Intersect Australia Overview - September 2009 Ian Gibson, CEO

Intersect: One page summary  A company established by its founding members to provide eResearch services to its members  Members are:  USyd, UNSW, UTS, MQ, Newcastle, Southern Cross and UNE  Discussing with other organisations about joining  Formally established July 2008, practically started Nov 2008  Current staff: 35  Intersect is the NSW member of ARCS (  Several of our programs are funded through ARCS  Received $2.8M is start-up funding from the NSW government eResearch is the application of advanced information & communication technologies to the practice of research

Intersect: Mission Statement Work with NSW Universities and others to increase the quality, efficiency and visibility of NSW based research through the provision of advanced and specialised ICT services and solutions, enabling: - improved management of research data - new methods for collaboration - new research methodologies 3

Intersect: Staff profile CEO Services Division Engineering Division Admin Project Management Office User Interaction Design SW Engineering System Admin & Eng Quality Assurance Member Support HPC Support ARCS Services ARCS Auth’n Services ANDS (Data) Services HR Accounts Communications Learning and Development Office Admin

Member Interaction and Delivery Intersect eResearch Analysts Intersect Specialised support HPC, data management, L&D,… Intersect Specialised support HPC, data management, L&D,… Intersect Projects Intersect Projects Intersect service and technology aggregation and customisation Intersect eResearch Analysts Member Institutional and Faculty Services: IT, Library etc

Intersect in the national context

Services Division Dr Markus Buchhorn Director of Services

Intersect services Provided by Intersect (and other) resources – Our people and infrastructure – Also: NSW member of ARCS Partner in NCI (soon) Deeply engaged with ANDS Working closely with other state eResearch agencies Try to ignore the acronym soup Delivered through institutional frameworks, as appropriate, for Researchers and for Support Staff

Services Portfolio Model

Technical Services High-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure – Through specialised and appropriate facilities – Two clusters hosted at ac3 (soon one); share in NCI from 2010 Ability to buy more Scale from institution/desktop through ‘shoulder’ facility to peak, with merit and dedicated access Data services – Storage infrastructure: Phase 1a: small scale local investment Phase 1b: $100k to purchase more disk Phase 2: LIEF application – “NeRDs” Phase 3: EIF funding via ARCS – Support for management, preservation and access (with ANDS) Collaboration, Authentication & authorisation services – Sharing and working together, with appropriate access limits

Direct (User) Services Awareness, outreach, advocacy – What is out there, and what could be out there? Skills development for researchers and for support staff – “Training”, face-to-face and on-demand – Online, in print, etc. Building off existing materials as far as possible, but attuned to needs Advice on e-research methods, opportunities Project development support and IT consulting – for projects during Scoping, Development and Operation Support for community building – E.g. Websites, wikis, forums and document sharing, mailing lists, etc. – Support for meetings, events Helpdesk services – in coordination with member institutions.

Strategic Services Requirements analysis – To understand strategically what researchers need Surveys, in various forms – To support institutional, state and national planning frameworks Enhancing the community’s skills-base – Finding appropriate people, and making them available for quick starts – Developing their skills, and offering career paths beyond research projects Solution development and “hardening” – Creating new tools/services, and – Making existing tools/services more robust, user-friendly, higher-performance, properly supported Support for funding applications to maximise outcomes – Proper scoping of ICT and people requirements – Assisting and coordinating across groups, institutions,... Linkages – Groups with solutions need to find groups with problems And vice versa!

Engineering Division Chris Mendes Director of Engineering

What do we do? We create new technology – Web sites – Applications – Databases – Other cool stuff We build & roll out infrastructure

Key Goals Provide value to members in a fair and equitable way Develop re-usable technologies Develop ‘package-able’ solutions which can become services in the future Bring solid engineering practices to eResearch and raise capability across the sector Provide ‘Delivery Management’ for projects and services

Funding Basis “Innovation Projects” – Funded through membership fees – Strategic selection process by the Innovation Committee Externally Funded – ANDS/ARCS There’s a lot of this happening at the moment. – From other sources

Innovation Projects Intersect undertakes “Innovation Projects” as a part of the services provided to our member institutions.

Innovation Projects The committee: – Bases selection on a strategic view of the eResearch needs of NSW and Australia. This will draw on: NSW & national research priorities; needs of researchers at member institutions; the value and quality of the supported research. – Devises projects that meet the needs of researchers across institutions and even across disciplines. – Selects projects to provide benefits fairly across our member institutions.

Innovation Projects Selection Process Determine NSW eResearch Strategic Needs ➊ Define Candidate Projects ➌ Review NSW eResearch Strategic Needs Report Candidate project scope documents Assessment Suggested Priority List List of Candidate Projects Proposed List of Candidate Projects Priority List & Selection … … Intersect Team Intersect Executive Innovation Committee ➋ ➎ ➏ NSW Govt’s Strategic Research Priorities Consultation across member institutions Consultation with other key stakeholders 24 ➍ Review and Select Projects Quarterly Review

A good example: GDM Genomic Data Management Our next innovation project

GDM – Why is it a good example? A clear strategic direction A clear need Lots of collaborators Lots of institutions amongst our members Other groups will benefit as well

For today… We want to understand your needs – …today is the start of that process. Follow Jim’s lead – he has some questions/conversation starters. Keep the GDM example in the back of your mind during your discussions. Do please call on your local eResearch Analyst!