NFDI4BIOIMGE and DataPLANT collaborate on VDI/DaaS service

Sun Apr 13 2025

The NFDI4BIOIMAGE and DataPLANT consortia have joined forces to develop a flexible Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) solution designed to support the evolving needs of researchers in data-intensive scientific environments. This collaborative service offers researchers remote access to fully featured desktop environments—mirroring their typical lab or facility workstations. These desktops are optimized for interactive data analysis, graphical image processing, and remote training scenarios, all from any location with internet access offering moderate bandwidth.

The Freiburg-based DaaS platform brings the full software-hardware stack of imaging facility workstations into the cloud. Users can run standard viewing, image manipulation, and analysis tools directly next to the data source—eliminating the need to transfer large datasets to personal machines just to inspect or analyze them. By enabling analysis near the data, the system reduces unnecessary data duplication and movement, saving time and storage while streamlining research workflows. Users access an identical environment to their local imaging desktops, including support for very high-resolution displays (given sufficient bandwidth). Typical usage only requires 10 Mbit/s for full-HD and under 100 Mbit/s for high-resolution, dynamic workflows—far less than what would be needed to transfer full datasets.

In the future typical cloud resources (like from de.NB) can be repurposed for non-interactive jobs during off-hours, and researchers no longer need to physically visit facilities to use specialized equipment. This increases flexibility and makes scheduling more efficient. The platform ensures that data remains within defined secure environments, supporting use cases involving sensitive or protected datasets. This could be of interest to further consortia in the NFDI. An online demo is already available, and access can be granted upon request. The service is also planned to integrate with broader research infrastructure initiatives such as Life AAI used e.g. in DataPLANT and IAM4NFDI (providng access to all NFDI members), ensuring seamless authentication and identity management across the NFDI landscape. For more information or to request access, please contact the project team