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NeCTAR 2011-‐2012 Annual Report

Contact details

NeCTAR Project National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources

Level 3 Doug McDonell Building (Bldg 168) The University of Melbourne Victoria 3010 Australia

Telephone 03 8344 1277

Email [email protected]

NeCTAR is an Australian Government project conducted as part of the Super Science initiative and financed by the Education Investment Fund. The University of Melbourne has been appointed the lead

agent by the Commonwealth of Australia, Department of, Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education.

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Associate Professor Glenn Moloney

Director, NeCTAR Project


NeCTAR Overview With an emphasis on research software infrastructure that enhances remote access to national, state and institutional research facilities, NeCTAR provides Australian researchers with access to instruments, data and compute to support collaborative research workflows.

NeCTAR is partnering with Australian research institutions, organisations and eResearch support organisations to build:

• Virtual Laboratories; • A National Research Cloud; • eResearch Tools; and • a National Server Program.

NeCTAR seeks to support the researcher who at the desktop or the bench top has access to a full suite of digitally enabled data, analytic and modelling resources, specifically relevant to their research.

The NeCTAR Virtual Laboratories connect Australian researchers to facilities, data repositories and computational tools on a national scale. These Virtual Laboratories will support and sustain increased research collaboration by streamlining research workflows across institutional and discipline boundaries.

NeCTAR is partnering with Australian institutions and eResearch organisations to build a national Research Cloud where researchers will be able to: host research applications; access computational resources; and rapidly deploy and share innovative new applications with their colleagues.

The NeCTAR eResearch Tools program supports the migration of existing research applications to the Research Cloud. It has a strong focus on extending and enhancing existing tools and applications to make them more collaborative, to link them with existing research facilities and infrastructure, and to support research workflows.

The National Servers Program (NSP) provides a robust national hosting service for core eResearch services and applications critical to Australian researchers.

Commonwealth Funding NeCTAR is an Australian Government project conducted as part of the Super Science initiative and financed by the Education Investment Fund (EIF). The Education Investment Fund is provided under the Nation-‐building Funds Act 2008 (Commonwealth), which has the authority to fund the creation of research infrastructure.

In May 2009, the Australian Government announced funding of $97 million under the Super Science initiative to fund Data Storage and Collaboration Infrastructure.

In response to consultation with the research community, the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science, Research and Tertiary Education (DIISR) directed this funding through two separate funding agreements:

1. $47 million for the development of electronic collaboration infrastructure to be delivered through the National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources (NeCTAR) Project


2. $50 million for the development of data storage infrastructure to be delivered through the Research Data Storage Infrastructure (RDSI) initiative.

The NeCTAR Project is intended to extend the provision of national scale interoperation and collaboration infrastructure for research.

EIF funded organisations and their partners are contracted to fund the operational costs of the infrastructure through co-‐investment, including cash and in-‐kind contributions to develop infrastructure. It is expected that proposals will offer co-‐investment at a similar level to the EIF funds.

The Commonwealth has provided $47 million over 4 years, 2010 – 2014. The funding is distributed over four programs and the operations of the NeCTAR Directorate.

The Year in Brief Table 1: NeCTAR Milestones 2011 -‐ 2012

Project Milestones Project Plan Due Date

Milestone Achievement Date

Request For Proposal Stage 1 Proposals 15 September 2011 15 September 2011 Early Activity Virtual Laboratories submitted to DIISR for approval

30 September 2011 15 March 2012

Establishment of RFP Selection Committees 30 October 2011 30 October 2011 Stage 1 proposals advised to DIISR for approval

30 November 2011 15 December 2011

Appointment of NeCTAR Deputy Director 15 December 2011 13 February 2012 Research Cloud Phase 1 Review 15 December 2011 Deferred NeCTAR Melbourne Cloud Launch 1 February 2012 29 February 2012 Stage 1 Research Cloud and NSP Nodes commence implementation

29 February 2012 22 June 2012

Research Cloud Full-‐Access Phase commences 29 February 2012 29 February 2012 Stage 1 eResearch Tools and Virtual Laboratories commence implementation

29 February 2012 4 October 2012

NeCTAR Stage 1 Review 31 March 2012 17 April 2012 Request For Proposals for Stage 2 Proposals 30 April 2012 4 May 2012 80% of Stage 1 Proposals contracted 30 June 2012 30 June 2012


Financial Summary Table 2: Financial Summary 2011 -‐ 2012

2011 – 2012 2010 -‐ 2011 Income EIF Grant Income $ 12,000,000 $ 23,000,000 Interest Earned Grant Income $ 1,102,022 $ 843,648 TOTAL $ 13,102,022 $ 23,843,648 Expenditure National Server Program $ 415,663 $ 313,812 Research Cloud Program $ 1,410,406 $ 0 Virtual Laboratories Program $ 37,859 $ 0 Research Tools Program $ 60,034 $ 0 NeCTAR Directorate Expenditure $ 586,459 $ 589,830 TOTAL $ 2,980,894 $ 903,642

NeCTAR Activities

Stage 1 Request for Proposals In September 2011, NeCTAR used a formal Request for Proposal process to call for the Australian research community to submit proposals to build Virtual Laboratories, a Research Cloud, eResearch Tools and a National Servers hosting service.

In November 2011, NeCTAR received 75 project proposals across a broad mix of research disciplines.

In December 2011, a panel consisting of Research and eResearch experts nominated by the Australian research community met and evaluated each proposal. Following these meetings, the group recommended that one third of all proposals received should progress to the contract negotiation phase.

To receive EIF investment partnering organisations commit to contributing significant co-‐investment and in kind funds to develop and operate NeCTAR infrastructure.

The Stage 1 expert panel recommended 23 projects for funding:

• 5 Virtual Laboratories in the fields of astronomy, environmental change/weather science, humanities, characterisation and genomics;

• 15 eResearch Tools across a mix of disciplines and • 3 Research Cloud proposals.

No proposals to build and operate a node of the National Servers Program were received.

All Proposers were notified of the outcome of their Proposal via email 16th January 2012.

The Proposals that were not successful in the first stage were encouraged, where appropriate, to re-‐submit in the NeCTAR Stage Two Request for Proposals. NeCTAR provided general feedback to all non-‐successful Proposals, detailing areas for improvement identified by the expert panels.

