Sysdev has confirmed 2.33 FTE staffing for the VIDaaS project which was given the green light last month. This input, allocated over the remainder of the 12 month project, will provide systems and software development capabilities required to deliver the majority of user-facing functionality.
The VIDaaS project aims to deliver a highly cost-effective and scalable “on-demand, on-line, and on-going” database for researchers at Oxford University and other HE institutions. Development of the underlying web-based data storage and presentation software started in the JISC-funded Sudamih project, but is now set for delivery on a much grander scale. Through VIDaaS the easy-to-use online database service (DaaS) will be enhanced with a range of new features, generalised to meet the needs of the wider research activities at Oxford, and adapted for deployment on a high-availability, flexible-capacity virtual infrastructure.
John Ireland will work alongside Pete Jones (SIS) and Jon Hutchings (NSMS) as Lead Architect, managing the design and integration of the DaaS software and service. Christian Fernau will take on the role of VIDaaS Software Developer, joining Asif Akram who developed the initial DaaS software in the Sudamih project and who will continue his work as Lead Software Developer on VIDaaS. Asif has occupied a desk next to Christian for over a year, but his post within OUCS is to be formally transferred into Sysdev to provide greater integration of the VIDaaS project with OUCS’ core Unix service team.
The VIDaaS project has attracted significant funding from the University Modernisation Fund, and sets out to provide a service which will free many researchers from the burden of maintaining local databases, whilst significantly improving discoverability, reliability, and flexibility. The project outputs will be designed for use by any Higher Education Institution, and will be added to the data management tools offered by the Digital Curation Centre. At a local level, OUCS sees this as a significant addition to the portfolio of IT services offered to Oxford researchers.
For more information about VIDaaS, visit the project web site, or contact the Office of the Director of IT at directorspa@odit.ox.ac.uk.