Peter Wilson
Sun
Think about being able to download a copy of Superman: The Return over the Internet in a couple of seconds.
And then think about what that kind of blazing speed — up to 10 gigabits a second, certainly faster than Superman’s traditional speeding locomotive — could do for collaborative research between scientists in Canada and California working in areas like genetics, nanotechnology and fuel cells.
Just such a network, set to be fully up and running by January 2007, was given its first test between Ottawa and San Diego last week and will mean that scientists at the University of British Columbia and other top Canadian institutions will be able to connect in real time and exchange huge amounts of data.
“Most of the research being done now is collaborative, so we really need to connect institutions,” said Susan Baldwin, senior director of operations of CANARIE, Canada’s advanced Internet organization.
“Secondly, the amount of data itself is staggering. So to be able to transmit high-quality images and massive amounts of data, you have to have the kind of capacity that this offers.”
Baldwin, who said the network was part of CANARIE’s plan for the next-generation research network for Canada, gave the example of researchers working in real time in the genomics area.
“They could be looking at some of their data and talking at the same time, so they can say ‘what if you tweak it this way? What will happen?’
“And then they can be manipulating some of that data and see it in real time. So in working collaboratively they can accelerate their research.”
John Hepburn, vice-president for research at UBC, said that the network will help solidify the relationships that scientists and researchers in both B.C. and California have with one another.
© The Vancouver Sun 2006