A review of the proposal process was undertaken and the changes implemented in the Stage 2 RFP process:


• An updated and refined selection criteria for proposals; • A streamlined proposal document, incorporating proposer feedback, to improved

efficiencies between NeCTAR and proposers.

Stage 1 Proposal Negotiation and Contracting Following notification of successful proposers, the NeCTAR Directorate negotiated with the submitting organisations for proposals recommended for funding under the Stage 1 Request For Proposals. The NeCTAR Directorate sought to address identified shortcomings and issues identified in the submitted proposals, as identified by the Expert Panels and the NeCTAR Directorate.

Broadly, NeCTAR sought clarifications and improvements to proposals in the areas of:

• Governance and project management; • Co-‐investment in support of the operational requirements of the projects; • Measures of utilisation and uptake by the research community; • Milestones and Acceptance Criteria; and • The use of EIF funds to support the creation and development of the proposed

infrastructure.

NeCTAR has also negotiated with eResearch Tool and Virtual Laboratory projects for adjustments to the requested allocations of NeCTAR funds in accordance with the Project Board endorsement of the recommendations of the Expert Panels.

During the year NeCTAR entered into contracts with twenty-‐one research institutions and organisations.

Table 3 Contracted sub-‐projects by program category and committed funding by EIF and program co-‐investment

No. Institution and Research bodies

Project Name Date Contract signed

EIF Funds Committed

Co investment

Virtual Laboratories E01 University of

Queensland Virtual Genomics Laboratory

09 May 2012 $ 700,011

$ 701,733

E02 University of Tasmania

Marine Virtual Laboratory

09 May 2012 $ 690,000

$ 690,000

E03 CSIRO Virtual Geophysics Laboratory

09 May 2012 $ 634,000

$ 805,650

VL011 Deakin University

HuNI 17 May 2012 $ 1,329,000

$ 2,500,000

VL006 Monash University

Characterisation Virtual Laboratory

24 May 2012 $ 1,618,108

$ 1,836,741

VL010 AAL The All-‐Sky Virtual Observatory

22 June 2012 $ 1,652,201

$ 1,908,200

Research Tools RT029 Western

Australia Cloud-‐based Bioinformatics Tools

13 April 2012 $ 290,598

$ 323,892

RT017 Australian Synchroton

eResearch Tools 17 May 2012 $ 641,387

$ 889,063

RT015 Curtin University

CATAMI 17 May 2012 $ 487,600

$ 561,510

RT007 University of High throughput 18 May 2012 $ 718,200 $ 1,556,200


Melbourne computing RT016 Macquarie

University UniCarbKB 24 May 2012 $ 449,750

$ 524,564

RT043 NSW University Archaeological

Management System

30 May 2012 $ 949,500

$ 1,552,500

RT020 Adelaide University

SHaRED 05 June 2012 $ 831,370

$ 1,425,000

RT038 University of Queensland

The Aust-‐ESE Project

05 June 2012 $ 619,238

$ 603,318

RT025 University of Queensland

OzTrack 05 June 2012 $ 607,687

$ 604,520

RT012 Monash University

TARDIS in the Cloud 08 June 2012 $ 366,283

$ 392,309

RT022 QCIF Quadrant 27 June 2012 $ 505,687

$ 513,987

RT031 SRI Aus. Schizophrenia Research Bank

29 June 2012 $ 639,000

$ 1,019,070

Research Clouds RC005 QCIF QNRCN 06 June 2012 $ 2,000,000

$ 1,534,000

RC007 Monash

University Research Cloud at Monash

08 June 2012 $ 2,000,000

$ 2,506,000

RC003 Australian National University

NCI-‐based Node 22 June 2012 $ 1,993,000

$ 2,911,807

Total $ 23,222,620 $25,623,217

Figure 1: Comparison of contracted programs EIF and co-‐investment by sub-‐project

$-‐ $2,000,000.00 $4,000,000.00 $6,000,000.00

RT029 RT012 RT016 RT022 RT015 RT025 RT038

E02 E01 E03

RT017 RT031 RT020 RT007 RT043 VL006 RC005 VL010 VL011 RC007 RC003

Educakon Investment Funds

Coinvestment


While NeCTAR met the project milestone of having 80% of Stage 1 Proposals contracted by 30 June 2012, the Directorate had aimed to complete all contractual agreements before 30 June 2012. Delays were due to a combination of:

• Slower than expected negotiation with proposers over issues identified by the Expert Panels and the Directorate;

• Longer than expected negotiation over contract terms and conditions with some organisations.

Based on this experience, planned changes for the Stage 2 contracting process include:

• An updated and refined selection criteria for proposals; • A streamlined proposal document, incorporating proposer feedback, to improved

efficiencies between NeCTAR and proposers; • Proactive engagement with University of Melbourne key stakeholders to create

internal process efficiencies; and • Direct communication with proposer Legal Departments to speed up contract

negotiations.

Stage 2 Requests for Proposals In May 2012, NeCTAR once again used a formal Request for Proposal process to call for the Australian research community to submit project proposals for the creation of new infrastructure, this time under just the Virtual Laboratory and Research Cloud programs.

By 30 June 2012, NeCTAR had received 22 proposals for the creation of new Virtual Laboratories and 4 proposals to establish new nodes of the Research Cloud.

Communications and Outreach

Research Cloud Developer Days During the year, NeCTAR collaborated with the Australian National Data Service (ANDS) to host hands on developer days to assist programmers, system analysts, technical architects and technically proficient researchers to build infrastructure, services and applications on NeCTAR’s research cloud.

Developer Days were held across Australia with 300 participants attending. There has been positive attendee feedback and NeCTAR will continue to build on its success by hosting Developer Days in 2012.

e-‐news NeCTAR e-‐news was utilised as a direct channel to communicate NeCTAR messages to stakeholders. At the beginning of the year, NeCTAR had 642 subscribers and increased to 1,272 subscribers by June 2012. NeCTAR also started an e-‐news specifically for the technical community, which by June 2012 had 360 members.

The most popular e-‐news announcements:

• Successful stage one RFP proposals (5,000 views); • NeCTAR, $47 million for Australian research infrastructure (4,200 views); • Invitation to participate in hands on research cloud engagement days – to learn to

migrate services and applications onto NeCTAR’s new research cloud (2,500 views).


NeCTAR Website The website continues to be a platform for NeCTAR to communicate with stakeholders. During the year, Google Analytics shows the NeCTAR website had a total of 18,822 visitors. 52% were unique and 48% were returning visitors. For a six month period the NeCTAR website averaged more than 4,000 visitors.

