University of Houston implements a scalable, secure private cloud with Synology

The Cullen College of Engineering at University of Houston (UofH) has more than 140 faculty researchers working on grant-funded projects each year. Storage requirements vary greatly between researchers, for some reaching more than 40 terabytes per project. UofH needed a system that provided flexibility and expandability as their storage needs grew.

Additionally, each researcher collaborates with multiple research assistants stationed abroad, frequently sharing and updating critical research data from remote research sites. UofH also partners with other universities around the world to collaborate on large scale research initiatives. This collaborative workflow requires a data storage solution that can be accessed by multiple parties from anywhere in the world.

Furthermore, in order to receive grants, researchers are required to provide a Data Management Plan (DMP) in their application, detailing how data will be shared, stored, accessed, and managed. Public cloud solutions do not offer the level of data control or ownership that most grants require, and storing copies of research data on premises is a strict requirement in many cases.

To maximize grant opportunities for faculty, UofH needed a storage solution that kept data on premises and offered data management features that satisfied a broad range of research grant requirements. At the same time, UofH needed the solution to make sharing and retrieving this data intuitive for the researchers and their collaborators around the world.

UofH set up a network of Synology servers at their main campus as a secure channel through which on-campus faculty and off-campus researchers could share data. UofH created shared folders for each research project and established accessibility rules, retention policies, and archiving processes that met grant standards using Synology's on-board operating system, DiskStation Manager (DSM). In total, UofH has over 700 terabytes of storage on their Synology servers dedicated to researcher data.

To make shared folders accessible to researchers, UofH utilizes Synology Drive, a file management solution that offers the accessibility and ease-of-use of a public cloud solution, but runs on the Synology server owned by the school and thus offers greater control over access and configurability. Through Synology Drive, faculty and their assistants are able to upload, retrieve, and update data stored in the Synology servers via a web portal anywhere in the world.

By storing research data with on-site Synology servers, UofH is able to meet a broad range of data governance guidelines for engineering research grants. This expands grant opportunities for the faculty beyond what would have been possible with a cloud solution.

The configurability of the Synology NAS also gives UofH critical control over data access and retention, giving research teams the freedom to utilize storage and share research data as needed without worrying about compliance issues.

Lastly, Synology Drive provides an intuitive interface through which researchers can remotely access and share data with their remote teams and universities no matter where they are in the world.