EPSCoR Cyberinfrastructure Assessment Workshop

EPSCoR Cyberinfrastructure Assessment Workshop

North Dakota Jurisdictional Assessment

October 15, 2007

Bonnie Neas

VP for IT

North Dakota State University

The North Dakota University System

1. Bismarck State College2. Dickinson State University3. Lake Region State College4. Mayville State University5. Minot State University6. Minot State University-Bottineau7. North Dakota State School of Science8. North Dakota State University9. University of North Dakota10. Valley City State University11. Williston State College

NDSU and UND are the state’s primary research universities

2EPSCoR Cyberinfrastructure Assessment Workshop: ND Assessment

Assessment Criteria1. Broadband networking2. Local, regional and national high performance computation

services3. Massive storage and managed information for science,

engineering, and humanities4. Middleware for security and access control5. Common applications for scientific computation6. Shared, efficient, expanded capabilities and tools: observation,

measurement, and visualization7. Facilitate new applications and collaboration (virtual

organizations) and interoperability across institutions and disciplines

8. Sustainable scientific and information technology expertise


Broadband NetworkingStrengths

1. Excellent collaboration with regional partners composing the Northern Tier Network Consortium (www.ntnc.org).

2. Funding acquired for establishment of ND’s NTNC segments. Implementation planned for 2008

3. Excellent working relationship and partnership with North Dakota's state IT department (ITD).


http://www.ntnc.org/

Broadband NetworkingWeaknesses

• No ongoing funding yet identified for operation and maintenance of NTNC.


High Performance Computation Services Strengths

1. Campus networks are robust and 2008 upgrades are planned to deliver more bandwidth to researchers

2. Researchers share campus computing clusters and use external labs for high performance computation.


High Performance Computation Services Weaknesses

1. No formal model for financial planning: one time funds most available.

2. Missing local large scale computing that better compares to regional and national labs for seamless porting.


Massive Storage & Managed InformationStrengths

1. SAN infrastructure exists both NDSU and UND


Massive Storage & Managed InformationWeaknesses

1. No plan that incorporates all requirements and a model for sustainable funding.

2. Easy to use tools for delivery of secure storage to research workstations is still in the planning phase

3. No existing tools for data archiving and retrieval


MiddlewareStrengths

1. Planning and implementation underway for campus wide IDM solution at UND for FY08.

2. NDSU has existing middleware infrastructure shared with 5 other schools in the North Dakota University System and EduTech (North Dakota’s K-12 educational technology service department).

EPSCoR Cyberinfrastructure Assessment Workshop: ND Assessment 10

MiddlewareWeaknesses

1. Unified namespace for NDUS and campus services not implemented (in planning phase).

2. No federation with regional or national entities.


Common ApplicationsStrengths

1. NDUS software site licensing makes some basic statistical, mathematical and geographical applications readily available.

2. NDSU and UND have a history of sharing higher level common applications for biomedical research and other.


Common ApplicationsWeaknesses

1. Need means to purchase and maintain common applications locally which are compatible with those available at external labs for ease of sharing and porting.

2. Currently no broad based strategic plans for deployment and support of common applications for scientific computation.


Observation, Measurement, & Visualization Tools

Strengths

1. Computational Chemistry and Biology Network (CCBN) provides visualization and molecular modeling, and training to North Dakota public universities and tribal colleges.


Observation, Measurement, & Visualization Tools

Weaknesses

1. Need to improve accessibility of these tools.2. Researchers desire more support for these

tools than is now available.


New Applications, Collaboration, & Interoperability

Strengths

1. Ample H.323 videoconference facilities2. H.323 desktop videoconferencing

applications emerging3. Additional collaboration tools such as

Blackboard and Horizon Wimba are available or in deployment


New Applications, Collaboration, & Interoperability

Weaknesses

1. Real time presence and shared tools needed to allow closer collaboration and shared insight

2. Existing collaboration tools are not widely used


Sustainable ExpertiseStrengths

1. Senior researchers often have science and technology knowledge for their research needs.

2. Have been able to train students and hire them when they graduate.


Sustainable ExpertiseWeaknesses

1. Researcher expertise model not sustainable nor best use of researcher time.

2. Staff with both scientific and IT expertise rare.

3. Difficult to attract job candidates to North Dakota (What is wrong with them??).

4. Salaries are not competitive.


In Summary

• How do we make this easier– Without a CI plan– Without adequate tools– Without enough talent– Without a continuous funding stream


Documents

EPSCoR Cyberinfrastructure Assessment Workshop