CIRMMT members Jeremy Cooperstock and John Roston lead the research group that won an award for "Most Innovative Use of New Technology" for their "McGill Ultra-Videoconferencing Research Group" demonstration "Wide Screen Window on the World: Life Size HD Videoconferencing" at the SuperComputing 2005 Conference in Seattle. It is the major international conference for high performance computing and networking. There were 9,777 attendees and 265 exhibitors from around the world.
The demonstration was part of their current research project, "Shared Spaces - High Definition Ultra-Videoconferencing," with partners University of British Columbia and BCNET (the regional network in B.C., like RISQ in Quebec). The primary funding agency is Canarie, the operator of the CA*net 4 network that was used in the demonstration. Most of the very expensive high definition video equipment was funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation. Quebec's VALORISATION-RECHERCHE QUÉBEC made a significant contribution to both prior development and current research. This would not have been possible without the support of all three agencies.
Full information on the Research Group and the research project is available at: http://ultravideo.mcgill.edu
Link to McGill Reporter article: http://www.mcgill.ca/reporter/38/07/seattle