monash University, Clayton Campus
700 Blackburn Rd
Clayton, 3168, Australia
Tel: +61 3 9902 0572
Fax: +61 3 9902 0557
Email: andrew.treloar@its.monash.edu.au
NCI – Professor Robin Stanton
Pro Vice-Chancellor, Australian National University
Chancelry (Building #10)
ANU ACT 0200
Australia
Tel: +61 2 6125 2504
Fax: +61 2 6125 0700
Email: pvc@anu.edu.au
For matters related to management of the NCRIS programme, please contact the NCRIS Team by email at ncris@dest.gov.au
For further information, please see the Platforms for Collaboration website at www.pfc.org.au.