Blog
Research networks avoid the pitfalls of US net neutrality changes – for now
Author: Cathy Bogaart, Director, Marketing and Communications, Orion. Undoubtedly, you have seen the recent news coverage about the US Federal Communications Commission repealing Obama-era net neutrality regulations. Many fear that US-based Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will change the way people access applications and services over the internet, no matter if they are living in the US […]
Why rural connectivity is an issue for EVERY Canadian
As part of our core mandate, Cybera continually pushes for the democratization of technology access in Canada. We’ve seen some major policy successes over the years — particularly with the CRTC decision to mandate bandwidth as a basic communications service needed by everyone. We’re also pleased to see increasing investments by governments (from the municipal […]
New Canadian data mining tool analyzes how public submissions affect regulatory decisions
When the CRTC sought submissions to its 2015 consultation on “Basic Telecommunications Services,” thousands of people offered their opinions on what the future of Canada’s internet should look like. For the first time ever, these submissions have been made searchable via a single, simple-to-use platform, and a surprisingly varied narrative of struggles and concerns has […]
A behind-the-scenes look at Cybera’s network security activities
In early 2016, we got wind of a potential (distributed denial-of-service) attack on one of our school members. We contacted the network administrator there to investigate what was going on (sometimes it’s simply a case of the school doing a lot of downloading at one time, which means we don’t need to do anything on […]
Cybera boosts internet infrastructure, lowers bulk buying rate
The price of internet for Alberta’s public sector continued to drop this month, creating even more opportunities for digitally intensive learning and content creation. Members of Alberta’s Internet Buying Group saw their set rate for bandwidth go down by another 18%, moving from $2.75 to $2.25 per Mbps. This is the 10th price decrease for […]
Building Canada’s Digital Generation
(PIMS) are proud to be participating in the new national CanCode program, announced today. This two-year program supports initiatives that aid coding and digital skills development among Canadian youth, from kindergarten to grade 12 (K-12). Over the next two years, Cybera and PIMS will trial new tools and frameworks that help teachers bring computational thinking into their […]
Delving Through 65,000 Pages of Government Submissions: The Challenges
Authors: David Ackerman, Alyssa Moore, David Chan, Tatiana Meleshko, Byron Chu Last June, Cybera’s data scientists took on a monumental task: to create a tool that can easily examine the thousands of documents and testimonials that were provided to the CRTC for its 2016 “basic telecommunications service” consultation, and search for key words and common […]
A Christmas IPv4 Miracle
Christmas came early for Cybera, as we recently received the #1 item on our wish list: more IPv4 addresses! We had been “getting by” for years on our allocation of 2,000 IPv4 addresses, but as the popularity of our Rapid Access Cloud continued to grow, our stock of addresses became depleted (an individual IPv4 address […]
Cyber Summit 2018 moving to a new location
Mark your calendars for November 6-8, 2018, when the annual Cyber Summit will be in a new location! Located one-hour west of Calgary, the newly-renovated Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge is a one-of-a-kind mountain destination offering year-round activities and breathtaking views. The Cyber Summit is the annual gathering of Western Canada's public, education and start-up technology leaders. The […]
Cybera maintenance
Subject: Cybera maintenance Category: Scheduled Hardware upgrade for Google Cache Server (No down-time expected) Start Time: Saturday, Dec 16, 2017, 9:00 MDT End Time: Sunday, Dec 17, 2017, 16:00 MDT Duration: 31 hours During the time frame indicated above, Cybera will be performing hardware upgrade for Google Cache Server in Cybera. Google Services should not be affected […]
New Board Members Bring K-12 Education, Business Analytics Experience to Cybera
While Cybera continues to expand its role in the public sector as Alberta’s not-for-profit technology accelerator, its newest board members promise to reinforce efforts to improve internet connectivity and the reach of data science in the province. At its November AGM, Cybera elected two new board members: Brenda MacDonald, Deputy Superintendent of Clearview Public Schools, […]
New virtual firewall services will offer improved digital security to Alberta’s public sector
Two new cloud-based systems from Cybera and CIRA are giving educators “defence in depth”, while improving the cost and flexibility of their online systems The rise and increasing pervasiveness of the internet in our work, education, and play has also led to the rise of malware, spam, and harmful websites. Firewalls are a necessary tool […]
Alberta Educators Save Nearly $1.7 Million in IT Procurement in 2017
Six months into the launch of Cybera’s ShareIT procurement service, Alberta’s education institutions have already saved nearly $1.7 million. ShareIT began in June 2017 as a collaboration between 19 post-secondary institutions who were looking to reduce the cost of their IT hardware and service purchases. Facilitated by Cybera (Alberta’s not-for-profit technology accelerator), the program has leveraged […]
Cybera boosts network to increase capacity, reduce costs
With Cybera’s network transporting more data than ever before, staff have taken steps to boost the overall capacity of CyberaNet, while improving the affordability of our bulk buying group. Reducing the cost of the Internet Buying Group This past summer, Cybera reduced the rates for the Internet Buying Group for the ninth time, from $3.75 per Mbps […]
High-speed drug discovery
A supercomputing collaboration between Alberta and Ontario, made possible by the national research and education network (NREN), is speeding up life-saving drug discoveries. How do you screen billions of drug compounds to find the right one? Connect a research team at the University of Alberta with a supercomputer 2,700 km away in Ontario using a […]