Review of network provision for research needs
The review examined the network provision to
the 284 research departments rated as 5* in the 2001 Research Assessment
Exercise (RAE). This grouping was chosen as representative of disciplines
and institutions across UK Higher Education conducting leading edge
research. The study focused on the network infrastructure between the
computers used by research workers and their institution’s SuperJANET5
Point of Presence as well as the provision of network-dependent services
over that infrastructure.
Executive Summary
Process used
An initial group of ten research departments was visited to elicit key
issues. Locally nominated contacts in a second group of about 60
departments were then telephoned to provide more detailed understandings of
the issues, following which all departments were sent a web survey. The ICT
service departments in the same institutions as the initial group of
research departments were interviewed. The ICT service departments in all
60 institutions involved were sent a web survey for factual information on
the campus network and for their perspectives on service provision.
Principal findings
The sample of departments was found to be homogeneous in its use of some
services, but for a number, it could be differentiated into two groups:
those who were aware of the Grid and those who were not. These
sub-populations also aligned fairly cleanly with use of different groups of
research-funding sources.
Network connections
Most departmental networks provide switched links to users at 100 Mbps
About 80% of institutions have some of their research staff connected at 10
Mbps
Coaxial cabling is present in about 30% of institutions and is often a
consequence of being bound in with protracted building refurbishment
cycles. It is thus a cause of inadequate network provision to research
workers.
Recommendation 1
The third of institutions with researchers served by coaxial networks and
the rather larger group with researchers served by shared network access
should ensure that they possess and implement plans to replace this with
current technology.
Research departments are well satisfied with the speed and reliability of
their network connections to departmental and institutional resources. They
are also satisfied with connections into and beyond JANET, although hardly
surprisingly the levels of satisfaction diminished with distance.
Grid aware respondents are generally happier with the speed and reliability
of network connections within their departments and institutions than are
non-Grid aware respondents. This could be because:
-
Grid aware respondents spend more on their networks
-
Grid aware respondents have more local support for their use of the
network
-
Grid aware respondents are more tolerant of weaknesses in the
technology
It is the norm for institutions to possess a firewall.
Firewalls, mainly through their policy aspects and their impacts upon ad
hoc laptop use, impair research work in about a third of departments, most
of which are Grid aware.
Network services
Knowledge of the Grid is largely associated with science and engineering
departments.
The single most common form of data backup, used by nearly 80% of
users/departments, is to users’ personal media (DVDs, CDs, or portable tape
drive). The most common reasons stated are:
-
Inadequate quotas offered on institutional resources
-
Cost of central storage and backup services, when these are available
Recommendation 2
Institutions should ensure that systematic approaches are used to back up
research data.
In general, ICT service departments overestimated the use of central
facilities and underestimated use of personal media.
The most common place to store data is on the user’s desktop, and personal
external media are widely used for storage as well as backup.
The Grid aware departments make substantially greater use of departmental
servers for access to specialist software as well as data storage and
backup than the non-Grid aware departments, who make rather more use of
central servers than the first group.
For the overwhelming majority of research departments, video conferencing
in all its forms is only used to a slight extent, even amongst the Grid
aware. Suite-based video conferencing is the most common choice, used by
about 40% of departments, and is rated as generally satisfactory. Other
forms of video communications (e.g. desktop video conferencing) are little
used, even though there is interest in them.
Skype is used by about half of the departments contacted. The lack of
central guidance about its adoption has been interpreted in different ways
by institutions, but presently the trend is towards acceptance.
Recommendation 3
JISC and UKERNA should produce clear and timely guidance for institutions
on adoption of new network applications.
Broadband ADSL and VPNs are permitting large amounts of research work to be
performed from home. As well as having implications for research
productivity, this will facilitate more flexible patterns of work and
employment, such as use of short-term or part-time contracts.
Recommendation 4
National and institutional policies and planning need to reflect the
potential impact upon working practices presented by this technologybased
change.
Amongst the science and engineering departments there is widespread use of
locally clustered computing, which is commonly felt likely to provide
capacity to meet needs for at least the next 2 years.
Amongst the science and engineering departments about a third of
respondents felt that they would be making appreciable use of the Grid
by 2 to 4 years’ time.
A substantial number of potential Grid users have consciously decided to
hold back from involvement because of the learning curve involved and the
availability of their own clusters.
Science and engineering departments with their own HPC resources can be
expected to continue to develop them, and their doing so will inevitably
tend to offset the attractiveness of moving to the Grid. Thus the appeal of
the Grid Review of Network Provision for Research Needs will need to grow
faster than that of local resources if it is to remain as an attractive
option for migration in the short or medium term.
Recommendation 5
More education to allow users to assess Grid technology and plan for its
adoption is required.
Of those replying to the question asking how access to ubiquitous unlimited
network bandwidth would change their working patterns, nearly half envision
improved working from home: a quarter seek more ubiquitous wireless
networking and another quarter improved video conferencing services.
Generally the ICT service departments’ responses were similar to those of
the non-Grid aware research departments but differed from those of the Grid
aware departments. This could be because the Grid aware departments have
more internal support and therefore do not need the central service as much
as the non-Grid aware departments.