Common use of Strategic impact Clause in Contracts

Strategic impact. The purpose of the combination of collaborative activities and coordination and support actions proposed in NEXPReS is to further improve the research infrastructures for long baseline interferometry in Europe (VLBI, but also LOFAR). By its very nature this requires a European and often global approach. The continuation of the networking activities established in the past through the EXPReS project will ensure that this e-Infrastructure will be further integrated and consolidated by means of the most advanced ICT methods. The Service Activities will directly boost the scientific capacity of these large-scale facilities, leading to new, exciting scientific research by a larger user community. The R&D activities in the Joint Research Activities will explore new techniques enabling future capabilities in radio astronomy, and provide feedback into the ICT domain. Clearly, the proposed programme has all the qualifications to be considered as an Integrated Infrastructure Initiative, and will give Europe a leading role in the fields of radio-astronomy, long-haul, wide band connectivity, streaming computing and fast storage. Networking Activities will ▇▇▇▇▇▇ the cooperative culture established in our community over decades, but also provide a platform for interdisciplinary collaboration between radio astronomers and ICT infrastructure providers. Proper management is a common goal for all participants and this is implemented in WP1. Other objectives that will be addressed in Networking Activities include the strengthening of virtual communities. This is indeed the main activity of WP3 and WP4, which support the discussion platforms for EVN-NRENs and the e-VLBI Science Advisory Group. Both expert groups are essential for reaching the decisions that enforce and improve both the technical functioning and operational procedures of the infrastructure. Most of the funds are allocated to the organisation of meetings, which will definitely also attract parties from outside the consortium. However, these meetings are just the starting point for discussions and collaborations that will mostly work through e-mail and other means of communication. The EVN-NREN platform (WP2) is important for spreading good practices on high-speed connectivity beyond the NEXPReS partners, as well as discussing options and standards for the future. By associating these meetings with for example e-VLBI workshops, as has happened in the past, this activity plays an important role in disseminating knowledge on e-VLBI practices. This platform will also be the starting point for discussions on connectivity to (potential) new telescope sites. Examples of places where (further improved) connectivity is desired include Portugal, Sicily, Russia, China and the Ukraine. We stress that new connectivity is not a deliverable for which funding is sought in this programme, but that associating with an established EC framework has proven to be a vital catalyst in many countries in the past. In WP3 the focus will be a on the impact the new NEXPReS services will have on the astronomical operations. As such it will be extremely important for strengthening the collaboration in the EVN in preparing procedures that will be in place during and beyond the programme. The focus will shift from adopting new policies for rapid response science to discussions on operational issues. For example, the new caching mechanism may require improved guidelines for storing and discarding recorded data. One can also imagine that a discussion on more regular, evenly spread observing sessions will be needed. From past experience we have learned that having such an activity in a formal work-package is absolutely essential for making progress in turning over established, old procedures in science operations. Communication is the title of WP4, where the focus is on internal and external communication of the project. Besides dealing with outreach activities, this activity will also be responsible for managing the materials produced by the project and making them available in the public domain. Web sites are essential in providing information to the scientific community and through this activity we plan to make our programme known at many scientific meetings. The main objective of the Service Activities in NEXPReS is to provide a new research infrastructure for the scientific radio-astronomy community. In WP5, “Cloud Correlation”, this is achieved by augmenting the previously developed telescope connectivity by adding fast, transparent data management, enabling caching of the data, close to the time-critical components in the network. This service will provide end-to-end services throughout the running time of the project with increasing scientific capabilities. Vertical integration is taking place in this work package, where communication, storage and digital components developed in the EXPReS JRA context will be combined into new operational services. Progress will be aided by adopting new international standards for VLBI data content that have recently been established. Complementary to this, WP6, “High Bandwidth on Demand” will focus on upgrading the network operations to include Bandwidth on Demand mechanisms, making use of shared connectivity resources. Moreover, it will greatly improve the astronomical impact of e-VLBI by providing more raw sensitivity. This activity may involve upgrading or fine-tuning the network components of NEXPReS partners and network providers along the path. This service does depend on mechanisms for dynamic allocation of connectivity that have been developed in the past and have reached a certain level of maturity. Some questions remain about combining different protocols, but we think that large-scale applications like e-VLBI or e-LOFAR will provide an important stimulus towards their unification. Besides boosting the bandwidth available for e-VLBI and therefore its sensitivity, the Service Activities will cause a tremendous scientific impact by improving the flexibility, robustness and efficiency of the network. The importance of such quality enhancements should not be underestimated, as they address the true bottlenecks between observations and scientific papers. Sampling data at optimal observing conditions, guaranteeing that all telescopes deliver data of the highest quality and checking the results in real-time improves the chances that the observations meet the original astronomical objectives. This, combined with the impact on overall efficiency through the reduction of complex logistics, will make e-VLBI accessible to more astronomers worldwide. These goals are also supported by a number of EVN and nationally funded projects aimed at upgrading both telescopes and the correlator to produce and handle the required data rates. WP7 and WP8 address innovative techniques and explore new options for future use of radio-astronomical facilities. WP7, “Computing in a Shared Infrastructure”, deals with the optimisation of the streaming data applications that are specific to radio astronomy. While it is our aim to make use of middleware protocols that have been developed in the Grid context, we note that these services will have to operate in a different regime. This work will focus on implementing new methodologies and protocols. A specific aim of WP7 will be to test several scenarios by integrating some of the software correlator components at partner institutes into a new virtual service. In order to address distributed computing in a streaming environment, new protocols will have to be developed. We expect the results of this work to feed back into the European ICT community and have a real impact on the development of high-performance streaming computing elsewhere. Similar arguments hold for the significance of WP8, “Provisioning High-Bandwidth, High-Capacity Networked Storage on Demand”. By researching the very specific requirements of radio astronomy in the present and future, it can be anticipated that new protocols and mechanisms will be developed. Although radio astronomy may be very specific in its caching requirements, it is certainly not the only area in science or society where high bandwidth storage is required for the near future. This R&D work has a high likelihood of reaching the scientific community through its link with WP5, from where results will be disseminated throughout the e-Infrastructure. Apart from the technological imperatives, the role of the Joint Research activities in the e-VLBI community should not be underestimated. In WP7 and WP8 much of the international and interdisciplinary collaboration takes shape. Engineers from many countries have constructed the VLBI facilities in unison with pride and dedication, and this programme offers an opportunity to continue collaborating in this tradition of international excellence. The expertise already abundantly available will be boosted by new expertise and used to ▇▇▇▇▇▇ the global e-VLBI collaboration and work towards future e-Infrastructures.