BCNETwork News

June 2006

Record Numbers Flock to Converging Minds Conference

Advanced networking technologies and their innovative applications were front and centre at the joint BCNET and Netera conference April 25 and 26 in Vancouver. Over 400 researchers, academics, government and industry delegates converged at SFU Harbour Centre to share the latest in collaboration and networking projects.

“This year’s event marks a turning point for the annual conference for delivering highly interactive and relevant technology content for the research and higher education community, “ said Michael Hrybyk, President & CEO, BCNET.

The only technology conference of its kind in Western Canada, BCNET and Netera partnered to bring together the most successful event in its history. With 80 speakers, 11 presentation tracks, three high profile keynotes, 22 sponsors and over 400 attendees, the event was the largest conference in its six year history.

Not only was the attendance at a record high; but, also the conference ratings were off the charts. From the conference surveys, 44% of attendees remarked it was excellent and 56% said it was good. Attendees said they were most impressed with the conference’s content, networking opportunities and quality of speakers. Over 70% of attendees said they would recommend the conference to others.

The conference was also an opportunity to connect with some of the major players driving Canadian cyberinfrastructure developments. Experts in the field of cyberinfrastructure, such as Tony Hey, VP of Technical Computing, Microsoft spoke about the vision for a new infrastructure for collaborative eScience.

BCNET and Netera evolved the focus of this year’s conference by engaging with the BCNET university community of committees and working groups. These groups have an understanding of the applications technology needs both present and future for the research and higher education community and helped to bring an interesting and interactive look at some of the successes and challenges that face technological advancement.

Attendees were exposed to a jam packed agenda with topics such as a CIO panel highighting leading-edge technology initiatives on BC campuses; developing technologies and their impact on learning; research case studies demonstrating their use of advanced networks; high performance computing; collaboration technologies for research and teaching; Voice Over IP campus initiatives and much more.

Thanks to Our Sponsors!
BCNET would like to thank all of this year’s sponsors for their generous support. Sponsors include: Sun Microsystems, IBM, CANARIE, SGI, The Ministry of Labour and Citizens' Services`, Western Economic Diversification Canada, Telus, Teraspan, WestGrid, Cisco Systems, Control Systems International, Precision Camera, Big Pipe, RachForce, Juniper, Lambda Optical Systems, MRV Communications, Bell, Apple, The Nimble Company, Movaz Networks, Syntagma Network Services.