SCIENCE

Indiana University is using Oracle Database and Oracle Application Express to provide researchers with a first-class database environment that is secure, reliable and easy to use, as well as an integrated Web-based development environment to enable the university research community to manage data and build Web applications to support various programs.

High Performance Systems (HPS), part of the Research Technologies division of the Indiana University Pervasive Technology Institute, provides a number of database-related services – including database hosting, Web services, application building and consulting – free of charge to researchers at universities nationwide. Researchers using the database services are working on studies in various fields, including genomics testing, forest inventory and analysis, stress management and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

With Oracle Database, researchers can leverage the features of an enterprise data management system to meet data sharing and archival requirements as well as enhance collaboration within their community – without spending the time or requiring the expertise to manage the environment themselves.

HPS database administrators monitor the environment to perform backups and upgrades, apply patches and notify users of alerts – protecting data and ensuring that researchers have access to state-of-the-art technology.

In addition, some researchers – who often lack regular access to professional technologists – are using Oracle Application Express, a rapid Web application development tool for Oracle Database, to build and manage research-oriented, data-intensive applications. Even researchers with minimal-programming experience are able to use Oracle Application Express for their research. The Web-based application development environment provides the tools, templates and plug-ins they need to easily leverage research data to enhance their findings and increase productivity.

With Oracle Database and Oracle Application Express, researchers can more effectively compete for grants and funding by ensuring they meet data storage, security and archiving requirements set forth by the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Health and other government agencies.

For additional insight into research data, HPS also provides researchers with access to Oracle Data Mining, Oracle Spatial and Oracle OLAP to deliver its database-as-a-service to researchers both within Indiana University and at other universities around the country.