Research IT Services

A number of free and cost-recovery services are available to the UGA® research community including data management planning and support services, computing services, storage and backup services, and archives.

Some services, such as those of the GACRC and UGA Libraries are campus-wide. Many colleges also offer college-specific IT resources, services, and support for their researchers. These services may be independently offered or in partnership with campus-wide services. Researchers are encouraged to contact their local IT departments to request information about available resources.

Campus-wide services

Data Management Planning and Support Services

• UGA Libraries
  The UGA Libraries offers resources and support for faculty and student research, including data management and sharing plans, persistent identifiers, and open-access data repositories. They also offer related seminars, workshops, and data consultations by appointment.

Computing Services

• The Georgia Advanced Computing Resource Center (GACRC)
  The GACRC is a collaborative partnership between the Office of Research and the Office of the Vice President for Information Technology. The GACRC, administered by EITS, provides large-scale computing services and solutions for University researchers.
  
  
• Amazon Web Services (AWS)
  Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a cloud-based computing services suite. The scope of initial services available can be found at aws.amazon.com. AWS third-party professional services are not available under this program. Departments and units at UGA may purchase AWS through UGAMart, but must first complete a CESS approval form to participate.

Data Storage, Sharing, and Backup Services

• Office 365 OneDrive for Business
  OneDrive for Business is a cloud-based solution for storing, syncing and sharing files. Every UGA faculty, staff and student has access to free web-based file storage, including editing and collaboration tools. Users can access OneDrive for Business with their UGAMail account by visiting ugamail.uga.edu. OneDrive for Business should not be used for storing or sharing sensitive or restricted data, such as Social Security numbers.
  
  
• EITS Research Institutional File Stores (RIFS)
  Institutional File Storage (IFS) is an affordable digital file storage option for UGA units. EITS offers three options: Standard IFS, Secure IFS and Research IFS. Users of Research IFS have 1TB minimum of space that is intended for use as a target for backups of research data.
  
  
• SendFiles
  

  SendFiles is an encrypted file service that allows users to securely share sensitive documents or large files to other UGA users or people not associated with the University. Attachments in SendFiles can total up to 2GB in size, and the service offers more than one solution for sending and receiving files.

• EITS Secure VDI
  Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is a secure Virtual Desktop environment that can be coupled with Secure Institutional File Stores for working with sensitive data. Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), EITS is accountable for central hosting activities.

• EITS Physical Server Hosting in Boyd
  The Boyd Data Center hosts physical servers that contain critical systems and data for many UGA colleges, departments and administrative units. With a total of 16,000 square feet of space, an enterprise class generator, secure card access and gas fire-suppression system, the Boyd Data Center provides peace of mind for securing crucial data.

• EITS Virtual Server Hosting
  Virtual server setup, configuration, and hosting responsibilities include hardware, firmware, VMware software updates, infrastructure issue diagnosis and resolution.

• USG Peachnet Virtual Data Center
  PeachNet is a virtual server hosting at the USG Data Center and provides an ESX cluster environment using VMware’s Virtual Cloud Director (vCD).

• USG Cloud Backup
  PeachNet’s Backup service’s destination is an off-site backup service via USG. The backup system is based on EMC’s Avamar system. This offers source-based de-duplication and greatly reduces wall clock time for backups to run and reduces traffic over the LAN.

Publishing and Archiving Research

• Scholarly Publications & Communication

The UGA Libraries offers resources and support related to scholarly publications, including information on copyright, open access publishing agreements, publication services, and citation rates. They also offer related seminars, workshops, and data consultations by appointment.

• ScholarWorksUGA
  ScholarWorksUGA collects unique scholarly content produced by the University of Georgia community. Our current collection includes UGA theses and dissertations dating back to 1999 and a growing collection of research papers from campus institutes and departments. ScholarWorksUGA accomodates both born-digital materials and items that have been converted to digital, including text, inamges, audio, video, 3D data, and will add other formats as they become relevant in the future.