High speed network link to boost environmental research

Ottawa, ON – An extension of a ultra high-speed fibre optic network has been to the Waterloo Summit Centre for the Environment in Huntsville, ON. The extension was announced by CANARIE, Advanced Research and Innovation Network, and the University of Waterloo.

The link will enable researchers and scientists at the university’s Department of Environment and Resource Studies to collaborate in real time with colleagues in Canada and worldwide, accelerating research in ecosystem resilience and adaptation and ecological monitoring.

“The CANARIE link not only supports data-intensive, digital research, but can also be leveraged to make the Waterloo Summit Centre for the Environment a locus for conferences and think tanks,” says Jim Roche, president and CEO of CANARIE. “CANARIE’s digital infrastructure is an important investment for communities across Canada, as it provides the foundation for knowledge-based economic development, in addition to world-class research and discovery.”

“This link represents another step in a long-term strategy for the centre. It allows us to communicate more effectively from the field with other researchers and communities around the world, which encourages collaboration and leads to economic and social innovation,” says D. George Dixon, vice-president, university research, University of Waterloo.

The Waterloo Summit Centre for the Environment opened in 2011, and is the result of a partnership between the University of Waterloo and the Town of Huntsville. It features laboratory space, meeting rooms, and it also hosts conferences, training sessions and credit courses for Faculty of Environment students.

CANARIE operates Canada’s ultra-high speed network, thousands of times faster than the Internet, which enables world-class research and discovery at universities, colleges, research hospitals, government labs and private sector research facilities across the country. It also funds the development of software to enable wider access to research data and tools.