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Audit Finds Research Projects Use Most Bandwidth

January 15, 2004 BCNET’S 2nd Research Audit Finds Scientific Projects Use Most Bandwidth VANCOUVER, BC - BCNET (www.bc.net), a non-profit society for the development of advanced networks within the province, announced today that scientific projects and programs around British Columbia are using the most amount of bandwidth. 32% of the 158 projects polled were “hard” science projects using moderate to high amounts of bandwidth, mainly for computational activities and online collaboration. “The Optical Regional Advanced Network (ORAN) has really enabled the scientific community to collaborate together and share information online,” says Michael Hrybyk, President & CEO of BCNET. “Our latest Research Audit shows that scientific projects are leading the way in terms of network utilization but that health and education are not too far behind and are gaining quite a bit of momentum. We will definitely see a rise in telemedicine and distributed learning this year, which will be reflected in next year’s report.” This year’s Research Audit found that 49 out of the 158 projects are categorized as L2 - L3 (moderate to high) bandwidth usage. A majority of the projects are in the Scientific category, 82, while there were 38 projects in each of the Education and Health areas. Overall, 69 out of the 158 projects use moderate levels of bandwidth, which is a significant change from last year where most projects were using lighter levels of bandwidth. The total number of projects polled has also increased substantially, from 56 last year to 158 this year. The major new item added to this year’s audit is the inclusion of an online database that researchers can use to enter project information online. The database was designed for this year’s audit by a student from the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), who focused on developing it into a more complete resource for academics and researchers. The database is fully searchable and the information can be updated on the BCNET website at www.bc.net/BCNET_RAD2. “The online database really makes the Research Audit into a living resource,” says Hrybyk. “BCNET is not only the first organization to conduct such a comprehensive report on research projects around BC, but we have also been able to go to the next level and introduce this fully functional database. In the next few weeks, we will be encouraging everyone with a project or program using the ORAN to enter their information on our website for inclusion into next year’s audit.” Database URL: www.bc.net/BCNET_RAD2 Report URL: www.bc.net/research_audit/Report.htm Factsheet URL: www.bc.net/research_audit/Factsheet.htm About BCNET BCNET is a non-profit society supporting and promoting advanced networks for the province’s research and education communities. The organization serves BC’s academic, research and development institutions, government bodies, community organizations and industry groups. BCNET is the province’s foremost leader in advanced network technology and is leading the way for enhancing education and research capabilities over the Internet. BCNET is supported by the provincial and federal governments as well as by its regional Member institutions. Contact: Lucy Cook BCNET Communications Manager Lucy.cook @ bc.net For more information on this item please visit the CANARIE CA*net 4 Optical Internet program web site at www.canarie.ca/canet4/library/list.html