[AG-TECH] Fading AG usage?

[Michael Daw]

Just for completeness, the situation in the UK is that there were around 20 Access Grid nodes in April 2004, 40 in April 2005 and 80 in April 2006. The number is probably now around 100 (about half of our users use inSORS Grid, but we lump them in under the banner 'Access Grid'). And there is still a large amount of interest in the technology. I know of at least one significant planned rollout of more than 5 nodes at a single institution. But Brian's and John's answers are very interesting. This whole area may be worth a discussion session at the next AG Retreat...

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-ag-tech at mcs.anl.gov 
> [mailto:owner-ag-tech at mcs.anl.gov] On Behalf Of John Langkals
> Sent: 05 January 2007 01:39
> To: ag-tech at mcs.anl.gov
> Subject: RE: [AG-TECH] Fading AG usage?
> 
> 
> Hello Derek,
> 
> Very clever posting.
> 
> I would say that the usage oscillates between all technologies.
> 
> Video is now commonplace.  It's no longer the new wonder tool 
> it was in the
> mid 1990's.  It's becoming as exciting and reliable as light 
> switch to many
> -- in other words, just turn it on and use it. I am still 
> amazed with this
> technology every time I use it and fortunately, so are the 
> folks who employ
> my services.
> 
> The Access Grid, as I understand it, was a communication tool 
> used among the
> national government labs.  This project has grown far beyond 
> this use.  In
> fact it's really hard to tell how many sites there are that 
> use the AG but
> are not active within the AG community.  I see the AG 
> community as a mix of
> a powerful communications tool and a research project that 
> can be applied to
> many disciplines.  I don't feel that the AG community is 
> falling at all but
> that, rather, the excitement of a new technology is not as great.
> 
> H.323-based videoconferencing came on the stage around 1996 and has
> blossomed into a huge market, but the market is only as 
> strong as the people
> that use the product, and budget for its use.
> It's difficult to maintain a market share after flooding most 
> areas with a
> given product.  I know of too many instances where a large amount of
> videoconferencing units were purchased only to end up in a 
> storage closet
> and never get used.  Basically, the grants that purchased the 
> equipment
> failed to budget a project manager.  In the case of the AG 
> community, I feel
> there needs to be a dedicated technical person and a 
> dedicated person that
> will manage the use of the equipment, but this is often 
> overlooked  and the
> technology is unused--not because of a lack of interest, but 
> because of a
> lack of commitment or focus on a reason to use this wonderful tool.
> 
> The AG is only as strong as the projects that are developed to use it.
> It's not the technology that is lacking, but the creative input of the
> community itself that may be lacking.  I am always looking for new and
> exciting projects, and you have been very helpful to my work, which is
> greatly appreciated.  I would like to suggest a yearly conference or
> two--not just the retreats, but an AG online conference that will have
> speakers from all over the world discussing for a few minutes 
> their work and
> desire to collaborate.
> Why not have another yearly conference dedicated to K- 12 
> using the AG?
> Conferences like this already exits in the H.323 world.
> Let's kick off a similar conference in the AG community. In 
> order to have a
> growing community, we need creativity and dedication to starting new
> projects, and an inspiration to use the technology beyond just being a
> teleconferencing engine.
> 
> John
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-ag-tech at mcs.anl.gov 
> [mailto:owner-ag-tech at mcs.anl.gov] On Behalf
> Of Derek Piper
> Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 2:25 PM
> To: ag-tech at mcs.anl.gov
> Subject: [AG-TECH] Fading AG usage?
> 
> 
> 	Hi all,
> 
> 	I've been part of the AG community for a while now, 
> nearly 3 years
> and
> over that time I've not seen a lot of growth in the number of 
> sites that
> we interface with for AccessGrid meetings. Quite oppositely I 
> have seen
> sites that were good AG participants fall into 'disrepair' 
> through lack
> of funding and site expertise.
> 	A bit of a devil's advocate question, but is AccessGrid usage
> declining? Is AccessGrid on the way out? I've seen people 
> turn to things
> such as Polycom for meetings rather than have AccessGrid meetings.
> 	I'm curious to learn of other points of view on this.
> 
> 	Derek
> 
> -- Derek Piper - dcpiper at indiana.edu - (812) 856 0111
> IRI 323, School of Informatics
> Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
> 
> 
>