TF-RED All Hands Autumn 2021 - 21st October 12:00 UTC until 13:30 UTC
Attendees (18)
Chris Atherton - Moderator and Presenter (GÉANT)
Lars Fischer (NORDUNET)
Dragana Janeš - Minutes (CARNET)
Mario Reale (GÉANT)
Alex Reid (University Western Australia)
Yousef Torman (ASREN)
Guido Aben (AARNET)
Koen Schelkens (BELNET)
Konul Aliyeva (AzScienceNet)
Enzo Capone (GÉANT)
Victoria Moody (Jisc)
Ieva Muraškiene (LitNet)
Edward Moynihan (Indiana University)
Karl Meyer (GÉANT)
Alex Moura (RNP)
Alexei Belotserkovsky (BASNET)
Erik-Jan Bos (NORDUNET)
Roberto Sabatino (HEANET)
Agenda
Data movement Challenges – Lars Fisher (NORDUnet)
Discussion
AOB
Re-cap
Meeting was opened by Chris Atherton. It was followed by a presentation from Lars Fisher (NORDUNet) on NRENs as Data Mover Infrastructure.
Lars raised the interesting question of what the fundamental role of an NREN is and whether they can be summarized as just Internet Protocol packet forwarders or something more. The presentation sought to encourage a discussion about if the current NREN pillars - which include Trust and Identity, Connectivity and Data (with Data being addressed indirectly) - address the user’s need of having data in the right place at the right time and delivered to the right person. These questions raise important topics, as users increasingly want to move and orchestrate data in real-time and always more quickly, securely and reliably.
The presentation challenged the participants to rethink the NREN network and its purpose so that it can address all users’ needs. NRENs can facilitate data capture, movement and access for researchers anywhere. The networks should ensure that researchers are well equipped for easy capture, movement and access control of data so that they are able to fully use the capabilities of this network. In ten years from now, NRENs should ensure that researchers are able to move any amount of data anywhere at any time in a seamless and secure way. This will result in more efficient and valuable networks for the users.
The presentation was followed by a discussion on how data transfer services are just one of the many functions that NRENs perform. But they do not provide the integration and dissemination of data within the research institution, and tools such as Globus, which provides secure data transfer between systems within and across organizations, are not likely to become more popular, due to addressing only a part of the users research lifecycle. Therefore, making sure that a transparent procedure allowing acceptance and integration of different data sources is in place seems to be a valuable solution. Software and metadata management were identified as important aspects in this subject. Participants agreed on the importance of having the reference architecture blueprints and components to serve NRENs as foundations on which they can rely on to build and operate their services available to users around the globe in a timely fashion.
During the General Discussion, Chris announced that Juraj Bilić has stepped down from the position of coordinator due to his new position within CARNET, and that Dragana Janeš (CARNET) is the new Task Force coordinator. Also, Carina Kemp (AARNET) stepped down as a member of TF-RED steering committee and Juraj volunteered to step in, but the offer is opened to anyone willing to join.
Koen Schelkens from Belnet informed the event participants that the Belgian NREN is undergoing re-organization and planning to create an Innovation Cell and implement Research Engagement function within the NREN. Koen also invited anyone with experience on how they started Research Engagement Department or Innovation Department to share it with him.
Chris reminded that the TF-RED Blueprint document which describes what research engagement is as a topic and provides basic information to act as foundation for research engagement professionals to conduct their work, is available on Wiki: https://aarnet.gitbook.io/tf-red-res-blueprint/-MabeTtuCkEpnEmGwNfD/
Blueprint slides are available here: https://geant.box.com/s/pgdauktvekn8p65zziw6law7l8l0vezb
Video of the meeting: https://geant.box.com/s/dosm79c9c5hu9iq393ufk0xbqogdiqrm
Slides - Thanks to Lars Fisher https://geant.box.com/s/oxvnjal7pkob3cpbgm63qjsen76yxq4c
