Networkshop 2023 programme – at a glance

Wednesday 14 June (day 1, in person)

• 09:00 – Registration opens – exhibition open to explore
• 10:00 – Welcome to day 1
• 16:20 – Drinks reception
• 18:00 – Day 1 closes

Thursday 15 June (day 2, in person)

• 08:30 – Registration opens – exhibition open to explore
• 09:30 – Welcome to day 2
• 16:30 – Day 2 closes

Friday 16 June (day 3, online)

• 08:45 – 15:30

All timings are indicative and subject to change.

Presenter: Professor Qammer Hussain Abbasi, theme lead, connecting people at James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow 

This session will explore future wireless communication requirement and its enabler which includes reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, novel antenna design using 2D materials and also joint communication and sensing. The session will also demonstrate various use cases including virtual reality, robotics and RFID for space allocation.  

Presenter: Professor Gorry Fairhurst, School of Engineering, University of Aberdeen 

From the start, IPv6 was designed to be extensible by using extension headers to include options. Destination and hop-by-hop options can be used to add new features to IPv6 packet. However, in the past, people have raised concerns whether these extension headers should be supported by networks. Things have changed and there is now increasing interest in using these options for new applications: ranging from new standards to support sending larger packets, to a set of options for monitoring network performance. So, what is the current level of support in actual networks, and where can these options be safely used? This talk will quickly review the state of the art and present insights from a recent practical survey.

Panellists:

• Ian Nightingale, senior network engineer, University of York
• More panellists to be announced

Some 40% of internet user traffic worldwide is IPv6, with a similar proportion in the UK, but deployment at Janet-connected sites lags well behind that. It feels like we should be doing better, but IPv4 still works, and we all have limited time and so many priorities to deal with. In this panel session, we’ll have a range of speakers who have deployed IPv6 putting forward their views on IPv6 deployment. They will share why they decided to deploy IPv6 and how they went about it. There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion. Your key takeaway will be a better understanding of why IPv6 should matter for research and education sites and what information you need to help you build a stronger business case to act now.

Presenter: Dr Peter Oliver, head of operations, UKRI (UK Research and innovation)

The process of turning data into knowledge lies at the heart of research and innovation. Today, the use of digital technologies is as fundamental to modern research as theory, observation, and experiment. A new environmentally sustainable datacentre is required to house computing to support the UKRI Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI) requirements of national facilities, science programmes and instruments. The presentation will explore the implications of an environmentally sustainable datacentre in both build and operation. 

Panellists:

• Alex Goffe, associate director, operations and infrastructure, Keele University
• More panellists to be announced

Some of the challenges of the net zero shift include financing and funding the infrastructure required. In this keynote panel discussion, hear the personal journeys taken by our panel members as they debate the challenges facing the sector. The discussion will touch on networks, data storage, staff and students and how we can successfully measure infrastructure carbon footprint and help reduce climate change by working together.

Presenters:

• Alex Goffe, associate director, operations and infrastructure, Keele University
• Chris McEvoy, head of enterprise services, Keele University

Find out about Keele University's journey (so far) on their MDM 'Modern Device Management' work-stream, including zero touch, Linux, Mac config management, security and patching. The session will showcase the work undertaken and where they want to go next.

Panellists: to be announced

The education and research sector is in a difficult financial position, with costs rising substantially while income remains frozen. In the past, when costs have risen, the sector's reaction has been to look for cost-cutting measures and promote efficiency savings. How can the sector drive an ambitious digital transformation agenda while 'fixing the basics'? The sector needs infrastructure that works reliably and systems that talk to each other, to ensure effective data exchange and a seamless user experience. In this panel discussion, our speakers will share their personal challenges and journeys and debate how and why the infrastructure investment needs to happen to deliver world class education and research.

Track: Culture building

Presenters:

• Sophie Wilkins, training and development specialist, Jisc
• Guy Sudron, lead cyber security engagement manager, Jisc

In this session, we will introduce you to the six phases of the incident response lifecycle to protect your organisation from cyber-related threats. This will encourage you to think about an incident as a constant cycle of improvement.

Track: Next generation networking

Presenters:

• Richard Jackson, lead cloud security specialist, Jisc
• Nick Brown, senior M365 developer and architect, Jisc

Jisc has looked at resolving Cyber Essentials requirements initially by exploiting all possible technical solutions within the Microsoft 365 platform. In this session, Richard and Nick will discuss solutions and potential blockers they experienced and developed along the way.