Why Experiment Results from Lab Should Be On Cloud?

By CIOReview | Friday, June 7, 2019

FREMONT, CA: Cloud computing has helped to alleviate the burden of storing enormous amounts of data physically by removing the necessity for laboratories to own information silos. The research data can be stored in the cloud, external to the facility. For laboratories, cloud computing integrates data, guaranteeing security and data sovereignty while facilitating collaboration and functionality.

Data Centralization

Cloud computing facilitates lab participation in the computing processes without the additional cost and complications of managing onsite server rooms. The transformation from an onsite server room to the cloud alleviates the need for IT infrastructure, decreasing the cost of entry into the industry, while also balancing the field for smaller laboratories.

The integration of lab equipment and cloud services can re-direct the real-life data from experiments to be combined into a cloud system. The newly collected data of large quantities requires a centralization system that meshes the protocols of the scientists and experimental annotations. The system will also provide leeway for large R&D projects to control data scalability effectively.

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Data Sovereignty

It has become increasingly imperative for laboratory environments to have cloud computing integrated due to exceeding regulatory requirements. To maintain the credibility of data, measures should be taken for compliant research via audit trails is compulsory. As the cloud supports custom access control, access to the specific information can be granted respective to the role of the user. The governance of specific levels of the data can be carried out by the QA/QM department of the lab.

With the introduction of GDPR law, the compliance regulation of the third party cloud providers has changed immensely. The checking for data protection policies need to be carried out with each provider as a single breach in the compliance from a provider would sabotage the infrastructure of the entire system.

Cloud Companies: Alooma, Bell Techlogix, Cloudistics, ServerCentral, IronOrbit, iT1, Pragmatic Works

Conclusion

Cloud computing has provided a more balanced playing field concerning research and development. It has proven to be cost-effective for smaller laboratories to step up in the research industry, while still pertaining to compliance regulations.