ACADEMIA

• The technologies installed at CESGA represent cost savings in time and money per year.
• The great advantage of this integrated solution is particularly the ease with which the teacher can manage the dissemination of material on the Internet.
• Allows access up to 2500 students through the WEB.

Supercomputing Center of Galicia has just added a new support system for training in High Definition technology Access Grid Sala (classroom). Powered by the Galician company GDI (Gens Digital Incorporate), this modern online and on demand support system for distance learning improves the already wide range of collaborative technologies for working remotely. People are using it to save time and money for the center and its partners, to reduce the number of trips per year, and to increase productivity without diminishing the institution's presence in international projects.

Beyond the videoconference.

Access Grid is a set of tools and technology created by the Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago, to facilitate remote collaboration using video and audio. Beyond the video, Access Grid sophisticated technology keeps  collaborative sessions with video, audio, computers, extra screens adapted for grades and multiple cameras per node. CESGA is the pioneer in Spain in Access Grid technology with the installation in 2005. It has since transferred that knowledge to Galician companies and has advised other centers in the Peninsula. The incorporation of new technologies and devices that improve the quality and access in the classroom have been constant over the years, fomented in the center and between users by employing the same for contract monitoring sessions, national projects, international scientific meetings, and postgraduate training. The latest addition from the GDI company reinforces the latter.

A Low-Cost Solution

The technology upgrade project of e-learning system in HD has been directed by Manuel Gens and Beatrice Peace of GDI and Natalia Costas, telecommunications engineer at CESGA.

The acquisition of the solution was based on the low-cost of enabling technologies. which has led to the integration of Lifesize Full-HD into the telepresence unit with a triple projection system by connecting three LED projectors and to facilitate access of students logged into the classroom by simply pressing a button on the remote control to a computer named Videocenter. This technology, housed at CESGA, is the results of an agreement between the manufacturers Lifesize, Vordis Technologies and GDI. It enables 2500 students access through the Web to receive real-time, image, sound and data concurrently.

The system also allows on-demand access by registered username and password. The great advantage of this integrated solution is particularly the ease with which the teacher can manage the dissemination of material on the Internet, where students can ask questions via chat from home or even on the move via mobile devices such as Smartphone, Iphone, and IPAD.

Cash Savings and Increased productivity

As pioneers in implementing Access Grid Technology, CESGA has continued a constant updating of technologies, by collaborating with industry through agreements for testing and the testing of new devices. This cutting-edge media center has provided the latest technologies available for collaborative videoconferencing sessions that allow interaction among its work staff and to foster its research system users at Galician universities, CSIC and members of national and international projects.

The increase in these sessions has allowed a significant reduction in the travel budget of the center, and without losing prestige or in the development of quality institution projects. Instead, it has been an improvement on the productivity and the availability of technology and cost reductions for CESGA and its partners. Only in 2011 there were more than 56 collaborative sessions at CESGA, a figure that is increasing in 2012.

From Access Grid with all its technological innovations mentioned, the CESGA Board currently teaches the Master of Supercomputing (HPC) at the Universities of Santiago and A Coruña, session tracking agreements, national projects, international research group meetings and interactive training sessions.