The Sky's the Limit - Preserving Research Data with Clouds
Colin Leavett-Brown
Session Abstract
Data preservation is a topical issue for many researchers and especially for those involved in particle physics experiments. Physics researchers are confronted with the issue of storing large, complex, and specialized software in order to read and analyze massive volumes of data.
As research projects come to an end, the challenge is to save the data and ensure that the existing software can operate on new computers.
In this session, you will learn how a Canadian research team from the Babar particle physics, an experiment based at Stanford University, used virtualization and cloud computing to solve the problem of preserving software and data from their research experiments.
Find out how they approached the challenge, and their innovative cloud solution to protect data for years to come.
Speaker Information
As Associate Director, Infrastructure at the University of Victoria, Mr. Leavett-Brown oversaw the design and construction of the institution's newly commissioned data centre which now hosts a 3000 core WestGrid cluster, the NEPTUNE ocean science project and many of the university's learning, teaching and administrative services.
With more than thirty years experience at the university, he was instrumental in affecting technological change including the development and support of administrative systems, the implementation and support of the university's first CFI funded parallel super-computer, and the design and management of the university's petabyte research storage facility.
In the latter part of 2009, Colin returned to his first love, joining the Department of Physics and Astronomy on the CANARIE funded BaBar Legacy Data project, a collaboration of the National Research Council (NRC) and the University of Victoria to investigate the use of cloud computing technologies for the preservation of scientific data and processing environment.
