The GÉANT GN5-1 project Above-the-Net Services Incubator, operating under the umbrella of the Above-the-Net Services Work Package (WP4), is excited to announce the award of its second call to ACOmarket (via ACOnet) and SUNET for the development of two innovative digital services.
Evaluated based on criteria of potential impact, innovation, and sustainability, and limited to participation of GN5-1 project partners, the two selected projects will receive 8 Person Months (PMs) each for the development of digital services in support of research and education, and for potential inclusion into the GÉANT community’s portfolio of above-the-net services. Service developments are now set to follow four-months sprints throughout 2024, with kick-offs planned in Q1 and beta version demonstrations to follow in Q3.
Awarded projects
LISA – Language learning Intelligence for Students and Academic organisations | ACOmarket (via ACOnet)
The modern academic environment is dynamic and ever-evolving, leading students to often grapple with the sheer volume and complexity of information. Additionally, educators and researchers find it challenging to access tailored, high-quality resources rapidly.
LISA aims to provide real-time, tailored academic assistance, ensuring that each user receives information suited to their immediate needs and academic goals. For educators and researchers, LISA will offer a real-time search and retrieval system, sifting through vast academic databases to deliver high-quality, relevant resources combining different fields of research.
Additionally, using advanced AI algorithms, LISA will adapt to individual learning styles and paces, providing resources tailored to each student’s unique needs. The anticipated outcome is an enriched academic experience with increased efficiency and improved outcomes.
Scalable JupyterHub for EOSC EFSS (Enterprise File Sync and Share) | SUNET
In recent decades, scientific research has evolved into a data-driven endeavour that is supported by many best practices, but also clear funding requirements regarding transparency and FAIR principles. Having a defined set of primary data sources, research data can be saved and secured from its point of creation and, as part of a proper academic toolbox, analysed and published in a ‘no-copy’ solution.
The scope of this project is to pilot a cross-platform academic toolbox based on existing deployments and develop it from an existing proof-of-concept (PoC) into a scalable pilot with potential of widespread adaptation in the GÉANT Community. Specifically, JupyterLabs and JupyterHubs will be made available as an app for SUNET’s storage and file sharing service Sunet Drive (based on Nextcloud), deployed in a scalable kubernetes cluster. During a workshop at the end of the project, the app will be then also ported to Sciebo, a non-commercial cloud storage for universities based on ownCloud.
The developed components will be published as open source, and the infrastructure setup will be thoroughly documented, giving other members a clear path on how to implement an easily scalable JupyterHub integrated into their own file storage solutions. Special focus will lie on automated testing, as well as scalability testing, ensuring the possibility of scaling the developed solutions for different scenarios, such as research groups (>20 users), larger scientific communities (>500 users), and potentially to teaching environments (>10,000 users).
About the GÉANT Above-the-Net Services Incubator
Introduced for the first time in the GN5-1 project, the GÉANT Above-the-Net Services Incubator is a new activity within the Above-the-Net services work package of GÉANT projects, with the aim of fostering innovation and enabling digital service development while reducing the risks of committing resources on the level of a project task or GÉANT service. The incubator is set to support development of a broad range of Above-the-Net services, beyond commodity cloud (both community and commercial), either towards entirely new services or adding functionalities to existing services.
Throughout 2023, the Incubator successfully completed its first full cycle, supporting the development of a new functionality for the Open-Source video conferencing platform eduMEET. Named “eduMEETime”, this eduMEET extension is designed to monitor students’ participation time in educational videoconferencing sessions. A full report of this first pilot project is available on the GN5-1 WP4 wiki: https://wiki.geant.org/x/9gZuJw
For questions related to the GÉANT Above-the-Net Services Incubator, please reach out to the team at incubator@geant.org.
