Is 'Designing' Cyberinfrastructure - or, Even, Defining It - Possible? Peter A. Freeman National Science Foundation January 29, 2007 The views expressed are the personal views of the author and are not necessarily those of the National Science Foundation or the U.S. Government.

2 Outline* Context Etymology of “cyberinfrastructure” Design approach *Draft paper for comment available at Conference website under “Resources.”

3 Context Perspective: tool builder Viewpoint: knowledgeable executive involved in building cyberinfrastructure (CI) Objective: clarify discussion and suggest design considerations

4 Etymology ‘infrastructure’ has a long history Scientific ‘infrastructure’ fairly recent Computers a natural part of scientific infrastructure; communications gear more recent NSF support of infrastructure as an example Origin of the term ‘cyberinfrastructure’ Addition of information to the definition is new and very important

5 History of NSF CI Investments

6 Defining CI Constructive approach: take a concrete and practical approach - a platform on which other things are built Very different definitions for different groups of users Rapid advance in underlying technology leads to change in characteristics of CI Today’s ‘advanced CI’ are tomorrow’s commodity tools Atkins Report and NSF activities provide the context

7 Cyberinfrastructure: the integration of hardware, middleware, software, data bases of information, sensors, and human resources, all interconnected by a network (the Internet in almost all cases) Initial Definition

8 Working definition: cyberinfrastructure consists of: Computational engines (supercomputers, clusters, workstations – capability and capacity) Mass storage (disk drives, tapes, …) and persistence Networking (including optical, wireless, ubiquitous) Digital libraries/data bases Sensors/effectors Software (operating systems, middleware, domain specific tools/platforms for building applications) Services (education, training, consulting, user assistance) All working together in an integrated fashion.

9 Design Considerations Separate actual engineering design from speculation about the future Start with a practical, but general definition Underlying technology defines the envelope Policies and laws then shape the result Change process is crucial

10 Additional Considerations Multiple CIs will exist - interfaces are crucial Policies, laws, procedures should be considered during basic design Greatly improved communication and cooperation between policy and technical communities needed Greater understanding of who the ‘users’ are is needed

11 Summary It is possible to define CI It is possible to design CI All players are important and must communicate Creating infrastructure has the potential of having great and long-term impact