The ELIXIR Compute Platform aims to build and integrate cloud, compute, storage and access services for the life science research community
Today, thousands of science laboratories across the world generate massive amounts of data that they make available to collaborators, directly or placed in public archives for open access. In this situation, the traditional method of a researcher downloading and analysing data locally is no longer viable, due to both the size of the date and the scope of the analysis.
The data needs to be managed as a federation, where data providers work as a single infrastructure providing mechanisms where researchers can bring their analysis to where the data is located. The ELIXIR Compute Platform infrastructure will allow life scientists to easily access, share and analyse data from different sources across Europe.
The objective is to combine all components of the ELIXIR Compute services into a seamless workflow. A researcher may use the ELIXIR Authorisation and Authentication services to securely create a scientific software analysis environment, and use the environment to access large biological data resources stored in a cloud.
Services offered
Authentication and Authorization Infrastructure (AAI)
- Provides a user access and identity management service for academia and industry.
- Allows users to consolidate their different online identities (university ID, Google ID, ORCID ID) into one identity.
- For accessing sensitive data, it provides REMS (Resource Entitlement Management System), an electronic tool where a researcher needs to apply for approval by the resource provider.
- To start using the service, see the AAI web page or email aai-contact@elixir-europe.org.
How the Platform is organised
The Platform is organised into five Work Packages.
WP1: Platform management and coordination
Goal: To provide the overall project management and coordination of the activities of ELIXIR Compute Platform.
Activities:
- Aligning the ELIXIR Compute Platform to complementary European projects and initiatives.
- Ensuring strategic oversight of the Compute Platform activities during the 2024-2026 period.
- Hosting annual face-to-face events and coordinating monthly Platform calls.
- Addressing sustainability and dissemination activities of the Platform.
Leads: Juha Törnroos (CSC, Finland), Harald Wagener (Berlin Institute of Health at Charité, Germany), Jana Broncova (Masaryk University, Czech Republic)
WP2: Advanced service access control
Goal: To further develop the Life Science Authentication and Authorization Infrastructure (LS-AAI) service to increase its capability for advanced service access control needs, such as for accessing sensitive data.
Activities:
- Developing advanced service authentication mechanisms.
- Aligning and engaging with GA4GH standards such as Passports.
- Working on improving authorization mechanisms across distributed infrastructures.
- Boosting community engagement and improving user experience.
- Developing LS-AAI training and outreach for advanced service access control.
Leads: Dominik F. Bucik (Masaryk University, Czech Republic), Miska Husgafvel (CSC, Finland)
WP3: Protected access to sensitive data for analysis
Leads: Stefan Negru (CSC, Finland), Sven Twardziok (Berlin Institute of Health at Charité, Germany)
Goal: To help align approaches and technologies across ELIXIR for accessing and processing sensitive data.
Activities:
- Breaking down sensitive data access as a process to best understand the general workflow across ELIXIR Nodes using use cases.
- Engaging with the EOSC ENTRUST project which is focused on sensitive data and trusted research environments.
- Providing reference implementations of protected access to sensitive data including common steps and services.
- Developing guidance and outreach for ELIXIR members looking for support on protected access to sensitive data for analysis.
WP4: Multi cloud infrastructure deployment
Goal: To further develop an ELIXIR-wide federated hybrid- and multicloud-ready set of packages consisting of various GA4GH-compatible backend microservices deployed across the ELIXIR Nodes, and a micro-frontend-based web portal to enable end users to operationalise the platform.
Activities:
- Developing and expanding ELIXIR Cloud Software Development Kit (SDK) use case portfolio.
- Begin operationalisation of the ELIXIR Cloud through the deployment of centralised and federated ELIXIR Cloud SDK service components across different ELIXIR Nodes.
- Development of policies, documentation and outreach activites related to ELIXIR Cloud.
Leads: Viktória Spišaková (Masaryk University, Czech Republic), Alexander Kanitz (SIB, Switzerland), and Ivar Janmaat (SURF, Netherlands)
WP5: Sustainability, accounting and provenance for federated analytics
Goal: To identify best practices in ELIXIR Communities, Nodes and projects in the reporting of resources (facilities, services) used to lay the groundwork for billing or other financial accounting of services (within or between institutions, and eventually across borders). The WP will identify automated, lightweight solutions which are FAIR in practice, in order to track provenance.
Activities:
- Developing a live dashboard of ELIXIR Computing Providers aiding compute resource findability.
- Gather use cases of provenance consumption and production by infrastructures such as Galaxy BE.
- Guided by use cases, developing a framework for monitoring and reporting resource usage in research compute systems.
- Running workshops to carry out necessary stakeholder engagement and community alignment on outputs.
Leads: Michael R. Crusoe (Freie Universität Berlin, Germany), Thanasis Vergoulis (Athena Research Center, Greece), and Paul De Geest (VIB, Belgium)
Commissioned Services
The Compute Platform has also completed a number of short-term projects called Commissioned Services. For details of these projects, see the Commissioned Services page.
Find out more
- Contact: if you'd like to know more about the Platform's work please email compute-exco@elixir-europe.org
- See the Compute Platform overview brochure (updated 2020)
- View the list of Compute services offered by ELIXIR Nodes
Leadership
Ludek Matyska
Platform Lead
Juha Törnroos
Platform Lead
Harald Wagener
Platform Lead
Jana Broncova
Platform Lead
Jonathan Tedds
Platform Coordinator
Find out more
- Contact: if you'd like to know more about the Platform's work please email:
compute-exco@elixir-europe.org. - Compute Platform overview brochure (updated 2020)
- View the list of Compute services offered by ELIXIR Nodes.