Enabling the future, research storage expansion.
Contacts: Todd Shechter (todd.shechter@wisc.edu) and Jan Cheetham (jan.cheetham@wisc.edu)
The Division of Information Technology (DoIT) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is proud to sponsor this year’s Research Bazaar; an opportunity to bring together researchers around this year’s theme of “Data in Action.”
In this blog post, our division will feature significant enhancements to our ResearchDrive storage product in the past year – a natural connection to the bazaar’s theme. Our commitment to supporting cutting-edge research is reflected in these improvements, designed to empower researchers with more robust and flexible storage solutions.
Many on our campus are already familiar with our ResearchDrive product, providing fully subsidized (no cost to researchers) network-attached data storage. Starting a few months ago the quotas for individual principal investigator accounts were increased from 5TB to 25TB. And the cost for buying additional storage was decreased from $200 a year per TB to $120 a year per TB. We are very happy for these changes to our product and are appreciative of the support from across the campus to help make this happen.
One of the highlights of our ResearchDrive upgrade, coming in spring, 2024, is the introduction of the S3 research object storage option. As the landscape of research data evolves, we recognize the importance of providing versatile and scalable storage solutions. The Simple Storage Service (S3) object storage option opens up new possibilities for researchers, allowing seamless integration and enhancing collaboration across teams.
S3 compatibility means that our research storage offering will align with industry standards for object storage, making data interchange between different platforms smoother than ever. This upgrade not only ensures compatibility with popular cloud services but also future proofs your research data, enabling easier migration and adoption of emerging technologies.
Focus on Data Lifecycle
Our division understands that a smooth transition, and integrations between compute environments and storage, is crucial for our researchers (both on-campus and off-campus). To facilitate this, our team is actively working to integrate Globus (a software package that enables data transfer) with several research computing groups around our campus and beyond. We believe that Globus is a critical tool in the lifecycle of our research data and encourage its use and adoption.
For those not familiar with Globus, stop by our booth at the Research Bazaar to learn more!
As we look forward to the Research Bazaar, we invite you to explore the enhanced capabilities of ResearchDrive and the exciting opportunities that the S3 object storage option brings. Join us in the pursuit of knowledge and innovation as we continue to empower the UW-Madison research community with state-of-the-art technology.
Our UW-Madison’s Division of Information Technology is dedicated to helping move your research forward. The future of research data storage is here, and we can’t wait for you to experience it at the Research Bazaar!