New ERICA Instance for WA Health
ERICA: E-Research Institutional Cloud Architecture
By Peter Lee
We are excited to announce the launch of a new instance of the ERICA platform for WA Health! Along with the CBDRH ERICA team, our Intersect consulting engineers have collaborated closely with WA Health to successfully build this latest ERICA instance to further extend the national ERICA network.
Intersect Australia is a committed collaborator on the ‘E-Research Institutional Cloud Architecture (ERICA): secure cloud computing for sensitive data’ platform, led by the Centre in Big Data Research and Health, UNSW Sydney.
Since late 2021, Intersect software engineer consultants have been engaged with the ERICA team from UNSW Sydney as the core contributor to the continuous software development of the ERICA framework.
What features does ERICA provide?
- Delivered through Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Each ERICA instance provides up to 100 isolated Project Spaces (data cannot be shared between Project Spaces)
- Project Spaces are accessed through User WorkSpaces (virtual desktops)
- Customised computing resources can be provisioned inside each User WorkSpace
- Project-specific roles and permissions are assigned to each User
- Users authenticate using a single set of login credentials in addition to a mandatory multi-factor authentication process
- User-initiated data movement is tightly controlled and logged through a gateway hub
Which organisations are running ERICA instances?
- UNSW Sydney
- Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW SRAE)
- NSW Data Analytics Centre (NSW Secure Analytics Lab)
- University of Melbourne
- WA Health
What approvals and accreditations does ERICA have?
- NSW: eHealth NSW under the Privacy and Security Assurance Framework.
- COMMONWEALTH: IRAP accreditation and process for approval to hold Commonwealth data in progress