NeCTAR in the news NeCTAR released several press releases during the period with thirty stories published in news outlets.

Sub-‐project communications requirements NeCTAR sub-‐projects were asked to submit, within two months of contracting, a formal communications plan describing stakeholders, key messages, communication channels, “elevator” pitch, logo and a communications strategy.

Coordination across projects and programs As NeCTAR projects have begun moving beyond project proposal and into project delivery, NeCTAR has taken the opportunity to coordinate activity (where it makes sense to do so.)

The NeCTAR Director and Deputy Director participate in the steering committees of all NeCTAR sub-‐projects. They use these forums to advise on possible collaborations around common technologies, and opportunities for re-‐use of eResearch Tools within the Virtual Laboratories.

The national developer days held in 2012 identified and built technical communities around common infrastructure, services and applications that can be deployed on NeCTAR’s research cloud. Many of these are now under consideration for deployment in Virtual Laboratories, eResearch Tools, and the application migration activities of Research Cloud Nodes.

The University of Melbourne Lead Node activity has provided technical leadership, operational guidance, and federation advice to the Stage 1 Research Cloud Nodes. The NeCTAR Project has engaged with the RDSI project on a number of matters, to ensure alignment of operations between the RDSI project and the NeCTAR Research Cloud. For example:

• RDSI Director participation in meetings of the NeCTAR Platforms Steering Committee, comprising the nodes of the Research Cloud and NSP;

• NeCTAR Director participation in RDSI nodes meetings; • Developing agreed guidelines for the provisioning of research data storage in the

Research Cloud; and • Collaboration on common needs such as a federated authorisation solution for use

by the Projects.

Early Activity and Stage 1 Projects In 2011-‐2012, NeCTAR established three early Virtual Laboratories under an accelerated ‘Early Activity’ process, based on approval by the NeCTAR Project Board and subject to agreement with DIISR. These Virtual Laboratories were established with the aim of providing delivery of early positive outcomes for the research community and under the understanding that they would have an opportunity to apply for further development funding through the Request for Proposals in Stage 1 and Stage 2.


Projects contracted between 1 July 2011 and 30 June 2012 under the NeCTAR Early Activity and Stage 1 RFP processes are divided across three NeCTAR programs: Virtual Laboratories, Research Tools and Research Cloud. They align national research priorities as defined in the Federal Government Road Map and cover a broad range of research disciplines.

Virtual Laboratories The NeCTAR Virtual Laboratories program seeks to support the researcher who at the desktop or the bench top has access to a full suite of digitally enabled data, analytic and modelling resources, specifically relevant to their research. The Virtual Laboratories described below aim to connect Australian researchers to facilities, data repositories and computational tools on a national scale. They aim to increase research collaboration by streamlining research workflows across institutional and discipline boundaries.

E01 University of Queensland -‐ Genomics Virtual Laboratory Contract Signed: 9 May 2012 Education Investment Funds: $ 700,011 Co-‐Investment Funds: $ 701,733

The Genomics Virtual Laboratory GVL is broadly targeted at the “sequence-‐oriented” genome-‐related molecular bio-‐sciences – including epigenomics, transcriptomics, and meta-‐ and eco-‐genomics. It will provide an opportunity for research institutes across Australia to participate in a community of accessible infrastructure, expertise and advocacy. It aims to connect genome researchers with massive datasets, sophisticated analysis tools, and large-‐scale computational infrastructure so that they can produce high-‐value globally competitive research results.

E02 University of Tasmania -‐ Marine Virtual Laboratory Contract Signed: 9 May 2012 Education Investment Funds: $ 690,000 Co-‐Investment: $ 690,000

The Marine Virtual Laboratory (MARVL) aims to create research infrastructure for exploring the science questions around seamless integration of the complex multi-‐disciplinary marine environment. It aims to provide all the tools necessary to construct a virtual environment of a region of interest. Comprised of a suite of complex models (e.g. ocean circulation, waves, water quality, and marine biogeochemistry), a network of observing sensors, and a host of value-‐adding tools, MARVL can underpin research to understand the dynamics, interactions, and connectivity of an estuarine/coastal region, continental shelf region, or open ocean domain.

E03 CSIRO -‐ Virtual Geophysics Laboratory Contract Signed: 9 May 2012 Education Investment Funds: $ 634,000 Co-‐Investment: $ 805,650

The Geophysics Virtual Laboratory aims to create a scientific workflow portal that allows Geophysicists to select from a large collection of datasets and run computational workflows to process that data. It will be developed in close collaboration with the geophysics user community, with representatives from Geoscience Australia, the Australian National University, Monash University, and the University of Queensland providing advice and contributing computational tools to the project.


VL011 Deakin University -‐ Humanities Networked Infrastructure (HuNI) Virtual Laboratory Contract Signed: 17 May 2012 Education Investment Funds: $ 1,329,000 Co-‐Investment: $ 2,500,000

The HuNI Virtual Laboratory is the first national and cross-‐disciplinary virtual laboratory for the humanities. For the first time, Australian researchers will be able to work with linked data from Australia’s most significant cultural datasets across the fields of literature, art and design, theatre, film and visual media, history, biography, music and archaeology.

VL006 Monash University -‐ Characterisation Virtual Laboratory Contract Signed: 24 May 2012 Education Investment Funds: $ 1,618,108 Co-‐Investment: $ 1,836,741

The “21st century microscope” will not be a single instrument; rather an orchestration of specialised imaging technologies, data storage facilities, and specialised data processing engines. The Characterisation Virtual Laboratory will be a powerful platform essential to the future capability of Australian scientists by integrating Australia’s research imaging facilities with computational and data storage infrastructure and tools.

VL010 Astronomy Australia -‐ The All-‐Sky Virtual Observatory Contract Signed: 22 June 2012 Education Investment Funds: $ 1,652,201 Co-‐Investment: $ 1,908,200

The All-‐Sky Virtual Observatory aims to link large-‐scale optical and theoretical datasets within a single Virtual Observatory. This project will involve creating the hardware, tools and services to maximise the scientific return from these datasets. ASVO is part of AAL's longer-‐term vision to develop a Federation of National Astronomy Datasets, in which a central facility will house an infrastructure development and research support team to build services and provide on-‐going support for astronomers, to enable widespread access to radio, optical, and theoretical data and facilitate the upcoming needs of data intensive research.

