The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is a federal agency that conducts and funds biomedical research to improve health outcomes. The NIH requires researchers to store and share their data to advance scientific knowledge and improve patient outcomes. However, data storage and security can be a challenge for researchers, especially when dealing with sensitive data. Decentralized storage is emerging as a solution to these challenges, providing researchers with a secure, reliable, and scalable way to store and share their data.
NIH Data Storage Requirements
The NIH has strict data storage requirements for researchers who receive funding from the agency. According to the NIH Data Sharing Policy, researchers must share their data within a reasonable amount of time after the data are collected or generated. The data must be stored in a manner that is accessible, preserved, and usable by other researchers. Additionally, the NIH requires that data be stored securely and protected from unauthorized access or disclosure.
Challenges with Traditional Storage Methods
Traditional storage methods, such as physical hard drives or centralized servers, can be vulnerable to security breaches, data loss, and corruption. These storage methods are often costly, require specialized IT support, and can be difficult to scale as research projects grow. Additionally, traditional storage methods do not provide true data integrity, making it difficult to verify the accuracy and consistency of the data throughout its entire lifecycle.
Decentralized Storage as a Solution
Decentralized storage is emerging as a solution to the challenges associated with traditional storage methods. Decentralized storage is a type of storage that distributes data across a network of nodes, making it more secure and reliable than traditional storage methods. In decentralized storage, data is broken into small pieces and encrypted before being distributed across the network. This ensures that the data is secure, and no one can access it without the correct decryption keys. Decentralized storage is also resistant to data loss, as data is stored across multiple nodes, ensuring that even if one node fails, the data is still available.
Decentralized storage is an ideal solution for NIH data storage requirements. Decentralized storage provides true data integrity, ensuring that data is accurate, complete, and consistent throughout its entire lifecycle. Decentralized storage is also highly secure, making it less vulnerable to data breaches, and is easily scalable, making it an excellent option for research projects of any size. Additionally, decentralized storage provides researchers with the ability to collaborate on projects more easily, securely sharing data with authorized parties only.
Conclusion
The NIH requires researchers to store and share their data securely and efficiently. Traditional storage methods can be vulnerable to data loss and security breaches, making them challenging to use in research settings. Decentralized storage provides a secure, reliable, and scalable solution to these challenges, making it an ideal storage option for researchers who receive funding from the NIH. As research projects continue to generate vast amounts of data, decentralized storage is becoming an essential tool for researchers to ensure that their data is secure and accessible to others, advancing scientific knowledge and improving patient outcomes.
Learn more about decentralized storage
The IDC, a leading global market intelligence firm, recently conducted a Cloud Storage Survey to explore organizations’ perceptions of the drawbacks to existing public cloud storage providers; and their appetite for decentralized storage solutions.
Survey highlights:
- Over 87% of organizations were at least somewhat concerned about public cloud provider lock-in, and more than 46% were very or extremely concerned about it.
- 82% of enterprises indicated that cost considerations were the initial reasons to move data into the cloud
- The value proposition of decentralized storage— lower costs with at least the same durability, availability, safety, and performance as public cloud providers today — was preferred by 89.7% of respondents
To learn more about decentralized storage, download the IDC White Paper, Making the case for Decentralized Storage, sponsored by Protocol Labs.
