Cloud repositories for research data-addressing the needs of researchers

Abstract

This paper describes the problems and explores potential solutions for providing long term storage and access to research outputs, focusing mainly on research data. The ready availability of cloud storage and compute services provides a potentially attractive option for curation and preservation of research information. In contrast to deploying infrastructure within an organisation, which normally requires long lead times and upfront capital investment, cloud infrastructure is available on demand and is highly scalable. However, use of commercial cloud services in particular raises issues of governance, cost-effectiveness, trust and quality of service. We describe a set of in-depth case studies conducted with researchers across the sciences and humanities performing data-intensive research, which demonstrate the issues that need to be considered when preserving data in the cloud. We then describe the design of a repository framework that addresses these requirements. The framework uses hybrid cloud, combining internal institutional storage, cloud storage and cloudbased preservation services into a single integrated repository infrastructure. Allocation of content to storage providers is performed using on a rules-based approach. The results of an evaluation of the proof-of-concept system are described. © 2013 Waddington et al.