IBM Case Studies Southern Ontario Smart Computing Innovation Platform (SOSCIP) Boosting long-term economic development with cutting-edge collaborative research

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	Southern Ontario Smart Computing Innovation Platform (SOSCIP) Boosting long-term economic development with cutting-edge collaborative research IBM

Southern Ontario Smart Computing Innovation Platform (SOSCIP) Boosting long-term economic development with cutting-edge collaborative research

IBM

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Big Data Analytics Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms
Applicable Industries	Education Healthcare & Hospitals Utilities
Applicable Functions	Business Operation
Use Cases	Edge Computing & Edge Intelligence Predictive Maintenance Real-Time Location System (RTLS)
Services	Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services Data Science Services System Integration
Challenge	SOSCIP aimed to develop an attractive ecosystem that would help to keep research talent and startups in Ontario. The goal was to connect leading academic institutions with small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to provide a competitive edge by accelerating research. SOSCIP and its partners wanted to develop intellectual property such as patents, and support the commercialization of research results through collaborative projects. As the SOSCIP consortium was forming, the organization sought a lead industrial partner to establish the computing technologies and collaborative research and development model upon which the consortium was founded. Read More
About Customer	Southern Ontario Smart Computing Innovation Platform (SOSCIP) is a research and development consortium that pairs academic and industry researchers with advanced computing tools to fuel innovation leadership in Canada within the areas of agile computing, health, water, energy, cities, mining, advanced manufacturing, digital media and cybersecurity. SOSCIP members include Carleton University, Laurier University, McMaster University, the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, the University of Ottawa, Queen’s University, Ryerson University, the University of Toronto, the University of Waterloo, Western University, York University, Ontario Centres of Excellence and the IBM Canada Research and Development Centre. The Federal Government of Canada, the Province of Ontario and IBM Canada have invested more than CAD210 million (USD167 million) to create this unique innovation cluster. Read More
Solution	The consortium has deployed four advanced computing platforms to support ground-breaking research, all based on IBM solutions. The first platform, designed to handle large-scale distributed applications that require massive parallel processing power, is Canada’s fastest supercomputer, based on IBM Blue Gene/Q technology. The second platform, for agile computing, uses a combination of IBM POWER8® processor-based servers and Field-Programmable Gate Arrays to support applications including real-time data stream processing, machine learning and physical systems simulation. Thirdly, the Large Memory System platform offers a virtual symmetric multiprocessing environment running IBM analytics software for data-intensive projects involving in-memory databases, key-value storage and large computations. The fourth platform deployed by SOSCIP is Canada’s first research-dedicated cloud analytics platform, uniquely providing access to a broad suite of IBM analytics solutions—including IBM InfoSphere® Streams, Hadoop-based IBM InfoSphere BigInsights™, IBM Cognos® and IBM SPSS®—that can be combined with other software to create customized virtual research environments. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Big Data Analytics

Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms

Applicable Industries

Education

Healthcare & Hospitals

Utilities

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Use Cases

Edge Computing & Edge Intelligence

Predictive Maintenance

Real-Time Location System (RTLS)

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services

Data Science Services

System Integration

Challenge

SOSCIP aimed to develop an attractive ecosystem that would help to keep research talent and startups in Ontario. The goal was to connect leading academic institutions with small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to provide a competitive edge by accelerating research. SOSCIP and its partners wanted to develop intellectual property such as patents, and support the commercialization of research results through collaborative projects. As the SOSCIP consortium was forming, the organization sought a lead industrial partner to establish the computing technologies and collaborative research and development model upon which the consortium was founded.

About Customer

Southern Ontario Smart Computing Innovation Platform (SOSCIP) is a research and development consortium that pairs academic and industry researchers with advanced computing tools to fuel innovation leadership in Canada within the areas of agile computing, health, water, energy, cities, mining, advanced manufacturing, digital media and cybersecurity. SOSCIP members include Carleton University, Laurier University, McMaster University, the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, the University of Ottawa, Queen’s University, Ryerson University, the University of Toronto, the University of Waterloo, Western University, York University, Ontario Centres of Excellence and the IBM Canada Research and Development Centre. The Federal Government of Canada, the Province of Ontario and IBM Canada have invested more than CAD210 million (USD167 million) to create this unique innovation cluster.

Solution

The consortium has deployed four advanced computing platforms to support ground-breaking research, all based on IBM solutions. The first platform, designed to handle large-scale distributed applications that require massive parallel processing power, is Canada’s fastest supercomputer, based on IBM Blue Gene/Q technology. The second platform, for agile computing, uses a combination of IBM POWER8® processor-based servers and Field-Programmable Gate Arrays to support applications including real-time data stream processing, machine learning and physical systems simulation. Thirdly, the Large Memory System platform offers a virtual symmetric multiprocessing environment running IBM analytics software for data-intensive projects involving in-memory databases, key-value storage and large computations. The fourth platform deployed by SOSCIP is Canada’s first research-dedicated cloud analytics platform, uniquely providing access to a broad suite of IBM analytics solutions—including IBM InfoSphere® Streams, Hadoop-based IBM InfoSphere BigInsights™, IBM Cognos® and IBM SPSS®—that can be combined with other software to create customized virtual research environments.

Impact #1	The main Canadian academic high-performance computing network is not normally open to SMEs; SOSCIP crosses academic and industry boundaries to enable collaboration that is already producing new services and jobs.
Impact #2	One example is Dr. Carolyn McGregor’s Artemis Project, which uses IBM InfoSphere Streams to process and analyze live streams of hundreds of gigabytes per hour of physiological data from medical devices that are monitoring prematurely born infants in hospitals.
Impact #3	Dr. David Rudolph of the Department of Earth and Environment Sciences of the University of Waterloo is analyzing data from thousands of hydrological sensors in the Grand River Watershed, an important water resource for the heavily populated southern Ontario area.

Impact #1

The main Canadian academic high-performance computing network is not normally open to SMEs; SOSCIP crosses academic and industry boundaries to enable collaboration that is already producing new services and jobs.

Impact #2

One example is Dr. Carolyn McGregor’s Artemis Project, which uses IBM InfoSphere Streams to process and analyze live streams of hundreds of gigabytes per hour of physiological data from medical devices that are monitoring prematurely born infants in hospitals.

Impact #3

Dr. David Rudolph of the Department of Earth and Environment Sciences of the University of Waterloo is analyzing data from thousands of hydrological sensors in the Grand River Watershed, an important water resource for the heavily populated southern Ontario area.

Benefit #1	Potential revenue generation from the early collaborative research projects will exceed CAD66 million over the next five years, and CAD1.8 billion over ten years.
Benefit #2	An initial evaluation conducted on just eight SOSCIP healthcare projects suggests opportunities to generate new revenues in excess of CAD100 million over the next ten years, and potential savings or other benefits to the Canadian healthcare system of almost CAD2 billion over the same period.

Benefit #1

Potential revenue generation from the early collaborative research projects will exceed CAD66 million over the next five years, and CAD1.8 billion over ten years.

Benefit #2

An initial evaluation conducted on just eight SOSCIP healthcare projects suggests opportunities to generate new revenues in excess of CAD100 million over the next ten years, and potential savings or other benefits to the Canadian healthcare system of almost CAD2 billion over the same period.

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Overview

Southern Ontario Smart Computing Innovation Platform (SOSCIP) Boosting long-term economic development with cutting-edge collaborative research

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit