Space Merit Subsidies

Space Merit Subsidies

Current Status

The Research Data Storage Initiative (RDSI) federal programme mechanism that seeded Space.intersect.org.au formally concluded on 30 June 2015, approving its final merit allocations as of 31 December 2014. RDSI is succeeded by the Research Data Services (RDS) programme with a reduced budget. Its expenditure is currently limited to research domain specific activities as opposed to continued subsidisation of data collections acquired through “ReDS” funding over the past few years.

As a result, the RDSI merit subsidy scheme ended on 31 December 2015. Intersect will make every effort to offer options to easily apply future subsidies to application quotas from alternate merit schemes should they become available.

Space News

Space.intersect.org.au has undergone an exciting technical refresh. The result is increased capacity, improved performance and a wider range of products developed responsively to researcher needs. Space offers high performance, high scale, high security digital storage for research data and features:

Colocation of data with compute (high performance computing and cloud computing).
Highest performance network speeds via AARNet fibre.
A range of digital data products tailored for researchers to store and share data.
Fault-tolerant research-scale storage.
Secure onshore locations with your data securely held in secure Australian datacentres.
Competitive pricing.

​Space is available at attractive member rates. To talk about this or any other aspect of Space or RDS/RDSI please get in touch with your local eResearch Analyst or just email enquiries@intersect.org.au and your request will be tracked and responded to.

Questions? Here are some answers…

What is the status of merit subsidisation for Space?
There are no merit subsidy schemes current and available for Space as of 1 July 2015. The legacy RDSI project ceased in December 2014 and all ‘ReDS’ allocations ceased 30 June 2015. The NCRIS RDS project that succeeded RDSI no longer funds the ‘ReDS’ scheme. Intersect directly funded residual subsidies from this scheme for a further transitional period of six months to 31 December 2015. We continue to pursue alternate subsidy funding strategies and will apply future schemes to maximise researcher benefit.

What happens to my ReDS merit subsidy after 31 December 2015?
Standard Space rates apply from 1 January 2016. Monthly Space invoices will reflect this and we’ve been in touch with your organisation’s nominated billing contact to let them know about this change to your Space Plan.

If I have completely consumed my ReDS merit subsidised quota, what happens if I need more Space?
Standard Space rates apply beyond your merit rebate ceiling.

If I have consumed only (say) 50% of my ReDS merit-subsidised allocated quota as of 30 June 2015, what happens to the remaining 50%?
Formally ReDS subsidy allocations cease on 30 June 2015 and the rebate period runs until 31 December 2015. Intersect recognises logistical issues for researchers however and will directly honour partially ingested allocations. This means subsidised consumption of the remaining 50% is possible through to the end of the rebate period. We reserve the right to vary your rebate ceiling if actual usage varies significantly.

If I have not begun using my ReDS merit-subsidised allocated quota as of 30 June 2015, what happens to my allocation?
If you have not started data ingestion by 30 June 2015, no action will be taken at this time. We strongly encourage you to begin using your Space but we also understand that you may not be in a position to do so at this time. Should you be unable to use your Space Intersect will endeavour to provide options to easily transition such an application quota to alternate Space merit schemes as and when they become available.​

I have requested my merit subsidised Space but it has not been provisioned yet.
Provisioning is currently under way by our operations team for all residual Space requests and new technology has improved our ability to respond. We recommend you begin your data ingestion as soon as your Space has been provisioned.

My grant relies on in-kind storage support by Intersect. What does this mean for me?
Intersect will honour all in-kind grant support commitments through the product lifetime of Space, or the completion of the grant proposal, whichever comes first.

I’ve heard my organisation as a member of Intersect also enjoys some form of fixed allocation. Can I take advantage of this as an alternative or supplement to a merit subsidy?
Some Intersect Australia Member organisations purchase a “Subscription” allocation and, subject to the Member’s discretion, it can apply part of the associated quota to your collection as a rebate against standard Space pricing. This is between you and your organisation to determine as this kind of rebate is unrelated to Intersect.

I’ve heard my organisation has its own private Space. Can I take advantage of this somehow?
Some organisations purchase InnerSpace from Intersect and in turn make that available to their researchers internally via a Wholesale Space Plan. Arrangements for this are between you and your organisation, and can be a great option if your collection is internally focussed and inter-organisation sharing and external researcher collaboration are not high priorities.

I’ve heard my organisation already offers data storage. How does this relate to Space storage from Intersect?
Intersect works collaboratively with the IT departments of all its members and customers. As each is unique, the answer to this question varies from organisation to organisation. If in doubt, a great place to start is to contact your friendly local eResearch Analyst, visit help.intersect.org.au or email space@intersect.org.au.

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