Distributed Storage Infrastructure for Research Data Management

The RWTH Aachen University (RWTH), the University Alliance Ruhr (UAR), which consists of the TU Dortmund University, the Ruhr University Bochum and the University of Duisburg-Essen, the University of Cologne (UzK) and the University of Applied Sciences Aachen (FHAC) have jointly set themselves the goal of equipping research data management (FDM) with scalable storage and thus supporting it. For this purpose, a joint, shared storage system for central applications was requested from the German Research Foundation (DFG). The acquisition of new research data storage devices was not only intended to increase the storage volume, but also to improve the FDM processes in scientific practice, since the storage of research data at the cooperating universities had previously been carried out on different systems.As consortium leader, the IT Center is proud that the concept of the participating universities, which forms the basis of the proposal, was evaluated very positively by the DFG reviewers and was recommended for full funding. Of almost €5 million total contract volume, €1.5 million went to RWTH Aachen University. The research data storage devices could thus be ordered by the three locations UAR (Uni Bochum, Uni Duisburg-Essen and TU Dortmund), the University of Cologne and RWTH (together with FH Aachen).At the RWTH, the hardware has already been delivered and installed this year. At the locations Cologne and UAR, the delivery and installation of the hardware, as well as the basic configurations, are already in process.