Research Tools The NeCTAR eResearch Tools program supports the migration of existing research applications to the Research Cloud. It has a strong focus on extending and enhancing existing tools and applications to make them more collaborative, to link them with existing research facilities and infrastructure, and to support research workflows. The program also supports the development of specific tools and capabilities which have been identified by the Virtual Laboratory program. NeCTAR eResearch Tools projects are encouraged to deploy their applications on the Research Cloud to achieve wide access and high scalability.

RT029 University of Western Australia -‐ Cloud-‐based bioinformatics tools Contract Signed: 13 April 2012 Education Investment Funds: $ 290,598 Co-‐Investment: $ 323,892

This project is creating a new cloud-‐based bioinformatics tool to help researchers better analyse and collect phenotypic, genotypic, pedigree and biospecimen data. The tool will help researchers configure and manage the entire research process by themselves without


needing technical support. It will enable both clinical and basic science researchers, who collect and use clinical specimens and health information from any disease type, to better comprehend how underlying genetic variations/mutations interact with environmental factors to cause disease.

RT017 Australian Synchrotron -‐ eResearch Tools Contract Signed: 17 May 2012 Education Investment Funds: $ 641,387 Co-‐Investment: $ 889,063

This eResearch Tool supports the cross-‐disciplinary and multi-‐institutional nature of research enabled by the Australian Synchrotron. The Australian Synchrotron is a world-‐class and, in some cases world-‐leading, facility that supplies Australia’s science and technology communities with large quantities of high-‐quality data unobtainable from anywhere else in the Southern Hemisphere. The project will facilitate more efficient analysis of data coming from with new workflows and help reduce the time to achieve final scientific outcomes.

RT015 Curtin University -‐ Collaborative and Automated Tools for Analysis of Marine Imagery (CATAMI) Contract Signed: 17 May 2012 Education Investment Funds: $ 487,600 Co-‐Investment: $ 561,510

The CATAMI eResearch Tools will provide access to consistent methods for analysing imagery and video streams from a variety of remotely controlled deep water vehicles that support marine research across Australia. This project will address issues of data scalability, and provide a unique opportunity to support collaborative analysis of observations being produced by these systems.

RT007 University of Melbourne -‐ High Throughput Computing Contract Signed: 18 May 2012 Education Investment Funds: $ 718,200 Co-‐Investment: $ 1,556,200

The eResearch Tools developed by this project will enable Australian particle physics researchers, including members of the ARC’s Centre of Excellence for Particle Physics at the Terascale (CoEPP), to be full participants in the hunt for New Physics at the Large Hadron Collider. The project will also provide tools for other Australian researcher communities to support high throughput computing needs.

RT016 Macquarie University -‐ UniCarbKB Contract Signed: 24 May 2012 Education Investment Funds: $ 449,750 Co-‐Investment: $ 524,564

UniCarbKB is an initiative that aims to promote the creation of an online information storage and search platform for glycomics and glycobiology research. The knowledgebase will offer a freely accessible and information rich resource supported by querying interfaces, annotation technologies and the adoption of common standards to integrate structural, experimental and functional data. Through cross-‐referencing existing databases and information resources, the UniCarbKB framework endeavours to support the growth of glycobioinformatics and the dissemination of knowledge through the provision of an open and unified portal to encourage the sharing of data.


RT043 NSW University -‐ Archaeological Management System Contract Signed: 30 May 2012 Education Investment Funds: $ 949,500 Co-‐Investment: $ 1,552,500

This eResearch Tool project proposes to assemble a comprehensive information system for archaeology. The resulting tools will use flexible, robust and extensible data standards, employing those standards to federate a range of components for acquiring, analysing, and archiving archaeological data. Dispersed yet integrated, it will allow data from field and laboratory work to be born digital using mobile devices, processed in local databases, extracted to data warehouses suitable for sophisticated analysis, and exchanged online through cultural heritage registries and data repositories.

RT020 University of Adelaide -‐ Submission, Harmonisation and Retrieval of Ecological Data (SHaRED) Contract Signed: 30 May 2012 Education Investment Funds: $ 831,370 Co-‐Investment: $ 1,425,000

The SHaRED eResearch Tool will provide an intuitive, online ‘single-‐point-‐of-‐access’ for structured ecological data/metadata submission and retrieval in collaboration with the nation-‐wide TERN Multi-‐scale Plot Network (MSPN) ecological research community. SHaRED will be designed around community needs and will complement existing data storage initiatives.

RT038 University of Queensland -‐ The Aust-‐ESE Project -‐ eResearch Tools to Support the Collaborative Authoring and Management of Electronic Scholarly Editions Contract Signed: 30 May 2012 Education Investment Funds: $ 619,238 Co-‐Investment: $ 603,318

This e-‐Research tool project aims to enable humanities scholars to create, archive, share and re-‐use electronic scholarly editions in a collaborative environment. It aims to produce an online integrated Workbench that provides: tools for automatically detecting, identifying and highlighting variations between textual documents; interfaces that enable users to attach scholarly commentary to textual variants and images; tools that automatically collate electronic scholarly editions into a publishable form; a repository that supports the discovery, retrieval, exploration and re-‐use of electronic scholarly editions.

RT025 University of Queensland -‐ OzTrack -‐ eResearch Tools for the storage, analysis and visualization of animal tracking data Contract Signed: 5 June 2012 Education Investment Funds: $ 607,687 Co-‐Investment: $ 604,520

In an effort to understand the impact of changing environmental factors on species movement and behaviour, the OzTrack project aims to build a suite of eResearch services to support the Australian animal tracking community. It will support the filtering, compression and upload of large scale animal tracking datasets to a common repository; advanced statistical analysis and spatio-‐temporal querying and visualization of the telemetry data; and the overlay and correlation of environmental and climate data with animal tracking data.


RT012 Monash University -‐ Bioscience Data Platform: TARDIS in the cloud Contract Signed: 8 June 2012 Education Investment Funds: $ 366,283 Co-‐Investment: $ 392,309

The Bioscience Data Platform (BDP) aims to bring existing computational systems together to allow scientists to seamlessly work with data from capture through to publication. The BDP will reach all areas of the structural biology workflow, from the inception of a research project through to scientific publication.

