The Ankabut Users' Fall meeting was held at Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research (KUSTAR). Ankabut management welcomed the distinguished speakers, scientists and academics to discuss their work in Grid & High Performance Computing.

The meeting focused on developing ways to promote innovation and collaboration in the UAE through the use of advanced computing techniques. The keynote speaker at the event was Professor Roberto Barbera from the University of Catania and INFN (Italy), who is currently the "Coordinator of the Exchange Programme to advance e-infrastructure know-how" (EPIKH) project.   Prof. Barbera spoke on the subject "EU funded Grid projects and opportunities for collaboration" to representatives of over thirty organizations from the UAE. Prof. Barbera stated, "Ankabut is a part of the EUMEDGRID-Support Infrastructure, a first in the GCC region, which allows scientists access to very large computing resources. In addition, Ankabut will hold future Grid Computing workshops and training events to develop a national grid programme and teach UAE scientists how to exploit this vast computing power."

Dr. Kenneth Wilson, Executive Director National Research Foundation, spoke to the audience on the "The Challenges of building a National Research and Innovation Eco System in UAE", and representatives from EPFL-Middle East in Ras Al Khaimah, The Centre of Excellence for Applied Research and Training (CERT) part of the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT), Etisalat-British Telecom Innovation Centre (EBTIC) and KUSTAR also made presentations.

Commenting after the Users Meeting, Badr Hubais, Services Development Manager at ANKABUT, stated "the Ankabut network aims at promoting research culture and the exchange of information through empowering researchers, academic and scientists in the UAE to work with their counterparts in the country, as well as different parts of the world. This will facilitate research collaboration and connected institutions will be provided with access to databases, electronic libraries and applications on supercomputers. Ankabut will also be used for teaching rich multimedia content and offering high definition video conferencing. For the universities in UAE and other research and education institutions, Ankabut will enable more effective collaboration and communication between students, researchers in addition to management as well."

Ankabut management stated a number of participants expressed interest in learning more about Grid computing; the combination of computer resources from multiple administrative domains to reach a common goal, and how it would enhance the local research and education sector in the UAE.

The Ankabut network is a dedicated advanced network which acts as a Wide Area Network (WAN) connecting numerous public and private universities, colleges, schools and other learning and research institutions in the UAE, as well as their international counterparts.

The Ankabut project is funded jointly by KUSTAR and ICT Fund, an initiative by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), and is managed by the University. The infrastructure of the Ankabut network is established through the five-year contract signed between Khalifa University and Emirates Telecommunication Corporation "Etisalat".

Ankabut plays a role in the research and scientific development of the UAE, and contributes to the international knowledge-based economy currently being pursued by the government as part of its recently announced "Vision 2021".

The next meeting of the Ankabut Users' Group is scheduled for January, 2011.