B-spaces: BioMedIT secure research project spaces for analysing and exploiting sensitive health data

The fundamental service offered by BioMedIT is provision of B-spaces: specialised environments for collecting, storing, analysing and learning from health-related data at one of the three BioMedIT nodes. These environments are each specific to a single research project, which allows project members to collaborate from multiple institutions, but also maintains the security of the data imported for the project. While data, applications and methods can be reused within the BioMedIT platform (if applicable), each use should be within the environment for a specific approved research project.

These spaces are composite services that consist of multiple elements. They begin with a ‘base package,’ of standard components, with a number of additional options which can be added to it. These environments are provided free of charge for research projects funded by SPHN. For SPHN-external users they are offered for a fee, please contact us to discuss your requirements.

• Virtualised resources in a secure infrastructure, with a minimum of 20 CPU cores, 32GB of RAM and 20TB of storage
• Access to the virtualised resources through a remote desktop system
• User management and access using SWITCH edu-ID and two factor authentication
• Onboarding of two data providers per research project, and access to the BioMedIT data transfer system to securely move it from the data provider institutions to the BioMedIT Node in use
• Access to standard research software suites, with the possibility to bring in additional software (must pass a security assessment)
• Training material to support use of BioMedIT and SPHN services
• Standard support according to our Service Level Description including:
  • Support for establishment of legal agreements such as a Data Transfer and Use Agreements (DTUA) or a Data Processing Agreements (DPA)
  • Support for whitelisting customer IPs
  • Fulfilment of various security requirements (e.g., according to specifications from Swiss university hospitals)
  • Handling of incidents and service requests.

In addition, a number of services can be added to the B-spaces. 

Some additional services are not considered part of the base package but can be used with the B-space immediately.

• Container Registry - Provides a registry for hosting, vulnerabilities scanning and sharing of OCI compatible container images
• Git Registry - Provides a repository to registered BioMedIT users to create, collaborate and share their application codes with other BioMedIT users

Some other services can be added to the B-space on request, but may incur an additional fee: 

• Terminology Service - Provides SPHN compatible, machine-readable versions of national and international terminologies and classifications in RDF (Resource Definition Framework) format
• Confluence Wiki - Provides a collaboration space and repository for the working- and implementation groups
• Data Management for your research data using different technologies depending on the node your work sits on
• Additional resources for your B-space (increased number of CPU and GPU cores, increased RAM or storage)
• Onboarding additional data providers (above the two included in the base package) 

Find out how to get started on BioMedIT