RT022 Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation (QCIF) -‐ Quadrant Contract Signed: 27 June 2012 Education Investment Funds: $ 505,687 Co-‐Investment: $ 513,987

Quadrant is a cloud-‐based research project management and data collection tool designed for participant-‐based researchers in fields such as health, humanities, sociology, psychology, criminology, education and anthropology. It addresses the challenges faced by teams managing modern research projects, including those with broad scope, multiple methodologies and diverse data collection sites. Quadrant will provide a central, easy-‐to-‐use, secure and collaborative environment to enable all research project team members to streamline their research workflow and simultaneously collect, view and analyse research data in an ethically-‐compliant manner.

RT031 Australian Schizophrenia Research Institute -‐Australian Schizophrenia Research Bank (ASRB) Extension and Enhancement of Systems Contract Signed: 29 June 2012 Education Investment Funds: $ 639,000 Co-‐Investment: $ 1,019,070

The Australian Schizophrenia Research Bank (ASRB) is a national collaboration aimed at improving researcher access to data, samples, and volunteers to support schizophrenia research. Volunteers provide clinical, genetic and MRI brain image data, which are held in a cross-‐referenced database/system. De-‐identified data and samples are provided to researchers on approved request, to support research into the causes and course of schizophrenia. This project is enhancing the existing ASRB systems, so that recruitment, volunteer follow-‐up/interaction, genetic/MRI data, and access to the data are all fully and effectively managed by the ASRB computer system.

Research Cloud Building on the deployment of an initial cloud node at the University of Melbourne, NeCTAR is partnering with Australian institutions and eResearch organisations to build other nodes in a national Research Cloud where researchers will be able to host research applications; access computational resources; and rapidly deploy and share innovative new applications with their colleagues.

RC005 Queensland Cyber Infrastructure (QCIF) -‐ Queensland node of the NeCTAR cloud Contract Signed: 6 June 2012 Education Investment Funds: $ 2,000,000 Co-‐Investment: $ 1,534,000


The Queensland NeCTAR Research Cloud Node will build on current cloud applications for genomics, ecology and characterisation research communities as well as support NeCTAR Virtual Laboratories and Research Tools.

RC007 Monash University -‐ NeCTAR Research Cloud at Monash Contract Signed: 6 June 2012 Education Investment Funds: $ 2,000,000 Co-‐Investment: $ 2,506,000

The Research Cloud at Monash will align with the agendas of the research-‐intensive southeast precincts of Melbourne and their major national collaborations, while complementing the NeCTAR Research Cloud to satisfy the needs of Australia. It will include approximately 5300 commodity cores.

RC003 Australian National University -‐ NCI-‐based Node of the NeCTAR Research Cloud Program Contract Signed: 22 June 2012 Education Investment Funds: $ 1,993,000 Co-‐Investment: $ 2,911,087

The Australian National University will establish a node of the NeCTAR Research Cloud at the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) to enhance the scale and reach of data-‐intensive science nationally. It will provide generic cloud resources, as well as tailored facilities through NCI-‐funded hardware enhancements, establishing environments tailored to community needs.

Continuing projects

Melbourne Research Cloud Node In February 2011, The University of Melbourne (UoM) delivered the first node of the National Research Cloud, built in accordance to the Research Cloud Node Implementation Plan.

The UoM Node currently contains 2,000 production CPU cores, with plans to double in size in 2012-‐2013.

Any researcher with Australian Access Federation credentials can access the Research Cloud. Through the Research Cloud dashboard, they can self-‐manage Virtual Machines on up to 2 CPUs for three months. Longer term, project specific allocations require submission to an interim NeCTAR Allocations Process.

The research cloud provides a cost-‐effective way to access computational research infrastructure and offers:

• Self-‐service management via a Dashboard: the researcher has complete control over their Virtual Machines and who can access their software application or data.

• Easy access and rapid deployment of software applications. • Flexible and innovative environment that enables researchers to develop, test and

run their tools at minimal cost.

Uptake of services has been pleasing and continues to grow.


Table 4: Top 15 users of the Research Cloud ranked according to unique AAF logins between 1 February 2012 and 30 June 2012

Institution name # AAF logins % of total users University of Melbourne 340 38.29% CSIRO 70 7.88% University of Queensland 56 6.31% Monash University 52 5.86% Queensland University of Technology 42 4.73% Australian National University 24 2.70% University of NSW 23 2.59% University of Sydney 18 2.03% University of Adelaide 17 1.91% Curtin University 16 1.80% Griffith University 16 1.80% RMIT University 16 1.80% Deakin University 15 1.69% Intersect 15 1.69% University of Western Sydney 15 1.69%

Research Cloud Lead Node The University of Melbourne (UoM) has been contracted to deliver the Research Cloud Lead Node (RCLN) service. The Lead Node project is not a cloud node, but rather an activity that is responsible for the maintenance, deployment and operation of central services in the cloud federation and also to support federation of future Research Cloud nodes. The Lead Node has deployed a full Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) cloud offering based on the OpenStack open source cloud computing platform. Initial key services now provided by RCLN include:

• Support of the Cloud service • Test & Development environment • Configuration repository • Help Desk service • Web and WIKI service • Automation Service • Monitoring & Logging service • Seminars & Training services • Policy & Procedure development • Open source community support • Upgrade coordination and support service

The Lead Node activity has begun a federation planning dialogue with the cloud nodes selected as part of the Stage 1 RFP (ANU, QCIF, Monash).

The National Servers Program (NSP) The initial node of the National Server Program has been established at the University of Melbourne since December 2010 to provide a robust hosting service for core eResearch services requiring high service levels and availability.


The current NSP Phase 1 (Basic Access) has delivered:

• Operational NSP Service • Manual provisioning of VMs • Limited backup • Limited disaster recovery • Limited high availability

Draft operational Service Level Agreements are in place with the NeCTAR NSP Allocation Committee, which has operated continuously since December 2010 to manage service recommendations.

2011-‐2012 has seen a steady uptake, with over 15 suites of services approved for hosting on the Platform. Allocations on the NSP may grow as NeCTAR Virtual Laboratories begin deploying production services that require high availability to support their infrastructure.

Variations from the Final Project Plan The NeCTAR Directorate and the University of Melbourne intend to continue to execute the NeCTAR Project under the terms described in the Final Project Plan. The goals and objectives of the NeCTAR Project remain unchanged from those defined in the NeCTAR Funding Agreement and confirmed in the NeCTAR Final Project Plan.

