Researcher Lauren Gawne has just completed a linguistics PhD thesis. She is not necessarily a technical person, yet has embraced the technologies of the NeCTAR cloud and by doing so, says it has created many online benefits, cost savings, efficiencies and collaborations. “I can now search texts much quicker and modify them to suit my purposes." Lauren is encouraging other researchers. "Reach out...there is such great infrastructure...try something new and do not be afraid.”
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Licensing, pricing, costs, charging models
Licensing, pricing, costs, charging models
Can NeCTAR money for RTs and VLs be spent on software licenses?
NeCTAR EIF funds may be expended on software licenses, where the licensing arrangements deliver appropriate value to Australian researchers, and where they do not impose significant barriers to broad uptake by the Australian researchers. Proposers are required to explain their Access and Pricing arrangements and to ensure they are consistent with the guidelines provided in the RFP pack.
Can commercial entities participate in a proposal to NeCTAR?
Yes, so long as access and pricing is addressed. We require that the project have access and pricing regimes that are consistent with the roadmap in terms of the recommendations and that is stated in RFP.
What is the business model for ongoing support for the infrastructure that is created through NeCTAR? Will there be additional rounds of funding available?
There is no commitment to funding for infrastructure created by NeCTAR beyond the life of the NeCTAR Project. NeCTAR proposals are recommended to identify processes and models for developing sustainable funding models for the infrastructure created.
Do people have to commit to continue to operate the infrastructure beyond the end of the project?
Yes - NeCTAR requires that proposers commit to operate the infrastructure up to an agreed date, which must be until at least 30 June 2014.
Would NeCTAR consider funding the development of "plug-in" software for commercial software packages to support the needs of researchers, e.g.. plug-in development for ArcGIS.? This plug-in software would be free to use (and likely open source), but users would require an ArcGIS software license.
NeCTAR would consider funding the development of plug-ins in this scenario, especially in the case of commercial software which is widely used by the research community and has licensing arrangements which do not impose substantial barriers to the widest possible adoption and access to the resulting infrastructure. Proposals should address the access implications. Responses to the RFP are required to address licensing issues associated with the software.
May the NeCTAR EIF funding be used to cover salary costs project managers in the proposal?
Yes we view Project Management as an important role in the "creation and development" of the NeCTAR infrastructure, and EIF funds may be expended against project management costs.
NeCTAR is funding software infrastructure. What about content - does that qualify for infrastructure funding? If a proposal intends to gather content and add this to a database - may this be counted as "creation and development" of infrastructure and qualify for NeCTAR funding?
The gathering of data may well be included as an activity within a proposal to NeCTAR under the RT or VL program. NeCTAR EIF funding is for the "creation and development of infrastructure" - which does not include funding the aggregation of data. Such activities should be funded within a proposal through co-investment.
What are the access requirements that NeCTAR has for the infrastructure created under the NeCTAR programs - including access to VLs and RTs? For the national server program and the cloud program – what are the rules? Are there stakeholder groups targeted? Is access required to be free and if not, what are the charging models?
In the RFP we have a section on access and pricing. Proposals should nominate access and pricing principles. These are required to align with the principles on access and pricing as described in the strategic roadmap for research infrastructure – and proposals should address these. The intention of infrastructure investment is to provide the widest possible access for Australian researchers.
Regarding allocation on the RC, there are three methods of allocation:
1. On Demand: Allocation of resource up to a defined resource quantum
2. Merit allocation;
3. Each node can allocate 30% of resource according to the node's own processes – in accordance with the NeCTAR principles of supporting publicly funded research.
We anticipate that On-demand and Merit allocation up to some, to be defined, cap of resources would be free to researchers. This will be finalised through the NeCTAR governance arrangements for the RC, once we have established the nodes of the RC through this RFP. It is based on the assumption there is no cost recovery against EIF funds or identified co-investment. Where the costs are above the EIF funding and co-investment then yes, cost recovery would be appropriate.
Operations – what is the co-investment for operations? Is there an assumption that operations are to be provided freely to a stakeholder community and where there is a premium service above that – could we charge for that?
Yes in terms of charging models we anticipate free access to researchers based on a level of service reflecting the level of investment from NeCTAR and the identified coinvestment. The RC nodes may also use their internal allocation processes to attract coinvestment in the node. For additional levels of service which entail additional costs, the node may establish appropriate charging models.
Can we lease capacity, say from Google?
EIF funds are to be used to invest in the creation and development of infrastructure. EIF funds may not be used to pay for a service, such as leasing capacity from Google.
Can we factor into a proposal costs on licenses?
NeCTAR EIF funds may be expended on software licenses, where the licensing arrangements deliver appropriate value to Australian researchers, and where they do not impose significant barriers to broad uptake by the Australian researchers. Proposers are required to explain their Access and Pricing arrangements and to ensure they are consistent with the guidelines provided in the RFP pack.
In terms of the Research Cloud and the National Servers Program, there seems to be no charging model established, and no funding available to provide the cloud service beyond 2013. How should proposers of Virtual Laboratories budget for hosting their infrastructure in the Research Cloud? Will allocation on the Research Cloud be free of cost?
We require that proposers commit to operating the infrastructure for the life of the project. NeCTAR requires projects to commit to operating the infrastructure until at least 30 June 2014, including the nodes of the Research Cloud and the NSP. There are three allocation processes on the RC, as described in the NeCTAR Final Project Plan: on demand allocation up to a defined resource cap, merit allocation and allocation by the Nodes. It is expected that on-demand and merit allocation will be free for Australian researchers up to a point. For larger allocations there will be opportunities for co-contribution. We are currently evaluating – what level of services can be provide at no cost to Australian researchers. The final determination of that will be carried out under the future governance arrangements of the Research Cloud, which will be established when the additional RC nodes from the first round RFP are known, as described in the Final Project Plan.
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Maria Seton is an Australian Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Geosciences, University of Sydney. She works in the field of plate tectonics and geodynamics, reconstructing the configurations of the continents and ocean basins over hundreds of millions of years using GPlates, a Virtual Geological Observatory prototype.
Dr Shelley Wickham is a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School in the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Working in Associate Professor William Shih’s lab, the entire lab uses an open-source electronic lab book. Shelley shares her research story.
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NeCTAR Partners
Senior software developer from Cybera in Alberta, Canada, Everett Toews, recently visited Melbourne to offer his support to Australia's Research Cloud. He shares his experience building clouds. Everett is a keen scuba diver, since 2004. He is seen in these photos playing hockey underwater in Hawaii.
A NeCTAR partner is a friend, an individual or a group doing something of interest to the NeCTAR project. They are not necessarily someone with an economic or stakeholder interest in NeCTAR. As NeCTAR is partnering with a broad range of disciplines; eResearch communities and their computing partners, there are lots of interesting stories to tell. Please email: communications@nectar.org.au
Canada has embarked on building a Research Cloud. Read more about their journey via an interview with technical architect John Shillington.
