[Bioclusters] Designing a life sciences computing facility

Joseph Landman bioclusters@bioinformatics.org
12 Dec 2002 18:46:31 -0500


I just ran through a very similar particular project.  There are many
things to consider, but let me try to make a specific recommendations:

1) build the physical infrastructure to allow for growth
	. build enough electrical and cooling
	. build enough floor space
	. use correct fire suppression
	. use thermal kill switches
	. ups and power conditioning
	...

2) build the network infrastructure to scale
	. use the right backbone(s)
	. get good network connectivity to the outside net (highest speed to
edge of net)
	. redundant external connections
	. redundant paths internal
	. redundant switches/fabrics
	...

3) build the computing infrastructure to be scalable and secure
	. use the right network infrastructures
	. plenty of fast storage and appropriate backup
	. use appropriate technology where needed,

I could go into more depth, but usually you want to look into hiring an
organization to do this (full design).  Contact me offline if you need
names of companies that do this.

Joe

On Thu, 2002-12-12 at 18:10, Joel Dudley wrote:
>         How would you design a computing facility for life sciences if
> you got the chance to build one from scratch? That is the question I
> am going to be faced with shortly. As our new research building is
> being built I have a chance to influence the design of the computing
> facility. So, I would like to ask the members of the list for for
> their opinion on this matter. The facility will play host to various
> applications such as image analysis, microarray analysis, sequence
> alignment, phylogenetic modeling, etc. All suggestions are
> appreciated. Thanks.
> 
> Joel Dudley
> Faculty Research Associate
> Arizona State University
> Center for Evolutionary and Functional Genomics
> http://lsweb.la.asu.edu/skumar/
-- 
Joseph Landman, Ph.D
Scalable Informatics LLC
email: landman@scalableinformatics.com
  web: http://scalableinformatics.com
phone: +1 734 612 4615