NeCTAR, nonetheless, agreed with the Department a small number of variations from the provisions described in the NeCTAR Final Project Plan. These variations are intended to assist NeCTAR to successfully deliver infrastructure which meets the objectives of the Project.

Variation to the National Server Program The Department approved on 7 May a request from the NeCTAR Director to reduce the funding allocated for additional nodes of the National Server Program from $2.0M to $0.5M

The NeCTAR Final Project Plan allocated $3.0M for establishment of 3 nodes of the National Server Program (NSP). The first node of the NSP has been established and operating at the University of Melbourne since December 2010. The NeCTAR Project Board recommended that NeCTAR establish no more than one additional NSP node, and that the funding available for an additional node be no more than $0.5M.

Variation to Funding distributions for the Stage 2 Request For Proposals The Department approved a request from the NeCTAR Director to vary the funding allocations for the Stage 2 Request For Proposals from that described in the NeCTAR Final Project Plan according to:

• $1.5M in funding be redirected from the National Server Program to the Stage 2 Research Cloud program, permitting the funding of an additional Research Cloud node in Stage 2; and

• Funding nominated for Stage 2 eResearch Tool proposals ($1.0M) be redirected to funding proposals under the Stage 2 Virtual Laboratory program;

• Funding cap available per Stage 2 Virtual Laboratory proposal be reduced from $2.0M to $1.5M and that the minimum funding per proposal be reduced from $1.0M to $0.8M.


Removal of the NeCTAR Initiated Activities The NeCTAR Final Project Plan (section 6.3) provides provisions for the Director, with approval of the Project Board, to initiate funded activities under the NeCTAR programs. The NeCTAR Project Board approved a recommendation that the NeCTAR Initiated Activities shall be removed from the scope of the NeCTAR Project and that NeCTAR will undertake no activities under the provisions of the NeCTAR Initiated Activities.

Future Priorities The NeCTAR Project is expecting to make substantial progress in the coming year (2012-‐2013).

Through the Stage 1 Request For Proposals (RFP), NeCTAR has elicited outstanding proposals for the creation and development of eResearch infrastructure that addresses needs and priorities identified by the sector. In 2012-‐2013, sub-‐projects established under the Stage 1 RFP (5 Virtual Laboratories, 16 eResearch Tools and 3 Research Cloud nodes) will begin developing and deploying national research infrastructure.

NeCTAR will also approve proposals for funding arising from the Stage 2 RFP sub-‐projects during 2012-‐2013. It is expected that all Stage 2 sub-‐projects will commence operation before December 31 2012, with substantial development and deployment of infrastructure throughout 2012-‐2013.

As sub-‐projects begin to develop and deploy infrastructure, NeCTAR will develop planning processes to maximise the strategic long-‐term benefits delivered to Australian researchers through the NeCTAR programs and sub-‐projects. These will include the establishment of strategic planning processes to consider:

• Improving coordination across the NeCTAR sub-‐projects to realise collaborative opportunities and to identify common challenges;

• The development of sustainability models for the infrastructure created through the NeCTAR sub-‐projects; and Ensuring a strong focus on benefit realisation within the NeCTAR sub-‐projects particularly through strategies to support strong uptake and utilisation of the infrastructure by Australian researchers.

NeCTAR Platforms: Research Cloud and National Server Program NeCTAR anticipates that before the end of 2013 a single national cloud platform comprising up to 28,000 CPU cores distributed across up to 8 sites will be available to Australian researchers.

Building on the deployment of the initial node of the Research Cloud at the University of Melbourne, the initial deployments of the Stage 1 Research Cloud nodes will commence operation at the Australian National University (ANU), the Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation (QCIF) and Monash University in early 2013. Planning and provisioning for Stage 2 Research Cloud nodes will also be well underway before mid 2013.

Based on recommendations from the NeCTAR Project Board, NeCTAR will investigate the necessity for and risks associated with establishment an additional NSP node in 2013.


Research Software Infrastructure: Virtual Laboratories and eResearch Tools The NeCTAR Stage 1 Virtual Laboratory and eResearch Tool sub-‐projects will all execute throughout the period of this Plan and will deliver significant infrastructure throughout the period. Through the project negotiation process, these sub-‐projects have each provided detailed schedules for the staged delivery of infrastructure. NeCTAR expects to see strong growth in researcher utilisation of the NeCTAR infrastructure, with sub-‐projects required to report on progress against measures of utilization and uptake throughout the life of the project.

Organisation

Governance The NeCTAR Project Board is the independent body providing strategic guidance to The University of Melbourne and the NeCTAR Director with regards to the NeCTAR Project objectives, delivery and progress. The Project Board:

• provides strategic guidance to the University of Melbourne and to the NeCTAR Director;

• monitors the overall strategic direction of the NeCTAR Project and ensures the NeCTAR Project is focussed on the development of infrastructure capable of having a national impact;

• receives and approves Annual Reports and the Final Report on NeCTAR Project performance;

• approves the Final Project Plan and Annual Business Plans, which include implementation milestones and budget allocations;

• endorses merit and priority allocation processes adopted by the NeCTAR Project; • endorses the appointment process and the appointment of the NeCTAR Director,

noting that the nominated candidate must be found acceptable by the University of Melbourne;

• advises and assists the University of Melbourne in the management of project risk; and

• provides other advice and input as required.

The Project Board is led by an Independent Chair, and includes the Deputy Vice-‐Chancellor (Research), The University of Melbourne or nominee, a senior representative from the CSIRO, a senior representative from another Australian research intensive University and at least five other members. The appointment of the Project Board Chair and Project Board members are for the period of the NeCTAR Project.


Board Member

Doctor Graham Mitchell AO (Chair) Professor Andrew Cheetham (Deputy Chair) Professor G. Q. Max Lu Doctor Paul Arthur Professor Robyn A Owens Doctor Roger Proctor Mister Paul Sherlock Professor Liz Sonenberg Professor John A. Taylor Professor Iain McCalman (resigned)

The Project Board met on three occasions during the year, 15 September 2011, 15 December 2011 and 15 March 2012. Key decisions approved by the Project Board in that period include:

• Request for Proposal Stage 1 recommendations from the Expert Panel; • Creation and development of 3 Research Clouds • Creation and development of 15 eResearch tools • Creation and development of 5 Virtual Laboratories.

