CANARIE:
Canadian Network for the Advancement
of Research, Industry, and Education

June 30, 1996

1. Introduction

A non-profit partnership between government and over 140 members from the public and private sectors (including the National Library), the Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry, and Education (CANARIE) seeks to foster the development of Canada's high-technology economy. Founded in January 1993, CANARIE embarked on a three-stage program to develop networking applications as well as the infrastructure to carry these applications.

• Phase 1
  (April 1993 to March 1995)

  Besides upgrading CA*Net to T3 speeds, Phase 1 marked the beginning of the National Test Network (NTN) program. The total cost of Phase 1 was $115 million, of which $26 million was provided by the federal government.

• Phase 2
  (April 1995 to March 1998)

  This phase is expected to cost roughly four times as much as Phase 1, or $450 million.

• Phase 3
  (1998-2000)

  This phase entails migrating applications and technologies to operational networks at a projected cost of $600 million.

CANARIE has developed several strategies to fulfill its mandate. Despite the various acronyms, these programs can generally be divided into two types, focusing on the development of either hardware or software.

2. Hardware

Phases 1 and 2: National Test Network (NTN)

The CANARIE National Test Network (NTN) is the world's largest high-speed test network. It provides the backbone for the 11 regional networks across the country. NTN supports both standard Internet (TCP/IP) and the newer Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) connectivity, and is linked to Europe via satellite.

The NTN is available to researchers and companies at little or no charge. It was used most recently to demonstrate the possibilities of video-conferencing: six silicon graphics workstations with 3D white boards (electronic writing boards), each in a city between St. John's and Vancouver, were connected. This allowed researchers in all six cities to collaborate simultaneously on engineering design.

3. Software

Phase 1: Technology Development / Technology Diffusion (TD2)

Operational Network Products and Services (ONPS)

The grant programs are designed to encourage the private sector to develop network-related applications. While similar in nature, these two programs can be distinguished by their scope. TD2's 42 projects were experimental and technical, such as broadband multimedia conferencing for business, and GIS (Geographic Information Systems) networking systems. The ONPS-funded projects, although more modest in technical terms, promise quicker implementation and popular use; for example, servers and small networks for university departments or smaller markets.

Phase 2: The Technology and Applications and Development Program (TAD)

To encourage research and development in networking technologies, CANARIE will fund up to 50 percent (maximum $1 million) of projects that pass a two-step evaluation process. Specifically, the TAD program is aimed at projects in the areas of:

• Business

• Research

• Health Care

• Education and Lifelong Learning

4. Recent Initiatives

Health Information Infrastructure Advisory

A CANARIE initiative to increase the use of networking technology by the health-care sector for example; "Telemedicine", a project for providing health care via the NTN.

International Alliance Opportunities for Canadian IT Companies

A series of studies designed to identify possible alliances between Canadian IT companies and their counterparts in eight European countries. CANARIE has been acting as a bridge between Foreign Affairs and Canada's telecommunications industry in developing markets for Canadian technology overseas.

On-Line Exploration and Collaborative Environment for Education

An experiment by Simon Fraser University to develop distance education for the 1990s by creating a "Virtual-U" or virtual university.

Besides supporting technical innovations, CANARIE is active in the area of public policy. In March 1996, CANARIE signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Information Highway Advisory Council (IHAC) to clarify the roles of each organization in terms of public policy regarding the Internet, and more importantly, to define possible areas for collaboration between the two organizations. These include co-sponsoring conferences and developing public policy on:

• Information Services

• Health Care

• Education and Training

Finally, CANARIE has, for several years, been involved in upgrading the bandwidth of CA*Net. Currently, CANARIE is working with Bell Advanced Communications to transform CA*Net into a commercial service.

5. A Lane for Libraries on CANARIE's Infobahn?

Though primarily aimed at industry and high-tech corporations, there is room within CANARIE to encourage innovative projects in the library field. CANARIE's stated objectives are to promote Canada's cultural industries, education, and projects which bring about a "broadly-based social benefit".

One example is the Music Library of the Future project, an effort of McGill's Faculty of Music to provide text, images and sound over the Web. Interestingly, a centrepiece of this project is the development of a "Standard Music and Audio Markup Language". With a corresponding browser, users should be able to navigate through, manipulate, and visualize musical information.

Of particular interest to libraries in government are the results of CANARIE's survey of its partners. According to the 120 members questioned, the most important function of government for businesses was in facilitating access to strategic information. Having funded projects ranging from a "CyberMall" to "Telemedicine" in the past, CANARIE's programs are sufficiently broad to accommodate projects involving library networks and technologies, provided that they can be shown to be profitable.

6. Conclusion

Though the importance of networking technology in ensuring Canada's global competitiveness is unquestioned, the lack of publicity surrounding CANARIE means that its achievements remain largely unknown to the general public. This may make CANARIE susceptible to funding cuts.

This lack of exposure is understandable: CANARIE exists as a funding agency within government and deals almost exclusively with a limited number of companies. Though CANARIE's projects play an important part in the development of Canada's Internet infrastructure, most are not visible to the public. With its main partners lined up and its long-term strategy in place, it seems that the CANARIE program will continue unchanged until the end of the decade. This is not to say that there is no room within CANARIE for new projects. While its larger projects are already planned, CANARIE's TAD program is still open.

7. Overview of NTN and CA*net

Image available in print format only.

8. More Information

A review of CANARIE's past achievements and a sharp analysis of its future:

CANARIE: Why Should You Care? by Michelle Karren

http: //fas.sfu.ca/comm/c-mass/issue1/Canarie.html

Links to other CANARIE-related sites:

A First Step in Building Canada's Information Superhighway"
http://www.ns.doe.ca/inform/it/it8.html

An upcoming CANARIE-sponsored educational project:
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/GIBN/syracuse.university.5.html

CANARIE:
http://www.canarie.ca