From Siloed Systems to Shared Success: A Blog Series on Collaborative Research IT Infrastructure
In today’s data-driven research environment, universities face a growing challenge: while researchers excel at pushing the boundaries of knowledge, they often face challenges managing the technology that supports their work.
Many university research teams still operate on isolated, improvised systems for computing and data storage—servers tucked in closets or offices, ad-hoc storage solutions, and no consistent approach to backups or security. These isolated systems may meet immediate needs but often creates inefficiencies, security risks, and lost opportunities for collaboration and innovation.
In this blog series, we’ll explore how research teams at universities in general can benefit by identifying their community commonalities and consolidating their IT infrastructure. A unified system, professionally managed by a dedicated research IT team, brings enhanced security, greater scalability, improved collaboration, and increased efficiency to researchers, allowing them to focus on discovery, not IT overhead. We’ll break down the benefits of this shift and how it can help research institutions thrive in today’s data-intensive landscape. Specifically, we will describe how a Collaborative Research IT Infrastructure might help University of Guelph researchers meet their IT needs while freeing up researchers’ time to focus on their core research objectives rather than the underlying IT infrastructure.
What You Can Expect from This Series
Post 1: The Problem with Doing It All Yourself
We’ll kick off by examining the issues that arise when research teams manage their own IT infrastructure—uncoordinated systems, security vulnerabilities, inefficient storage, and the burden of maintaining it all. We’ll explore the risks and costs of decentralized research IT infrastructure and the toll it takes on research productivity.
Posted on Nov 29 and available here.
Post 2: Why a Shared Infrastructure Makes Sense
Next, we’ll explore the advantages of moving to a shared research compute and storage system. From cost savings to enhanced security and easier scalability, we’ll show how a well-managed, shared resource pool can transform the way researchers handle data, computations, and infrastructure, giving them access to state-of-the-art tools and adding scalability by leveraging idle capacity from other research groups.
Post 3: Debunking the Myths: Research Autonomy in a Shared System
A common concern is that adopting a shared infrastructure means losing control. In this post, we’ll discuss how a collaborative system can actually increase flexibility, offering tailored environments for different research needs, while freeing researchers from the technical burdens of IT management. We’ll also explore how it fosters easier collaboration across departments and institutions.
Post 4: The Benefits of Shared Storage
Research generates vast amounts of data, and managing it efficiently is key to success. This post will look at how shared storage solutions offer more than just space—providing reliable backups, cost-effective scaling, and multiple storage tiers to meet various research needs, from active datasets to long-term archives.
Post 5: Scaling for the Future: Building a System That Grows with Your Research
As research projects evolve, so do their IT demands. This post will highlight how shared infrastructure offers scalability and adaptability, ensuring that universities can support growing data and computational needs. We’ll also discuss how investing in shared systems today sets universities up to leverage future advancements in research computing.
Post 6: Transitioning to a Shared System: Key Considerations
In our final post, we’ll discuss key considerations for the University of Guelph to explore the move to a shared research compute and storage system. We’ll look at the importance of securing sustainable funding, fostering consensus across departments, and navigating shared governance to ensure all voices are heard. Additionally, we’ll examine how existing organizational structures influence the establishment of dedicated roles for managing this infrastructure. This discussion aims to highlight the factors that can guide a smooth transition toward a collaborative research IT environment.
The Case for Change
By the end of this series, you’ll have a clear understanding of why shared research infrastructure is the future for universities. We’ll show that this approach isn’t just about technology—it’s about improving collaboration, safeguarding data, and ultimately empowering researchers to focus on what really matters: driving innovation. Join us as we explore the journey from siloed systems to shared success.
Written by Lucas Alcantara
Featured picture generated by Pixlr
