Join us on April 22 and 23, 2008 at Simon Fraser University (SFU) Harbour Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia for our 8th Annual Conference, known as Western Canada’s premier technology event for research & higher education.

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Bradley C. Wheeler, CIO from Indiana University and Dr. Steven Hand, Senior Lecturer from Cambridge University will be presenting as keynote speakers. Dr. Wheeler's experience in creating new collaboration models within the field of Information Technology, and Dr. Hand's experience in virtualization lends well to this year's conference title: Lighting the Path: Connections for the Future.

Two main themes focus the 2008 conference: virtualization and
next generation networks. In 1988 when BCNET provided the first internet connection in BC, the requirements by users were not as complex as they are today. To meet the increasing demands of research and higher education today, tools for virtualization and other innovations in next generation networks continue to be developed for advanced networks. Users are now able to collaborate and share resources virtually, overcoming physical distances and resource constraints together. The networked world is evolving at an incredible pace that network architects are continually researching new ways to advance the future of next generation networks to meet the growing demands of all users.

Featuring guest keynote presentations from:

Dr. Brad C. Wheeler, CIO of Indiana University

Dr. Bradley C. Wheeler is highly regarded internationally for fostering new models of collaboration that have changed the economics of information technology in higher education.

Dr. Wheeler is a worldwide spokesperson on behalf of the community source software development model. This engages academicians and software developers in higher education who collaborate on building software tailored to the unique needs of higher education. Learn more.

Dr. Steven Hand is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory (UK), where he is a leader of the Systems Research Group. He is also a co-founder and the chief architect of XenSource, a venture funded start-up created to commercially exploit the Xen Virtual Machine Monitor. XenSource was recently acquired by Citrix Systems. His interests lie in the areas of operating systems, algorithms, networking and distributed systems.


Steven was one of the people who designed and built Nemesis, a radically different operating system designed from scratch to support continuous media applications. The design of Nemesis relied on the use of soft real-time scheduling techniques to provide "quality of service". These ideas strongly influenced the design of the XenoServer platform for global public computing, where similar techniques are used to guard against denial of service or other forms of resource abuse.

Along with Ian Pratt, Steven was instrumental in initiating and shaping the XenoServer research programmer. One key output of this research has been the Xen Virtual Machine Monitor, the world-leading open source solution for virtualization. Xen has been incorporated into most Linux distributions, and is also available as a commercial offering from XenSource. Learn More

The conference tracks this year focus on Virtualization and Next-Generation Networks in relation to:

......A Sneak Peek at some Lighting the Path Sessions:

Mobile Musings
The recent explosion in development and utilization of mobile technology lends itself to many possibilities for enhanced communication among citizens. The Vancouver MobileMUSE (Media-rich Urban Shared Experience) has developed rich media applications for cell phones, personal digital assistants and music players to educate citizens about local culture, to involve youth in political and social issues and to guide tourists through our city. Moving forward, the advancement of WiFi and third generation mobile phone technology creates potential for rich media applications that utilize a broadband wireless network. In this panel, MobileMUSE team representatives present current projects and related mobile rich media work in BC.

Presented by Dr. Richard Smith (SFU) , Dr. David Vogt (UBC), Jim Udall (Quick Mobile), Irwin Oostindie (Gallery Gatchet & Fearless City), and Jean Hebert.

Are We Ready? A Disaster Recovery Plan for the BCNET Community
Environmental calamity, pandemic or systems failure - British Columbia's knowledge economy is vulnerable to loss at every turn. Now that advanced networks have enabled innovation and connections between British Columbia's higher education and research institutions, how might they protect the work that has been done in the case of disaster? Disaster recovery specialists present a business case for collective data protection for BCNET members, powered by BC's Optical Regional Advanced Network (ORAN) for data transfer and pooled resources for data storage. The plan recommends best services and procedures for disaster recovery planning, and remote host data centres for use by BC research institutions.

Presented by Dr. Stan Shaw (Corban Technology Solutions, BCNET) and the BCNET Disaster Recovery Working Group.

Virtualization: Can Less be More?
Xen, Parallels and VMware are examples of the type of virtualization software technology that is revolutionizing the computer and networking industry. Virtual machines create the ability to run multiple operating systems on a single computer independently from the underlying hardware. As these technologies are employed, the capacity of individual machines and servers and their overall performance are maximized. Primary motivations for virtualizing resources are the resulting operational improvements and decreased costs that are caused by a virtualized system's reduced requirement of power, space and air conditioning. Virtualization researchers discuss virtual software and program options, as well as the impact these technologies have and will have on networking and systems management.

Presented by Dr. Andrew Warfield (UBC) and Virtualization Researchers.

IPv6: Creating Room for the Growing Internet
As the capabilities of the current Internet are stretched to the limit, so are the number of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. The dwindling number of available Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) addresses is a serious cause for concern as any new users and business attempting to log onto the Internet for the first time will not be able to do so without an address. The depletion of addresses can be solved by replacing IPv4 with IPv6 addresses, the next generation of Internet Protocol. Conversion to IPv6 is driven by other factors as well, including the increased use of mobile devices and government mandates. Technical issues and the cost of converting or replacing routing hardware has hindered the adoption of IPv6 in North America. A panel of industry representatives discuss the rational for and against converting from IPv4 to IPv6 as well as the setbacks encountered during this process. 

Presented by Loki Jorgenson (Apparent Networks) and more.

More information about program sessions and guest speakers will be made available online over the month of February.