We request funds to purchase an enterprise-class biomedical research data management system consisting of 144 useable terabytes of new hard disk space in a storage area network (SAN), and a new 800 terabyte capacity data backup system from Quantum/EMC. This requested equipment will integrate with our current, internally funded research data storage system featuring a BlueArc network-attached storage (NAS) server and 85 terabytes of disk storage. Together, the upgrades will provide desperately needed capacity expansion and new disaster recovery capabilities that will dramatically improve data analysis, data security, and overall productivity for over 140 NIH-funded data-intensive research projects of the major users. Vanderbilt's existing BlueArc system has been in service since 2004 and has been upgraded five times in attempt to meet the expanding requirements of the research community. This internally funded system has been very successful, and currently is the primary data facility for 6 major research centers and cores serving of scores of NIH- sponsored investigators. However, the substantial rate of growth of Vanderbilt's NIH-funded research enterprise (Vanderbilt is the fastest growing of the top 10 medical schools in the country) calls for capacity expansion and deployment of disaster recovery equipment beyond the intramural funding capabilities of Vanderbilt University alone. As with the current system, the requested equipment will be managed by Vanderbilt's Information Technology Services (ITS) department. ITS has staff who are specially trained to operate high-performance NAS, SAN and enterprise backup facilities, deploy and manage the required research network infrastructure to extend the service to key research facilities around campus, and host the system in an environmentally-controlled and tightly secured data center. Per-gigabyte user fees have and will continue to support the service of the equipment, with the institution committed to covering any potential financial shortfalls for the necessary support and maintenance of this instrument and its associated infrastructure. A significant data network upgrade is planned by the University and Medical Center in support of this project should it be funded. Due to the costs associated with the rapidly expanding data storage requirements inherent in cutting-edge biomedical research, we have been unable to keep up with demand for data expansion. The current system is oversubscribed, and there is no mechanism to perform system-wide backups. All parties involved clearly recognize this as risky behavior. But with no alternative for storing and backing up our current, but exponentially growing 85 terabytes of data, we are forced to live with significant, even potentially catastrophic compromises. The requested instrumentation is critical to reversing this situation by providing the necessary data expansion and reliability to adequately support our data-intensive research activities in the areas of Genetics, Structural Biology, Mass Spectrometry, Proteomics, Cell and Medical Imaging, among others.
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