Blog
Non-profit tech advice helps local independent film society enter the app business
As more Canadian not-for-profit arts organizations make the leap from paper-based systems to online tools, new opportunities for collaborating, sharing and innovating are emerging. Such is the case for the Film and Video Arts Society of Alberta (FAVA), whose efforts to build and expand a software tool for sharing its videos and services has created a national […]
Embracing DNS on the Rapid Access Cloud
With the introduction of the OpenStack DNS service (designate) to the Rapid Access Cloud, users are now able to host and manage DNS zones and records, to assist with accessing and managing their resources. Nothing is required for users to start leveraging the OpenStack DNS service, as we have created automated convenience records for floating […]
Albertan elected to global internet advisory council
An active voice in Alberta’s telecommunications community, Alyssa Moore, has been elected to the Advisory Council of the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN). She is the first Albertan, and first member of Canada’s National Research and Education Network, to take on this role. Over the next three years, Alyssa will work with an elected […]
Does where you live affect your network quality?
By the Cybera Data Science Team Introduction In our first blog, we used network speed test data captured by Ookla (speedtest.net) to analyze how internet speeds have changed in Canada from 2008-2014. While upload and download speeds are critical factors for people looking to participate in the digital economy, other factors such as network quality […]
Reflections on Learning Management Cloud
On June 1 2016, Cybera officially transferred the operations of the Learning Management Cloud (LMC) to the University of Alberta. This was a bittersweet moment for us. We were sad to say goodbye to something that we had grown and developed since its inception in 2012. In a way, it was like sending our child […]
New reports from Cybera give the low-down on Alberta’s networking capabilities
Where are all the fibre networks in Alberta? How many free WiFi spots do we have access to in the province? And how soon until we see internet delivered by drones? After a year of researching, Cybera has unveiled a comprehensive update to the networking chapter of its 2014 State of Alberta Digital Infrastructure Report. The in-depth review looks at the […]
Canada’s Internet Performance: What the Numbers Show
By the Cybera Data Science Team Introduction To an ever increasing degree, participation in the economy and society at large is mediated by the internet. If people don’t have good internet access, they feel disenfranchised. Currently in Canada, there are many, many people who feel disenfranchised. For several years now, it has seemed that internet […]
Cybera recognized for its support of gender diversity in IT
This week, Cybera’s Vice President of Policy and Strategic Initiatives, Barb Carra, was pleased to represent Cybera as it accepted the inaugural KNOVO Award of Distinction for corporate gender diversity. Cybera was one of 11 organizations honoured at the awards ceremony, which was held on Tuesday in Calgary’s Jubilee Auditorium. KNOVO was launched in 2015 […]
Alberta Educator’s First Major Shared Service Passes the Test
When over 53,000 students at three of Alberta’s post-secondary institutions went online this month to register for courses and communicate with their teachers, it was under the watchful eye of the University of Alberta’s IT staff. The institution has successfully transferred the operations of one of Alberta’s first educational shared services from Cybera (Alberta’s not-for-profit […]
That Escalated Quickly
One of Cybera’s newest projects involves creating a pilot Identity Federation for Alberta K-12 School Authorities. This Identity Federation, known as MyUnifiED, will give participating school staff and students the ability to log into different web services using their school’s login account — they no longer need to have a separate set of credentials stored […]
Area51 Declassified
Welcome to the Rapid Access Cloud Experimental Region NOTE: The Area51 cloud region was decommissioned in 2018 Cybera’s Rapid Access Cloud provides a stable and reliable platform for non-production, demonstrative, or development purposes, using tried and well-tested OpenStack services like OpenStack Compute (nova) and OpenStack Object Storage (swift). Introducing new services to the Rapid Access […]
Municipalities “to the right of the dot”. Imagine the new opportunities!
By Richard Schreier, Project Manager, Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) Until recently, there was not a lot of choice in what domain name came after the dot in your web address. Traditionally, .CA or .COM were two of about 250 top-level domains (or TLDs in domain industry jargon) available, most of which were very specific to the […]
Online privacy and security — whose responsibility?
Early in the Pokemon Go craze, several articles warned that the game’s Terms & Conditions offered poor protection for the private details of those who downloaded the app, as it provided full access to users’ Google accounts. Clearly the majority of players did not read this policy (or care, if they did). At last check, […]
Classroom Case Study: Working with NoSQL Databases on the Rapid Access Cloud
By Michael Strobl, PhD Student, University of Alberta A common use of Cybera’s Rapid Access Cloud has been for classroom learning. Instructors from a number of Alberta institutions have used the cloud to run student assignments, teach the basics of cloud computing, or run modern-day analytics. This post highlights one such use case from the […]
“CY-Fi” brings super-fast Wi-Fi speeds to Calgary’s tech innovators
Visitors accessing the public Wi-Fi at Calgary’s Alastair Ross Technology Centre (ARTC) will now experience some of the fastest internet in Calgary. The ARTC — which offers affordable office space and business advisory services to over 100 local start-ups — has recently connected to Alberta’s Research and Education Network to provide innovators with an invaluable […]