• NeCTAR Directorate to negotiate budget decreases to the Stage 1 Virtual Laboratories;

• NeCTAR updates to operating procedures; • Establishment of the Early Activity Virtual Laboratories; • National Server Program variation to the original funding agreement; • Reallocation of the EIF funds to the Stage 2 eResearch Tool program to the Stage 2

Virtual Laboratory program; and • Removal of the NeCTAR initiated activities from the NeCTAR Project Plan.

NeCTAR Directorate The Project Directorate, under the leadership of the Project Director, provides technical and architectural design and alignment, while managing and co-‐ordinating the efficient and effective delivery of the sub-‐projects. The Directorate also has a key communications role, initially during the design and building of the services and later to encourage and reinforce uptake by users of the delivered services.

NeCTAR Directorate Staff Name NeCTAR Funded Position

Associate Professor Glenn Moloney Director Doctor Nigel Ward Deputy Director Andrew Stahmer Contracts Manager Sarah Mulvey Business Manager Tom Fifield Cloud Architect Lynda Edwards Communications and Engagement Manager Karen Mecoles Project Coordinator Maria Becerra Finance Officer

Note: The Communications & Engagement Manager position is funded as a co investment contribution from the University of Melbourne.


Appendix 1 Progress against milestones NeCTAR does not anticipate that the milestone delays or deferrals listed below will adversely impact on future milestone achievement.

Milestone Projected completion date

Status Comments

Final Project Plan & 2011-‐2012 Implementation detail

31 March 2011 Changed to 29 July

2011

Completed Completed August 2011

Appointment of final Directorate project staff

31 July 2011 Completed Appointment of all directorate staff positions as approved to date

Issuance of RFP for Stage 1 Proposals (all programs) including selection criteria and template sub-‐contract

15 September 2011 Completed Delivery date set to 15 September in agreed Final Project Plan, which also reflects changes to the scope of each program

Early Activity Virtual Laboratories to DIISR for approval

31 September 2011 Completed

Establishment of Selection Committees (Expert Panels)

30 October 2011 Completed Membership of the Expert Panels approved by the NeCTAR Project Board

NeCTAR Research Cloud Phase 1 Go-‐Live


First Annual Report submitted to DIISR for approval


Selected Stage 1 contractors advised to DIISR for approval

30 November 2011 Completed

Appointment of Deputy Director(s)

15 December 2011 Completed 13 February 2012

Appointment of Dr Nigel Ward

Research Cloud Phase 1 Review completed

15 December 2011 Deferred Intend to conduct review under auspices of Platforms Steering Committee

EDUCATION INVESTMENT FUNDS Milestone Report 6

31 December 2011 Completed 31 December 2011

Establishment of NeCTAR Platforms Steering Committee

30 January 2012 Deferred

Platforms Steering Committee to be established post June 2012 to enable participation by second round Research Cloud Nodes.

Payment Milestone Report 2

30 January 2012 Completed

Establishment of NeCTAR Platforms Technical Advisory Group

29 February 2012 Revised date 15 August 2012

This is delayed until Platforms Committee is established

Stage 1 Research Cloud and NSP Nodes commence implementation

29 February 2012 Completed 22 June 2012

All three first round Research Cloud Nodes have commenced implementation

Stage 1 eResearch Tolls and Virtual Laboratories commence implementation

29 February 2012 Revised date 30 July 2012

Delayed due to negotiations to agree final project proposals. At 27 June agreements have been completed with 75% of Stage


1 RT and VL projects. These projects have now commenced implementation

Research Cloud Full-‐Access Phase commences

29 February 2012 Completed

NeCTAR Stage 1 Review 31 March 2012 Completed 17 April 2012

Commissioning of Stage 1 Research Cloud and NSP Nodes

31 March 2012 Revised Date 30 September 2012

Delayed due to negotiations to agree final project proposals and proposed deployment schedules at RC nodes

First Annual Business Plan submitted for approval

31 March 2012 Revised Date 31 May 2012

Delayed. New deadline agreed with DIISTRE

Issuance of RFP for Stage 2 proposls for VL, NSP and RC

30 April 2012 Completed

EIF Milestone Report 8 30 June 2012 Completed 30 June 2012


Appendix 2 NeCTAR Project Difficulties and Risk Strategy Assessment

Risk Management Risk Area 1: Financial including sustainability Risk Mitigation Assessment 1.1 Potential for cost

overruns The Funding Agreement limits total EIF funding, and each Sub-‐Contract will limit EIF funding available to each Sub-‐Project

The Request For Proposals (RFP) were designed with a Capped Level of Effort adopted for subproject implementation. The mitigation strategy was successfully implemented in (RFP Section A-‐5.1).

1.2 Limitations of EIF funds use limiting operational availability of invested infrastructure

EIF Funds will be contributed to Sub-‐Projects to cover part costs and limited in use to appropriate expenditure items. All other expenditure items will be the responsibility of Sub-‐Project participants.

The RFPs were developed and required sub contracts to expend EIF funds only on the creation and development of infrastructure. In addition, sub contracts included requirements for identified co-‐investment to fund operational requirements. Each proposal is required to itemize and report all expenditure of EIF funds and operational co-‐investment. The strategy was successfully implemented.

1.3 Inability to attract key co-‐investors

Co-‐investment will be actively encouraged through the pursuit of open control and access policies operating the infrastructure. Co-‐investment will be encouraged by the availability of priority allocation of resources to nationally significant research endeavours, as agreed with co-‐investors.

The RFPs contain a requirement for open control and access policies within sub-‐projects (RFP Section B1-‐2.4). Co-‐investment in the research cloud proposals were encouraged, through the availability of priority allocation processes, for co-‐investing parties (RFP Section B3-‐3.4). Furthermore, the level of co-‐investment was part of the competitive requirement in the selection criteria for proposals. This strategy was successfully implemented.

1.4 Operational sustainability

Project infrastructure will in all cases be implemented by organisations that commit to its operational support for the life of the Project. In the case of the Research Tools and Virtual Laboratory programs, the infrastructure will be operated by the Sub-‐Project participants and can be expected to operate for its useful lifetime.

The RFPs stated that NeCTAR did not require that the implementing organisation be responsible for operational support. NeCTAR required but that a designated operator for the infrastructure be nominated, and to commit to operations to June 2014. This strategy was successfully implemented based on modification of the strategy.


