# Presentation: 748676

## Expanding the AG Community in a Closed Universe

- Barbara Kucera, Roger Edberg,
- Don Morton, Nick Jovanovic

## Introduction

- How can we continue to grow the AG in the EPSCoR Community and beyond?
- Barbara A. Kucera
- 	EPSCoR/Alliance Liaison
- 	NCSA, 605 E. Springfield Avenue
- 	Champaign, IL  61820
- 	_[bkucera@ncsa.uiuc.edu](mailto:bkucera@ncsa.uiuc.edu)_

**Notes:**
Without AG, remote areas are omitted from collaboration because they don’t have enough resources to support travel.
Digital divide will widen.  Demonstrated by the five states who think it is important enough to seek funds to support it.

## Share the Vision . . . 

- Don Morton, U Montana, Missoula
- Nicholas Jovanovich, U Arkansas, Little Rock
- Roger Edberg, U Alaska, ARSC,
- 	Fairbanks
- Success stories of visionary individuals who helped others understand the need and received funding outside NSF

**Notes:**
In just a moment, you will hear from each of these people who immediately recognized the impact that this technology could have on their remote institution.  They will each talk briefly about their situations and how they envision the Access Grid will effect their work and ability to communicate with colleagues around the world.

## High quality group-to-group Communication

- Large format multimedia displays
- Presentation and interaction environments
- Interfaces to grid middleware
- Interfaces to visualization environments
- Supports large-scale distributed meetings, collaborative work sessions, seminars, lecture, tutorials and training.
- Other creative uses.

**Notes:**
The AG is the ensemble of resources that can be used to support human interaction across the grid.  
It enables both formal and informal group interactions.
AG’s nodes are “designed spaces” that explicitly contain the high-end audio and visual technology needed to provide a high-quality compelling user experience.

## Goal:  AG node for each EPSCoR State - 22 

- Grant for 6 – U Kansas (2); U Kentucky (2); Montana State; N Dakota State; U So Carolina, West Virginia U
- Another 5 - Alaska ARSC; Hawaii (2) MHPCC and Manoa; Arkansas, UALR; Maine, UM; Montana, UM-Missoula; U New Mexico;
- 11 to Goal - AL, ID, LA, MS, NE, NV, OK, SD, VT, WY, PR.
- Limitations—setup expertise, operators, security

**Notes:**
My personal goal is for every EPSCoR state to have at least one AG node by the end of FY01.  
There are limitations at present, but that is part of the purpose of this retreat . . . For us to help the development team decide where to focus their energies next.  I think an important factor for us to grow the Access Grid will be 
the availability of a secure AG in a box, able to be run by a single operator who is not an expert in AV technology.

## Don  Morton

- Saw the need and decided that he was going to have an AG at his campus.  He did what it took to acquire one.

## Nicholas Jovanovic

- Has the opportunity to create an ideal environment for their new department.  He “sold” the AG and now it too will be included at Arkansas.

## Roger Edberg

- The ARSC sits at the top of the world and their location and inability to interact easily with colleagues in the lower 48 requires them to use technology to bring them closer.

## Why stop now?

- The Alliance Access Grid project is aimed at prototyping a number of Access Grid nodes and using this prototype to conduct remote meetings, site visits, training sessions and educational events.
- Our goal is that each EPSCoR state will be allowed to participate in science and technology via the AG thereby bridging the digital divide.

## How Do We Catalyze or Enable Adoption by Other Communities?

- What limitations exist in the current technology that we need to overcome?
- What aspects might be augmented?
- Features added?
- Speak up during this retreat, share your opinions, ideas and apps.

## Reality . . . are you a player?

- What is your situation?
- If limitations are resolved, will you be able to participate?
- Are there visionaries at your institution . . . can we assist you in seeking funding to acquire an AGN?
- Broker a relationship?

## What This Means

- Regardless of the type of technology used, remote areas of the U.S. must be included, not left behind.
- Open source, group-to-group interaction seems to fit the academic model well.
- Serious cooperation is required to
- 	overcome the obstacles.

## Next Steps 

- Please get involved—share your apps, inspire others
- If you are from an EPSCoR state and need assistance in talking with your administration about acquiring an Access Grid, we will be happy to help you.
- If not are NOT from an EPSCoR state but are interested in collaboration, we welcome you too—identify yourself.
- _[bkucera@ncsa.uiuc.edu](mailto:bkucera@ncsa.uiuc.edu)_

**Notes:**
FINAL SLIDE  Now you’ll hear three success stories, beginning with Don Morton.

## The University of Montana AGN

- Don Morton
- Department of Computer Science
- The University of Montana
- Missoula, Montana
- _[morton@cs.umt.edu](mailto:morton@cs.umt.edu)_

## Missoula, Montana

## Background

- Arctic Region Supercomputing Center Collaborations
- Northern Rockies Center for Applied Computational Science
- Attendance at NSF EPSCoR Wireless Workshop and Kansas Chautauqua
- Promotion at U. Montana

## Status

- Parts are in
- Can interact with self
- Equipment problems
- Waiting on network

## Plans

- Distributed training in HPC
- Access to remote seminars
- Collaboration with remote partners
- Enabling students to participate in distributed R&D activities
- Promotion of AG in other disciplines
- Federal appropriations