Michael Nowlan, Director of the Information Systems Services Department, TCD
Open Plenary - Fiche Bliain ag fas: a retrospective view of networking developments surrounding HEAnet over the last 20+ years. There are many lessons that can be learnt from the development of HEAnet that can be applied to its future development and that of networking in the constituent members.
As well as seminal points from HEAnet, the retrospective look will include the major developments in the world of networking from a European and Irish perspective.
Mike Norris, Senior Technical
Officer, HEAnet
Dave Wilson, Senior
Network Engineer, HEAnet
Open Plenary -
The next 20 years, the future of Irish Internet
"Apart from the known and the unknown, what else is there?"
Undeterred by the rhetorical nature of this question, Dave and Mike will
attempt some answers. As a counterpoint to the retrospective theme of
the Conference, they will be giving some sneak previews of what's in prospect
for the Irish Education and Research Networking in the next twenty years.
The leitmotif of their light-hearted crystal ball exercise is
taken from Andrei Platonov: "What do you mean - lies? The truth's
even worse."
Mike has worked for HEAnet since 1992. As Chief Technical Officer, he
is directly responsible for the Network Operations Team and the Managed
Network Services Team.
His duties and projects include IE hostmaster, local IP registrar for
Irish education and research (1991 - 2001), expert in Telematics evaluation
and reviews CEC (1995 - ).
Other affiliations and project in which he has been involved are: member
of Terena task group to set up pilot European CERT (1996), co-author of
ripe-152, chairman of RIPE Local-IR working group (1994 - 1998), board
member, RIPE NCC (1987-2001), chairman of INEX and member of Terena Compendium
review panel.
Dave Graduated in Computer Science from UCD in 1996, with a project in
Formal Methods and worked for Kerna Communications where he created the
Swift Guide to Ireland.
He has been Senior Network Engineer for HEAnet Limited since the company
was founded in 1997, and since then have worked on deploying and maintaining
the backbone of Cisco routers, and services offered on our UNIX and NT
systems.
His current duties include National Backbone maintenance and continuing
upgrades, Network management system and traffic analysis, UNIX system
administration, ISDN access and backup, Network security and interfacing
with JANET CERT.
John Boland, Chief Executive, HEAnet
Open Plenary - HEAnet stategic directions
John holds a B.E in electronic engineering from University College Dublin
and has embarked on an ongoing M. Sc in Computer Applications with Professor
Alan Smeaton in DCU.
Before he joined the company in1997 John was Systems and Networks Manager
at Dublin City University and was a member of the HEAnet Network Management
Committee.
John is dedicated to ensuring that Ireland's Education and world-class
Network serves the Research community and places Ireland at the leading
edge of worldwide Internet activity . Two of the key components for this
are HEAnet's National Backbone Project and Next Generation Internet projects
- both of which are implemented with the support of the HEA and Department
of Education and Science and funding under the National Development Plan.
He and the senior HEAnet staff, represent Ireland on the strategic European
networking organisations - including DANTE (Connecting European Research)
who are primarily responsible for delivering the EC-funded pan-European
Gigabit network to which Ireland is connected, TERENA (the Trans-European
Research Network) and ENPG (European network policy group). Along with
representing HEAnet on the IBEC Telecomms Internet Federation and the
ISPAI (Internet Service Providers Association of Ireland).
Kevin O'Rourke, Project Manager, Learning Technology Team, DIT.
Parallel A2
- Implementing WebCT: DIT’s Institutional
Strategy
The Dublin Institute of Technology has begun to introduce WebCT as its
chosen virtual learning environment to 22,000 students and 2,000 staff.
The initial phase is scheduled over a three-year period, when it is hoped
that the technology will be adopted and incorporated by up to 50% of existing
courses, enhancing face-to-face teaching. To achieve this target, a dedicated
learning technology team of five has been appointed to work with
IT staff, librarians, academics and students. Technical and training targets
have consistenly been met, and the strategy is now almost half-way through
the initial roll-out phase. This paper will outline not only the technical
setup (WebCT with LifeKeeper as failover, importing student records from
SCT
Banner), but also the details of the roll-out itself, training programmes
and the general reception of WebCT across DIT’s six faculties.
Parallel A3 - Virtual Museums
Charlie Pritchard is the manager of the Digital Media Centre a multidisciplinary research group within the Faculty of Applied Arts at the Dublin Institute of Technology. The Centre manages a number of research projects funded both nationally and by the EU. The projects are clustered around two main themes - intelligent heritage and technology enhanced learning environments
I3G Interactive gallery project
The presentation will focus on a demonstration of a project developed
for the National Gallery of Ireland. The i3G is a modular system for planning
and presenting the atmosphere and content of galleries and museums as
interactive environments for use by the public and the gallery staff.
