The ARDC and AARNet have joined forces to enable a new level of secure digital research for Australian researchers into the future.

The partnership aligns with the 2024 National Digital Research Infrastructure (NDRI) Strategy, produced by the Australian Government Department of Education, which calls for a cybersecure NDRI for national-scale data and computing. A key aspect of the ARDC-AARNet partnership is to enable a system-wide solution for researchers across Australia to conduct highly sensitive research in a safe and secure way while also protecting valuable digital resources.

The first outcome of the ARDC-AARNet collaboration is the establishment of a new national node of the ARDC Nectar Research Cloud (Nectar) at AARNet’s data centre in Sydney. Nectar is Australia’s national research cloud, which provides the Australian research community with fast, interactive, self-service access to large-scale computing infrastructure, software and data. This new node will host national services on Nectar, including the ARDC Virtual Desktop Service, JupyterHub Service, and BinderHub Service and national research platforms, while also improving support for researchers without access to local nodes in the Nectar federation. The national node will be hosted by AARNet and operated jointly by the ARDC and AARNet.

Ben Chiu, Director, Services, ARDC, says: “The ARDC’s partnership with AARNet underscores our shared vision of empowering Australian researchers with digital infrastructure. Through this partnership, the new national Nectar node will be a significant step forward in supporting Australian research communities with resilient, secure, scalable cloud research infrastructure while shaping the knowledge infrastructure that the Thematic Research Data Commons continues to build for Australian researchers.”

Ryan Fraser, Director, Digital Research, AARNet, says “AARNet’s partnership with ARDC reflects a shared commitment to empowering Australian researchers with world-class digital infrastructure. This collaboration has been instrumental in developing the new national Nectar node, and by hosting it, AARNet is enabling a critical solution that supports researchers and drives discovery and innovation."

Enhancing Cybersecurity for Sensitive Research Data

In exciting news for researchers handling sensitive data, the ARDC and AARNet are working on a future cybersecurity enhancement to achieve ISO27001 certification for the national node by late 2025.

The cybersecurity uplift for Nectar will unlock the potential to support key research infrastructure activities within the ARDC’s Planet Research Data Commons for earth and environmental science research and People Research Data Commons for health and medical research. Those projects include the recently kicked-off Australian Dataspaces initiative, which will create secure ecosystems for sensitive data exchange among research, industry and government sectors in Australia. For health and medical research, cybersecurity certification will enable federated learning and facilitate the establishment of trusted national research environments.

Stay tuned for the launch of the ARDC-AARNet national node of Nectar, expected in early 2025.

Learn more about the ARDC Nectar Research Cloud.

The ARDC is enabled by the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) to support national digital research infrastructure for Australian researchers.

Written by Jo Savill, ARDC. Reviewed by Rosie Hicks, Ben Chiu, Dr Paul Coddington (ARDC), Jane Gifford (AARNet).