Cyberinfrastructure: Coming to a Neighbourhood Near You

To cloud or not to cloud…we may know the question, but we’re still working on the answer. This panel will explore the strengths and weaknesses of cloud and cluster computing, as well as other computing options, and will hopefully dispel some of the smoke and mirrors around these technologies. This session will also look at different high-performance computing configurations and examples of how some of these different approaches accelerate research results.

• Trevor Doerksen, Business Development Consultant, Cybera Inc.
  Trevor Doerksen is a business development consultant for Cybera Inc. He has been at the intersection of media and technology for nearly 20 years. He has investigated and developed large-scale implementations of streaming video and Internet TV for government and industry. He is a key member of the Cybera team and helped developed its original business plan. An entrepreneur that produced and distributed one of the first snowboarding films, launched an educational science TV series and website, created a company and learning management software implemented by Fortune 500 companies, managed the software install on Canada's first Internet kiosks at the Calgary Airport, and is the founder of MoboVivo, one the first companies in the world to licence and distribute television programming online.
  
  
• Derrick Harris, Editor, On-Demand Enterprise
  Derrick Harris is managing editor of On-Demand Enterprise (formerly GRIDtoday), a news site covering technologies that maximize datacenter flexibility and performance. He has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and currently is pursuing a Juris Doctor from the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
  
  
• Dr. Rob Simmonds, Chief Technology Officer, WestGrid
  Dr. Rob Simmonds is the director of research for the Grid Research Centre at the University of Calgary and the Chief Technology Officer for WestGrid. He is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Calgary. Dr. Simmonds holds a PhD from the School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Bath, UK.