Policies and Methodologies
iCAIR research principles are optimized for discovering new knowledge founded on proven research processes, especially validation techniques, rigorous methodologies, objectivity, and open discussion and debate. iCAIR recognizes that information technology is best developed as a collaborative effort among individuals and groups working cooperatively. iCAIR works closely with and supports multiple research communities driving technology development.
Policies
Almost all of iCAIR's research is interdisciplinary in nature, and many research areas use networks to gain leverage among different technologies and applications by interlinking them in innovative ways. A particular focus is designing and developing large-scale distributed computational science ecosystems that can grow to deployment over wide areas, especially globally. Another area of focus is developing new communication forms among integrated distributed computational science environments. Most iCAIR projects aim to develop solutions for major recognized problems in advanced digital communications. However, the Center also undertakes high-risk research and experimentation through carefully designed, well-defined projects, especially when opportunities may provide significant technical advances.
iCAIR engages in a continuous creation spiral in which technologies (initially pre-alpha and alpha) are designed, developed, prototyped, and implemented in early deployment and then continuously improved or replaced by innovations. (By necessity, a few experiments will fail, yet still contribute to the overall understanding of proofs of concepts.) Initiatives are defined within mission parameters.
Cycles may include the following with revision phases:
- Conceptualization
- Early basic research and development
- Proof-of-Concept experiments
- Preliminary prototyping
- Large scale prototyping
- Demonstrations
- Early implementations
- Pre-production provisioning
- Production services and operations
After initial research and development, some of iCAIR's advanced network services and technologies migrate from labs to experimental facilities, such as metro-area, state-wide, and national and international networking testbeds, where larger-scale experiments can be undertaken. Later, they may be implemented as prototypes within facilities that can be accessed by the broader research community, for example, by those at other research organizations. A few may further migrate to proof-of-concept facilities, in a pre-production mode, or near-production service. In addition, these capabilities are often made available to broader communities, such as scientists with data-intensive applications, advanced network developers, network equipment designers, and organizations designing new advanced networking services. Eventually, some of these services and technologies migrate to standards organizations, commercial equipment and systems, and provider networks.
Methodologies
iCAIR was established with the understanding that the challenges of creating new types of communication services and infrastructure will be overcome only through cooperative efforts by experts from many research communities -- corporations, government agencies, R&D organizations, and universities. iCAIR's corporate partnerships provide crucial additional expertise and support and ensure that the best of these new technologies and solutions migrate quickly into wider communities, including commerce, health care, government, education, and other economic sectors.
To promote collaboration and wide dissemination of results, iCAIR widely communicates its activities through publications, presentations, and demonstrations at major international conferences, professional associations, standard body meetings, workshops, and other forums. iCAIR adheres to open architecture, open interfaces, and open source concepts.
iCAIR also recognizes the proprietary nature of some types of research. iCAIR maintains procedures and enforcement mechanisms for signing and adhering to non-disclosure agreements and ensuring that the intellectual property rights of individuals and corporations are protected.
iCAIR communicates its activities to broader communities through multiple channels, including scholarly publications, general community publications, press releases, presentations and demonstrations at major international and national conferences, technical workshops, professional association meetings, standards organization meetings, and other events and forums.
Key events are the IEEE/ACM International Conference on High-Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analytics (especially for demonstrations), the Asia Pacific Supercomputing Conference, the Global Research Platform Workshop at the IEEE International Conference on eScience, the TNC conference, and multiple science community forums.