UVic team helps smash data transfer record

During the SuperComputing 2012 (SC12) conference earlier this month, an international team of physicists, computer scientists, and network engineers from the University of Victoria, the California Institute for Technology, the University of Michigan and Vanderbilt’s Brookhaven National Lab broke their own record for data transfer using the latest generation of wide area network circuits. Apparently, this is just the start, according to this report, 1,000 Mbps speeds will be possible in the next 12 months.

Overall, the transfer rate achieved by the team hit 339 Mbps. For the sake of comparison, a 3G cellphone can usually achieve data transfer rates of around 18 Mbps while brand new super-exciting 4G cellphones can hit 30-35 Mbps in real-world scenarios.

Web development firms Caorda and Sage to merge

Two of Victoria’s web development firms have announced they will merge. Caorda Web Solutions is getting together with Sage Internet Solutions to create an organisation of more than 800 clients and 17 staff members.

The services offered now include web design and strategy, software development for web, mobile and Windows platforms, and hosting.

In the new organization, services for small business web design, ecommerce, online marketing and social media will be delivered under the division, Sage Web Strategy + Design, while Caorda Web Solutions will focus on application development and hosting solutions.

The good news is zero job losses and the combined team will be located at Suite 100-3550 Saanich Road.

Saanich to stream council meetings

It’s so simple – why didn’t someone do this before. Saanich’s council and committee meetings are to be streamed live online and archived as podcasts, according to this report.

What a simple way of making local politics more accessible. “This will give residents more opportunity to have contact with the people they elect,” said Councillor Vic Derman.

I find the webcam displaying the line-ups at the Saanich garden waste dump on McKenzie Avenue very useful in my decision on whether I make the trip or not.

First AGM for Vancouver Island Atlassian User Group

The first annual general meeting of the Vancouver Island Atlassian User Group is taking place on Monday 5 November at The Moon under Water pub on Bay Street. The meeting runs from 6pm to 8pm.

The Group offers a platform for folks who use Atlassian software. Come along and network, exchange ideas and share some knowledge (and have a beer too).

Atlassian is best known for its Confluence and Jira products. There must be many Atlassian users on this Island.