It uses realistic 3D models of the gallery in question and a collection
of digital images taken from the galleries holdings.
The presentation will discuss some of the issues encountered in modelling
the building , digitising the paintings together with how the system was
implemented.
Ann Harding,
NOC Manager, HEAnet
Dr.Dave Malone,
CNRI, DIT
Parallel B1 - IPv6 theory and implementation in HEAnet
In the first part of this presentation we will give a quick introduction to the details of IPv6 that will be useful to people running IPv6 networks and hosts. We will cover some IPv6 basics and some simple deployment examples.
In the second part of this presentation, we will outline experiences
of deploying IPv6 on production services. Over the summer of 2002, many
of HEAnet's core services went live with both IPv4 and IPv6 and summer
2003 saw the move from a testbed environment to running IPv6 natively
on the
live core and access network, with full staff support. We will highlight
some of the choices that faced us and outline how this affects the future.
Speakers:
David received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from Trinity College Dublin in 2000 after receiving an M.Sc. in 1997 and a B.A.(mod) in 1996. In 1999, while still a postgraduate, he worked as a lecturer on TCD's High Performance Computing M.Sc. course. On graduating with his Ph.D., he was recruited by Corvil Networks as a R&D Engineer where he worked until taking up the post at CNRI. He is the author, along with Niall Murphy from Enigma Consulting, of "Deploying IPv6: An Operational Guide to the Next Generation Protocol."
Ann joined HEAnet in 2000 as a network engineer and is currently Network Operations Manager. HEAnet's Network operations and Network Development teams worked together to deploy IPv6 as a fully available HEAnet service.
Mícheál Ó Foghlú, Telecommunications Software & Systems Group, Waterford Institute of Technology
Parallel B2 - WIT experience with IPv6
Mícheál Ó Foghlú is one of the founder member of the Telecommunications Software & Systems Group (TSSG) in Waterford Institute of Technology (http://www.tssg.org). His primary research interests are in are area of Internet technologies for of mobile services.
The TSSG has established an internal IPv6 testbed
with some basic IPv6 services, and IPv6 tunnelling via HEAnet to the Europrean
research networks. Using this infrastructure the TSSG has carried out
some research into the overhead of deploying IPsec using IPv6 (this is
important when planning for deployment of secure IPv6 to the home, for
example). The talk will also summarize work done in the TSSG on a DiffServ
bandwidth broker for IPv6/IPv4 and how this relates to an overall testbed
architecture for a Premium QoS-enabled IPv6 service lifecycle (QoS, Security,
Accounting, Mediation, Rating and Billing).
Much of this work is directly related to use of IPv6 in UMTS 3G networks.
Andrew Byrne, Network Engineer, HEAnet
Parallel A3 - Hands on workshop using HEAnet's multimedia services
Andrew's workshop will involve hands on work using HEAnet's multimedia
services.
The workshop will describe the concepts and features of HEAnet's multimedia
services. Participants will setup multipoint conferences between numerous
sites and gain the opportunity to trial and test the latest video conferencing
technology. Participants will also lean how to setup high quality streaming
services to enable institutions stream live and on-demand content whenever
required.
Andrew Byrne has worked in developing video services within HEAnet for
the past 2 years.
The workshop would cover how to use the multimedia equipment and how to
use the various HEAnet Multimedia services
Andrew previously worked as a network consultant in the Information and Communication division of Siemens Ireland.
Ronan Kenny , Network Engineer, HEAnet
Parallel A4 - Juniper, Cisco, Multicast and IPv6 hands on
Gain hands on experience configuring Ipv6 and IP Multicast with Cisco
and Juniper routers. Take part in open discussions on deploying and troubleshooting
these new technologies.
Ronan graduated in City & Guilds in Electronics from Kevin St D.I.T.
He previously held the positions of Technical Support Engineer for U.S.
Robotics/3Com and FORE Systems/Marconi. Additional qualifications include
Cisco CCNA & CCNP, FORE Systems LAN and WAN certification and also
Cisco CCSP.
He is part of the Network Development Team since he joined HEAnet in late
2002, his main duties include IP Multicast deployment, Test lab, Security,
ADSL, NOC Monitoring / support and upgrades.
Martin Hynes, The Embark Initiative, Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology
Parallel B3 - Online Grants
Martin Hynes is Executive Director of The Embark Initiative, a major national research funding initiative operated by the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology. Through a range of highly innovative schemes, the Embark Initiative invests in People and Ideas, addressing individual research funding needs at Masters, Doctoral and Postdoctoral level and encouraging the most talented researchers to advance their careers in Ireland. The Irish Research Council has major research funding reserves under the National Development Plan and operates under the auspices of the Department of Education and Science.
Conor Long, Project Director of Expertise Ireland, DCU
Parallel B4 - The Development of an All-island Expertise Portal - expertiseireland.com
This presentation will outline the background to the development of expertiseireland.com the island's expertise portal. Central to this project was the design of systems and processes that provide tangible benefits to each of the stakeholders, namely the individual expert, the institutions in which the experts work, and the regional development authority InterTradeIreland that funded the initiative.
The strategy adopted to ensure that the information on the portal is maintained will be outlined, along with its main functions and facilities.
Likely future developments for the portal will also be described.
Warren Daly, Security Expert, HEAnet
Closing Plenary - Building security into our infrastructure
This talk will cover:
1. General security awareness - What we have seen
in the past
2. Common misunderstandings - What is information security and why do
we all need it (some stories from the front line)
3. Whats really important about security? - Policies and proceedures /
Some Law and how it affects us
4. The road ahead - what HEAnet are doing for you, now and in the future.
5. Q & A
Warren joined HEAnet in Nov 2001. Prior to that he
worked with Broadcom Eireann Reseach for two years, and previously for
EMC and Scientific Systems.
Currently, Warren is HEAnet's Security Expert.
Dr. Miriam Masullo, founder and CEO of inViVo Vision
Opening Plenary - From Black Box to Crystal Ball: Still a journey.
We will take you on a tour of the last 20 years of networking in Ireland
and we will consider the future of Education & Research Networking
and the Internet
The evolution of technology over the last twenty years has been marked
by great accomplishments and unanticipated (surprising) results. Both
industry and government were unprepared for the affinity with technology
that the general public inherently had, and the demands imposed on the
technology sector both in terms of solutions and talent. Today we examine
Education, Research Networking and the Internet as distinct scenarios
in the evolution of technology into the future. A brief summary of already
examined overviews will be followed by examples in each of these areas
based on work being undertaken by inViVo Vision scientists. These will
include Pedagogenomics, a Personal Research Networking Space (PreNS) and
the Carousel Website Solution.
Dr. Miriam Masullo is the founder and CEO of inViVo Vision, Inc., a technology and intellectual property solutions company in Connecticut, US. She was Research Staff Member at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center,until her retirement earlier this year from IBM. She went to IBM Research in 1985, with a long-held personal interest in education and 16 years of experience in both systems analysis and network engineering from the telecommunications industry.
At IBM Research Dr. Masullo she made significant contributions to the areas of Artificial Intelligence, Expert Systems, System Management, Policy Management, and Object Oriented Systems. Her education research activities at Watson included the design of a systems infrastructure for the management and coordination of curriculum in K-12 education; and, other related research in the fields of networked multimedia, digital libraries, digital broadcast satellite and digital data broadcast systems and pilot projects for education. Her work in educational technology research has been focused on worldwide equity of access to education.
Dr. Masullo was named New York City's Business Educator of the Year in
1997 by the City College of New York and "A Woman Who Makes a Difference"
in 1998 by Black Engineer and Hispanic Engineer Magazines.
Dr. Masullo was a member of the Mathematical Sciences Education Board
of the National Academy of Sciences, a member of the New York Academy
of Science, a member of the Experts Group on Education and Technology
of the National Council on Competitiveness, a member of the Advisory Board
of the City College School of Engineering, and a member of the Advisory
Board of the National Peace Garden. She was a member of the Board of Directors
of the Discovery Museum in Bridgeport Connecticut, and of the Board of
Directors of Mount Saint Michael Academy in New York City, New York. She
is cited in Who'sWho in America Millennium, Who'sWho in American Women
in Science and the International Who'sWho of Distance Learning.
Barry McMullin,
eAccessibility Lab, RINCE, DCU.
This presentation reviews the challenges of harnessing
the Web to the benefit of all citizens - specifically including
those with disabilities. This will be a roller-coaster tour of needs,
opportunities, technologies, and obligations - ethical and, increasingly,
legal. It should be of particular interest to
policy makers and those responsible for the deployment of
web services of all sorts, both public and private.
