AARNet takes large files to the cloud

<p>AARNet takes large files to the cloud</p>
<p>CloudStor to improve collaboration and information-sharing opportunities</p>
<p>Sydney, AUSTRALIA – 19 November 2009 – AARNet (Australia’s Academic and Research Network) has launched CloudStor, a new web-based large file transfer service for customers which allows the secure electronic transfer of virtually any file type regardless of size. File transfers of up to 55 gigabytes have already been proven on CloudStor and trials are currently underway for the transfer of larger files.</p>
<p>Developed in collaboration between AARNet and its overseas partner organisations in Norway and Ireland (UniNett and HEANet), CloudStor is a complimentary service for AARNet members. It has been designed to facilitate the distribution of large files such as large data sets generated in a research workflow or academic presentations. CloudStor is hosted on AARNet natively and allows users to securely upload files to a central storage point from which Australian and overseas collaborators can then download the file by following simple instructions sent to them in an automatically generated email notification.</p>
<p>Chris Hancock, CEO of AARNet said, “The ability to share information between Australian and international scientific and research communities is critical for seamless collaboration to take place. CloudStor demonstrates the importance of a high speed network to improve the productivity of our users by enabling large file transfers to take place over AARNet’s network.”</p>
<p>Guido Aben, Director eResearch at AARNet said, “In the past, a variety of reasons forced many of our customers to use physical media such as hard disks or thumb drives sent through the postal service if they had to transfer large files. That situation had to stop, and with CloudStor we believe we’re providing a compelling reason for customers to keep their hard disks at home.”</p>
<p>All file transfers are done over HTTP or HTTPS so there is no need for users to open additional ports on their firewall. CloudStor allows files to be temporarily saved for downloading — multiple times if needed — before they are automatically deleted.</p>
<p>AARNet members involved in the initial trials for CloudStor have overwhelmingly endorsed their experience with the service:</p>
<p>Dr Christine Wells from the National Centre for Adult Stem Cell Research said, “We are generating very large data files from whole-genome or whole-transcriptome sequencing, which we wanted to share with collaborators in the USA and Europe. Until now, we have had to rely on couriering the information on external hard drives. The new AARNet application has made sharing large files a much faster, simpler process.”</p>
<p>Stirling Bowen, Manager of the Southern Cross Plant Genomics Facility of Southern Cross University said, “We needed to send a large amount of compressed data to colleagues in Copenhagen quickly, so we trialled CloudStor. The results were excellent. We were impressed by how easy it is to use and it has become an important part of our operation.”</p>
<p>Dr David Parsons, Chief Medical Scientist of the Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Women’s &amp; Children’s Hospital, North Adelaide said, “Recently while attending a conference in the United States I needed to send a large amount of image information from a collaborator for rapid assessment to my team in Australia. Fortunately, I was able to do this through CloudStor. It has brought about greater flexibility in our approach to collaboration and information sharing with colleagues.”</p>
<p>About AARNet</p>
<p>AARNet Pty Ltd (APL) is the company that operates Australia's Academic and Research Network (AARNet). It is a not-for-profit company limited by shares. The shareholders are 37 Australian universities and the CSIRO. AARNet provides high-capacity leading edge Internet services for the tertiary education and research sector communities and their research partners. AARNet serves more than one million end users who access the network through local area networks at member institutions. For further information, please visit: www.aarnet.edu.au.</p>
<p>Media Contact:</p>
<p>Almira Anthony</p>
<p>Max Australia</p>
<p>+ 61 2 9954 3492</p>
<p>almira.anthony@maxaustralia.com.au</p>

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