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Monash e-Research Portal (MeRP) History

2008

  • Research Collaboration
    In 2008, the following eResearch Applications supporting research collaboration and data management were deployed:
    • Sakai VRE all-in-one research collaboration environment
    • Confluence wiki
    • Subversion (SVN) source code repository and version management system
    • EVO video conferencing and collaboration environment

  • Digital Asset Management Systems (DAMS)
    The Mediaflux Desktop  data management application was developed to a Monash specification, to meet a wide variety of image, audio, video and document DAMS requirements of Monash researchers.

  • Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS)
    A single-user desktop 'demonstrator' version of the M-eNotes  custom LIMS solution was developed and delivered to MISCL and ARMI, such that the design and implementation was incrementally enhanced throughout the year based on feedback and use by end-user researchers in the labs.

  • ARCHER
    The ARCHER  project concluded in late 2008, and we have begun to carry forward the various ARCHER deliverables for use by Monash researchers.

  • Discovery tools
    The my.monash portal Research tab  was established such that all information, systems, tools and assistance are now available to researchers from a common and widely familiar web 'place'.

  • MeRA servers
    The Monash eResearch Application (MeRA) server platforms were upgraded to dual high performance and scalable multi-core Sun X4600 servers, and we have commenced to migrate applications from existing Xen virtual machines to VMware virtual machines operating on the new hardware platforms.

  • MeRA team
    The Monash eResearch Application (MeRA) support team was grown to its full initial complement of 4 specialist eResearch support staff.

ITS and the Monash Research Office continue to upgrade the functionality of Monash's Research Administration and management information systems, to improve the administration of Monash’s research programmes.


2007

2007 was a capability establishment year for the MeRP project, in which the following activities were undertaken:

  • MeRP Project Team
    A project team was established comprising Project Managers, Systems Analysts and Data Management Analysts.

  • MeRA Servers
    A pool of general purpose Application Servers were purchased to support generic and custom e-Research Applications coming out of ARCHER, MeRP and other development activities. The MeRA (Monash e-Research Application) Servers initially comprise a set of 10 quad-core Sun X6220 blade CPUs. This will allow the retirement or reuse of older inefficient hardware.

  • IM4eR sub-project
    A range of Digital Asset Management Systems (DAMS) and development environments were evaluated. SGI’s MediaFlux was selected and purchased as a flexible development environment to build custom DAMS solutions for Monash researchers.

  • Requirements gathering tools
    A range of requirements gathering software tools were evaluated, so as to expedite the capture of researchers’ specific and custom solutions requirements. TopTeam was selected and deployed for use within the MeRC and MeRP project teams.

  • LIMS
    Requirements for custom Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) were documented to meet the specific needs on MISCL and MMI researchers.

  • Administrative systems
    A prototype unified request process was developed to streamline requests for access to Monash, VPAC and APAC high performance computing facilities.

  • Discovery tools
    ITS upgraded Monash’s web search engine to Google, greatly improving the accessibility of Monash web content to researchers.

 

  
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