Barry's background, research interests and current activities can be found at his DCU Website.
Paralell B5 - Network Synchronisation using the Network Time Protocol (NTP)
Time synchronisation across interconnected networks is an aspect of network design that is often overlooked. Without some means to insure that all devices in a network are synchronised to a single time reference, functions such as event logging, fault analysis, security incident response and network management become unmanageable. This talk presents the Network Time Protocol (NTP) as a synchronisation solution offering high accuracy and low computational burden. In particular, it focuses on the infrastructure necessary to provide a robust NTP service and the current state of the Irish NTP subnet.
Prof.Vinny Cahill, TCD
The Wireless Ad hoc Network for Dublin (WAND) is a research initiative by the Distributed Systems Group, Trinity College Dublin and the Story Networks group, Media Lab Europe that aims to deploy a wireless network on along a 2km route in the inner city of Dublin. The talk will consist of a description of the design and implementation of the WAND infrastructure. The fundamentals of ad hoc networks will be explained and the motivation and intended utilization of the project will be described. The description of the implementation will contain such details as routing protocols, hardware setup and target applications. The talk is aimed at an audience with a technical background.
As network performance has outpaced computational
power
and storage capacity, a new paradigm has evolved to enable the sharing
of geographically distributed resources. This paradigm is known as Grid
computing and aims to offer access to distributed resource irrespective
of their physical location. Grid computing enables the clustering of a
wide variety of geographically distributed resources, such as supercomputers,
storage systems, or data sources, that can then be used as a
unified resource. Many national, European and international projects have
been launched during the last years trying to explore the Grid and to
change the way we are doing our everyday work. In the present talk, I
will present the main European Grid projects, and amongst them, the Irish
CosmoGrid in which HEAnet is an active partner.
Brendan Tuohy, Secretary General of the Dept. of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources
Closing Plenary - The future of Irish Broadband and Policy
Brendan Tuohy is Secretary General of the Department of Communications,
Marine and Natural Resources.
He was appointed in June 2002 on the establishment of the Department.
The DCMNR is responsible for a number of sectors of the economy including
telecommunications, broadcasting, postal, ecommerce, marine, fisheries,
aquaculture, ports, exploration, mining, forestry, energy and renewable
resources.
Brendan was previously Secretary General of the Department of Public Enterprise
and prior to that was Assistant Secretary in that Department and its predecessor,
the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications. He currently serves
as a member of the National Economic and Social Council (www.nesc.ie)
and the United Nations Task Force on Information and Communications Technology
for Development (www.unicttaskforce.org)
He holds a degree in civil engineering from University College Cork and
post-graduate qualifications in environmental engineering and management
from the University of Dublin, Trinity College.
Dai Davies, General Manager, DANTE
Closing Plenary - The future of EU Networking
Research networks have always provided a technical lead in telecommunications. They have be the first people to seriously use data networks. They were responsible for creating the Internet and they have been instrumental in creating very high-speed networks. Although Europe has historically lagged behind the USA in this field, progress in the last five years both nationally within Ireland and on a pan-European basis has recently given Europe the technical lead. The widespread deployment of wavelengths and high-speed routers has dramatically changed the economics and performance of European Research networks. Now that we are planning the next generation of networks in Europe, the question arises as to what the technical agenda should be. Historically, speed has been the one parameter that has defined network performance above all others. The dramatic change in the economics of networking in much of Europe coupled with far greater network capacities is enabling a completely new range of applications. In looking at the next generation networks, we are faced with the challenge of "should we do more of the same" i.e. build a yet faster research Internet " or should we investigate new network models.
Internet technology is simple and thus allows the easy interconnection of networks but limited in its scope to offer enhanced services. Enhanced services require a much more co-operative approach among connected networks and therefore constrain the freedom of individual networks. The challenges that we face are as much organisational as technical. The question facing European Research networks is, can we co-operate to build new services offering controllability to the user or will we simply build a faster Internet relying on bomb proof but anarchistic technology.
Dai Davies is general manager of DANTE. DANTE was established in 1993 by the University Networks in Europe to organise the provision of international networking services on their behalf. Its current project, GÈANT, will create a world-class pan-European networking facility that complements national developments in Europe. DANTE has organised the procurement in cost sharing of pan-European networking over the last seven years. Dai Davies has degrees in engineering and computer science for the University of Cambridge and nearly thirty years of technical and commercial experience in the telecommunications sector working at BT, Deuthche Bundespost Telekom and the UK Department of Trade and Industry.