e-IRG Roadmap 2010: the bird’s-eye view of the future e-Infrastructure

By Matti Heikkurinen, e-IRGSP2 Project, Finland

Browsing the recently published e-IRG Roadmap 2010, one is more likely to encounter concepts such as “outsourcing”, “engagement with user communities” and “4th Research Paradigm” than the more technical vocabulary related to technologies, standards or projects while perhaps not surprising in a policy document taking a high-level view on a subject (even one that is traditionally seen as a quite technical one), this contrast with the previous e-IRG roadmaps can also be seen as a clear sign of maturity of the European e-Infrastructure ecosystem. As the individual basic service components forming the whole have formed sustainable, long-term initiatives that provide the technical basis for the e-Infrastructure, e-IRG can build on this foundation and focus on the key policy issues that will allow maximising the positive socioeconomic impact. As stated in the roadmap introduction: “While it is nearly impossible to predict the development of technologies in detail, a general process of adaptation to new technologies can be described. This process includes developing organisational and financial principles, models and working methods for infrastructure use and resulting innovation.”
The e-IRG Roadmap for e-Infrastructures offers policy makers, as well as e-Infrastructure users and providers, valuable insights on the process that is forming the new European e-Infrastructure landscape. In particular, the document looks at the current move towards a service-oriented e Infrastructure, as well as at the issue of the commoditisation of some of the e-Infrastructure services. The document points out the benefits, but also the challenges related to these trends. Rather than looking at these changes independently, the Roadmap analyses their impact from the points of view of users, service providers and the society as a whole.
In addition to presenting the e-IRG vision for the future, the Roadmap also recommends certain steps to be taken – with the support of e-IRG – by the member states governments, funding agencies and other key stakeholder groups to realise this vision:
• Stimulate and support the adoption of an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) model.
• Use commodity computing services to widen the user base and to increase transparency of the production of the e-Infrastructure services.
• Improve the interoperability of e-Infrastructure components by pursuing global standardisation efforts.
• Encourage organisational structures and processes that ensure rapid access to European know-how related to exascale computing.
• Reserve resources for developing a blueprint for enabling data-intensive research.
• Encourage a Pan-European effort focused on the impact of new technologies and networking policies
on the innovation potential of e-Infrastructure.
• Gather information on the successful commercial uptake of e-Infrastructure-related innovations.
• Support adoption of, and access to, e-Infrastructure services by new user communities and develop faster mechanisms for targeting resources to popular e-Infrastructure services.
• Facilitate the global contribution of European e-Infrastructure experts by enabling their participation in international roles that include leadership positions that require long-term commitments.
The Roadmap is a synthesis of a multitude of ideas, background data and other input. Its foundations go back to early 2009 when the first requirements were defined. In addition to the three e-IRG meetings during which the Roadmap was discussed in detail, e-IRG could also rely on the expertise of the experts appointed by ESFRI as contributors to the Roadmap document. The final draft of the Roadmap was also published and widely circulated as a public consultation draft.
The reactions to roadmap in the public consultation were positive in general, approaching the domain from numerous of viewpoints and levels of detail. Some of the themes that were raised often in the feedback were interactions between user communities and service providers, the role of commercially available standard services in the e-Infrastructure and challenges related to data as an integral component of e-Infrastructure. These comments led to many refinements in the document itself and also identified several interesting topics for further discussion.
The Roadmap document and the document that summarises the results of the public consultation together with the answers from the e-IRG board can be downloaded from the e-IRG website www.e-irg.eu (Publications/Roadmap). On the same site it is also possible to sign up on the e-IRG mailing list to receive information about e-IRG events and other publications.