In the case of the Research Cloud and National Server Programs, further funding support will be required to sustain their continued operation for open research access. The Project will ensure that both these infrastructures operate through to June 2014.

1.5 Future of Project initiatives

The Project Board will work with stakeholders and Sub-‐Project participants to seek solutions to contribute to the sustainability of the Project initiatives, beyond the life of the Project. Significant industry interest in a leading edge technology demonstration will assist industry engagement. A successful Project is more likely to lead to a case for further funding and a growing interest in replication of the infrastructure so that industry can be expected to actively build the required relationships.

The risk strategy was not implemented in the reporting period, and will be addressed as NeCTAR successfully establishes and executes sub-‐projects. Preliminary discussions have occurred at the Project Board level.

1.6 Treatment of depreciation

The Project will seek to secure arrangements where Project infrastructure can be integrated over the lifetime of the Project into the business operations of project participants.

This strategy was successfully implemented in the RFP, with equipment costs, particularly for the Research Cloud and NSP, fully integrated into the business operations of the participants.

Risk Area 2: Suitability for Purpose Risk Mitigation 2.1 Infrastructure does

not meet the requirements of researchers

A significant portion of the infrastructure developed by the Project will be co-‐developed with researchers to provide functions that are a direct result of their research need. Significant sector consultation will drive Project-‐initiated infrastructure development to ensure large-‐scale demand determines Project priorities and the delivered functionality. The requirement for co-‐investment from researchers and research organisations is intended to constrain developments to functions

This strategy was incorporated into the RFP. Sub-‐projects were required to be partnerships, with the research community they are targeting represented in that partnership (RFP Section D-‐5.3). In addition, a series of briefing sessions for the RFP emphasized the need for research community participation. The Expert Panel, which is convened to evaluate the stage 1 proposals, is briefed on the need for research community participation and this forms part of their evaluation criteria. Additionally, NeCTAR seeks to


regarded as valuable by the relevant communities.

address this risk through requiring the staged deployment of infrastructure and research user signoff of production deliverables. This is an ongoing risk to be addressed throughout the execution of the sub-‐projects.

2.2 Research cloud is not sufficiently large to meet demand

The Project Board will be able to advise on the balance of other Programs in relation to the Research Cloud. The Cloud will be implemented with institutions intending to self invest in cloud capabilities to maximise overall capacity. Access policies to be developed to consider ways each approved use has sufficient capacity to achieve intended research outcomes.

This strategy was successfully implemented through the requirement for co-‐investment by research cloud proposers. Additionally, NeCTAR has structured the RC program to enable independent growth of capacity at the nodes through future stakeholder buy-‐in.

2.3 Adequacy of access arrangements

The access policies and arrangements will be determined with sector consultation and modelled on those used by suppliers of existing, similar, successful infrastructures.

This strategy was successfully implemented in the NeCTAR RFP through a requirement for access policies aligned with the requirements identified in the development of the 2011 Roadmap for Research Infrastructure.

Risk Area 3: Project management Risk Mitigation 3.1 Adequacy of project

leadership and management

Once appointed, it is intended that the Project Director shall be named in this Agreement at Item I of Schedule 1, in accordance with Clause 8 of this Agreement (Specified Personnel). The Project Director will be appointed with the agreement of the Project Board, the University of Melbourne and DIISR. Other key personnel will have relevant seniority and experience and work under the direction of the Project Director and to the policies of the University of Melbourne, The University of Melbourne will ensure its proven project management methodologies and policies are applied to the Project.

This strategy was successfully implemented as identified, and the Director appointed in accordance with the mitigation strategy. Nonetheless, there was a delay in the selection and approval of the Director, and this had impacts on the subsequent schedule for delivery of the Final Project Plan. The NeCTAR directorate has been closely supported by the University’s Project Services group, ensuring the use of strong project management practices. Additionally, NeCTAR identified in the Final Project Plan the appointment of a Deputy Director to support project leadership.

3.2 Delays in design and construction

Experienced and dedicated personnel will be deployed as

This mitigation strategy was successfully implemented in the


needed to ensure sufficient attention and effort is available to progress the Project in a timely manner. Overall, the project will to the greatest extent possible deploy standardised and proven technologies.

RFP, especially in the Research Cloud and NSP, through selection of cloud middleware with broad industry representation and support, and support for standardized APIs. Virtual Laboratories and eResearch Tools are also required to build substantially on existing and proven tools and capabilities, reducing the time to deployment of usable infrastructure.

3.3 Adequacy of sub-‐contracting arrangements

The University of Melbourne is a substantial organization with a long history in infrastructure development and deployment. It will undertake the Project using its well-‐established processes and contractual arrangements.

Contracting arrangements have been fully evaluated and further developed to meet the needs of this project. These arrangements have been developed by the NeCTAR employed Contracts Manager alongside University of Melbourne Legal department and the formulation of the NeCTAR Tender Board.


Appendix 3 NeCTAR Key Performance Indicators At 30 June 2012, NeCTAR had four projects that had started development and were expending funds. At this stage we are not able to report the key performance indicators with meaningful quantitative or qualitative data. NeCTAR anticipates reporting key performance indicators when sub projects are in the implementation phase.

Objective Performance Indicator Point of capture

Data type

1 Enhance research collaboration through the development of eResearch infrastructure capable of having national impact and, through this, enhance national research outcomes.

Number of collaborative agreements/relationships established for the construction and management of NeCTAR infrastructure

Sub-‐contract Quantitative

Number of collaborations between Australian and/or international researchers that are support by the NeCTAR infrastructure


Degree of research community satisfaction that creation of the NeCTAR infrastructure has impacted positively on its ability to produce quality research outcomes

Independent evaluation

Quantitative & Qualitative

2 Deploy eResearch infrastructure and services not otherwise available to publicly-‐funded researchers.

Value of NeCTAR infrastructure by location


Percentage utilisation of NeCTAR services capacity, where applicable


Degree of research community satisfaction that identified gaps in national eResearch infrastructure capability were appropriately addressed

Independent evaluation

Qualitative

3 Extend the use of these eResearch capabilities to a wider cross-‐section of publicly-‐funded researchers more quickly than would otherwise occur.

Number of research problem-‐focused tools developed per discipline

NeCTAR Quantitative

Number, type and location of applicants for NeCTAR services and tools (where applicable)


Number, type and location of users of NeCTAR services and tools


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