Revised text for http://www.nationaldataservice.org/projects/labs.html

NDS Labs: A Playground for Data Management Technology Evaluation, Development, and Integration

The data management landscape is diverse with many tools and services being actively developed within different scientific communities, spanning a variety of requirements.  Navigating these technologies for ones data management needs is thus challenging, especially where no one technology is sufficient and a mixture is required (e.g. as is the case in establishing a U.S. National Data Service that broadly supports scientific needs).  Towards both simplifying this process and fostering the the interoperability needed to allow these components to be mixed and match, the National Data Service Consorutium has stood up NDS Labs.  NDS Labs ...

NDS Labs is an environment where developers can prototype tools and capabilities that help build out the NDS framework and services. In particular, it is a place that can host the development activities of NDS pilot projects. Users of this environment have access to significant storage, machines that can run services, and a variety of useful data management and manipulation tools (e.g. databases, storage management systems, repository applications, etc.).

The key purpose behind NDS Labs is to discover and demonstrate the key features and capabilities needed by the NDS framework. NDS Labs provides an environment that enables a developer or small team of developers to explore an innovative idea, prototype a service, or connect existing applications as part of building an NDS ecosystem. We also see NDS Labs as a way to cultivate a community of developers interested in building up open-source software that will drive the NDS environment. Finally, we would like to see most projects developed in NDS Labs mature to the point of delivering real capabilities to scientists; tools developed in NDS Labs can be exposed to a broader user base through NDS Share.

How to request access to Workbench

You can request access to the Workbench by registering for an account. After a short approval process, you will be allowed to login. See the User's Guide for information about how to use the system.

Why would you use Labs Workbench?

Who will be granted access to Labs Workbench?

• RDA and NDS Consortium members
• Data management tool developers
• PIs and staff on related projects
• You!

How to request access to Labs

For projects that require more dedicated resources or support, you can complete an application for a premium account.

What do you get?

• Access to dedicated resources (VMs and storage)
• No fixed resource limits
• Dedicated developer support

What makes a good project?

• a tool for discovering data across multiple communities or data systems,
• a data publishing tool or example that demonstrates a widely applicable feature that makes the underlying data either easier to publish or easier to re-use,
• a new service or tool that makes it easier to re-use data in a repository
• a demonstration of connecting together multiple data systems to provide an important, higher-level functionality,
• a demonstration of prototype “standard” that allows systems to interoperate
• a demonstration of an RDA deliverable

Connecting Lab products to researchers

We hope that some teams will be motivated to work in NDS Labs for the opportunity to build a service or tool that will be useful to researchers today. To that end, we've also create NDS Share as a platform for sharing a tool with friendly users from the community.