Update on activities of the e-Infrastructures Reflection Group – e-IRG 1 Update on activities of the e-Infrastructures Reflection Group – e-IRG Gudmund Høst, e-IRG chair 1

Some challenges for European e-Infrastructures 2 Some challenges for European e-Infrastructures Pan-European e-Infrastructures cross multiple administrative and national domains ICT is changing rapidly and continuously Policies for sharing and accessing resources should keep pace with technology development stimulate European collaboration Member State ministries and Commission need qualified and consolidated advice A general-purpose European e-Infrastructure is an essential component of the European Research Area (ERA) “It is clear that the major requirement is to bring communities together to improve their mutual understanding and collaboration.” [Blue Paper 2010/Ex. Sum.] The Commission has recognised the need to “foster world-class ICT infrastructures, also known as e-Infrastructures, to pave the way for the scientific discoveries of the 21st century” [Commission Communication ’ICT Infrastructures for e Science’ COM (2009) 108] 2

-pave the way towards a general-purpose European e-Infrastructure 3 e-IRG mission: -pave the way towards a general-purpose European e-Infrastructure e-IRG initiatied in June 2003 (Athens workshop) 2 delegates per country appointed by national governments. Governance structure: Permanent chair, rotating co-chair/troika (executive board) according to each semester EU presidency Mode of operation: Consensus opinion by e-IRG plenum Target audiences: Policy makers on the (inter-)governmental level Mainly dealing with strategy and funding issues e-Infrastructure service-providers Research networks or computing/data centres Projects that build on this base to provide higher-level services Existing and new user communities looking for the capacities and capabilities that the current and near-future e-Infrastructure can provide Technology developers 3 3 3

Key achievements 2010-2011 Major recent publications 4 Key achievements 2010-2011 Major recent publications e-IRG roadmap 2010 “Blue Paper 2010”: Request from ESFRI to e-IRG On how the e-Infrastructure could be utilized by the ESFRI Roadmap projects in a cost efficient way. White Paper 2011 & Recommendations 2011 Historical recommendations: A sustainable European Grid Infrastructure A European High Performance Computing Service A European Data Infrastructure Recognition of e-IRG: Competitiveness Council Conclusions, 03.12.2009:– “WELCOMES the work of the e-IRG to address policy related barriers for the shared use of e-Infrastructures” 4 4 4

The policy context & liaison activities 5 The policy context & liaison activities ERA and “5th freedom” in Lisbon Treaty e-IRG is active in consultations on ERA ICT infrastructures for e-Science (March 2009) Acknowledging the work of e-IRG EU2020: smart, sustainable and inclusive growth (March 2010) Digital Agenda and Innovation Union is motivating e-IRG publications (i.e. Open innovation model, narrow digital divide, support cohesion) HORIZON 2020 Extensive consultations ESFRI Observer at ESFRI meetings, dedicated Data Management “Blue Paper”, advising on e-Infrastructure, joint activity on data management “best practise” 5

6 e-IRG Roadmap (2010) – A high-level action plan to promote e-IRG's vision Recommendations: e-Infrastructure as a Service! (e-IaaS) Computing: Organisational and financial models Promote interoperability and standards Work towards a blueprint for a sustainable data management infrastructure Networking: Work on innovative technologies and policies to maximise the user impact Promote commercial uptake for broader societal benefit Involve new user communities International collaboration to maximise global impact E-infrastructure trends: Service orientation data intensive science Software issues related to the explosive growth in parallelity of architectures integration of different e-Infrastructure components

7 e-IRG White Paper 2011 How do we deal with the increasing energy demands of computing? What software is needed to fully tap the power of future HPC systems? What are the appropriate governance models for e- Infrastructures? How to facilitate access, discovery and sharing of large and diverse sources of scientific data? Can we ensure trust in the use of e-Infrastructures? How to further advance research networks, and adopt new e-Infrastructure services? 7

The changing environment 8 The changing environment e-Infrastructure governance must encourage commercial and academic users to collaborate in research projects e-Infrastructures should contribute to lower energy consumption and better utilisation of alternative sources Large scale data driven research creates new challenges for e-Infrastructures and e-Infrastructure governance All research is going global Introduce governance models that encourage industrial users and PPPs, like ESFRI and the EIT, in research to use e- Infrastructures. European networking should actively contribute to environmental objectives, for instance by supporting more efficient computing through resource sharing, and by encouraging data centres to be built at locations with access to alternative energy sources. The emerging needs for dispersed data management on lager international scale might influence network architectures and network governance e-IRG White Paper (2011) 8

Governance recommendations 9 Governance recommendations Key role to (leading edge) users in strategic decision making Funding through budgets of users to allow for alternative commercial provisioning of services Metrics to measure value and costs of the services is needed Review regulations to allow equal treatment of public and private users (facilitate innovation) e-IRG White Paper (2011) 9

Key issues for future networking in Europe 1010 Key issues for future networking in Europe The position of dedicated research networks vs. commercial services Ongoing innovation vs. operational service provision Central planning vs. organic growth The changing environment The role of the users The ‘digital divide’ between users, regions and countries e-IRG White Paper (2011) 10 10

Key issues for exascale computing in Europe 1111 Key issues for exascale computing in Europe The design of new hardware and software architectures efficient enough to address exascale. The increase in power consumption The increase in concurrency, due to vast increase in parallellism Tolerance to hardware failures New programming paradigms better compilers, monitoring tools, hiding software complexity. Looking for new Grand Challenges EC Communication on HPC expected late 2011. e-IRG White Paper (2011) 11 11

1212 Energy and Green IT ICT and e-Infrastructures consume 3-5% of global power, but increasing Environmentally sustainable computing Reduce total energy consumption “Optimal” location of Europe’s HPC facilities (wrt. 1 & 2) Maximise energy efficiency Do current funding models support green solutions? e-IRG White Paper (2011) 12

e-Infrastructure services 1313 e-Infrastructure services Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Networking, Grid, HPC, Data and Collaboration services Opportunities offered by the clouds Research trends: From disiplinary research to interdisciplinary research on grand challenges => e-Infrastructures must meet user demands: From simple, individual services to complex, integrated services e-IRG White Paper (2011) 13

e-Infrastructure services - challenges 1414 e-Infrastructure services - challenges Further development of services (present and new) Improve the governance/management of e- Infrastructure operation and services Extend/intensify co-operation and collaboration in the e-Infrastructure area Establish and gradually introduce a sustainable business model e-IRG White Paper (2011)

e-Infrastructure services - Recommendations 1515 e-Infrastructure services - Recommendations Work on standardisation Engage users in development Virtualisation and SOA should be widely exploited Community infrastructures (or community clouds) for shared IaaS. Co-operation with other sectors (government, health) e-IRG Task Force on Cloud Computing, focus on policy aspects e-IRG White Paper (2011)

1616 Data infrastructures Need to integrate data sources into sustainable infrastructure Missing component of the European e-Infrastucture Strategy (roadmap) for developing the European data infrastructure is needed Challenges Technical (design, implementation, operation) Legal, ethical, privacy issues Governance and funding, sustainability e-IRG White Paper (2011) 16

1717 e-IRG and ESFRI ESFRI – European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures ESFRI recognizes the role of e-IRG and e- Infrastructures Some ESFRI projects are disciplinary e-Infrastructures All ESFRI projects depend on e-Infrastructures Access to remote or distributed infrastructures Broadening exploitation Data! Data Management Task Force Report (2009) e-IRG Blue Paper to ESFRI (2010) On-going Collaboration 17

e-IRG “Blue Paper” to ESFRI (2010) 1818 e-IRG “Blue Paper” to ESFRI (2010) How can ESFRI RIs and users engage and exploit common e-Infrastructure services? Assessment of Europe’s e-Infrastructure service portfolio, Opportunities and challenges involved Recommendations: Co-evolution of Research Infrastructures, e-Infrastructure and user requirements Active and direct user engagement Encourage engagement across user, developer and provider communities to facilitate sustained innovation in e-infrastructures 18

ESFRI charge to e-IRG: What is best practise in data management for European RIs? e-IRG suggests that joining forces between “clusters” of ESFRI RIs and the horisontal layer is the way forward. e-IRG workshop Poznan 12-13. Oct aims to bring actors together e-IRG Task Force on Data Management aims to extract «best practise» and policy recommendations

The European Data Infrastructure Challenge Opportunity offered by the EC: FP7 Clusters of ESFRI infrastructures BioMedBridges - Building data bridges between biological and medical infrastructures in Europe CRISP - Cluster of Research Infrastructures for Synergies in Physics DASISH - Data Service Infrastructure for the Social Sciences and Humanities ENVRI - Common Operations of Environmental Research Infrastructures FP7 Data infrastructures EUDAT – European Data OpenAire – Open Access Infrastructure for Research in Europe Bringing together 1. & 2. offers a great opportunity for progress

e-IRG Workshop, Poznan, 12.-13. October 2011 2121 e-IRG Workshop, Poznan, 12.-13. October 2011 Policy issues for e-Infrastructures HORIZON 2020, Structural funds, … Two sessions dedicated to data issues, bringing together ESFRI Infrastructures ESFRI Clusters Horisontal Data Infrastructures A next step towards a European Data Infrastructure 21