Target Group: Institutions

RADAR supports reliable and secure research data management – even if own infrastructures, services or IT staff are missing.

As a discipline-independent research data repository, RADAR is recommended for your institution if you

  • cannot or do not want to operate a research data infrastructure of your own,
  • would like to use RADAR in addition to existing offers or established discipline-specific data centers,
  • want to use local storage systems or external storage service providers to store your research data, but do not want to host and maintain your own repository software (RADAR Hybrid),
  • offer an individual research data repository under local domain, but do not want maintain it and develop its software yourself (RADAR Local).

RADAR is much more than just a tape archive!

Benefits for institutions

Hosted by FIZ Karlsruhe, managed by your institution

  • Using RADAR conserves resources and saves costs associated with building and maintaining an institution's own research data repository.
  • RADAR Cloud in particular can be implemented at your institution within a short time and be flexibly adapted to your workflows.
  • RADAR's role and rights management supports delegated administration by your institution and ensures that only authorized users can deposit, archive and publish research data.
  • If your institution participates in DFN-AAI, users can easily authenticate themselves with their institutional user ID. Otherwise, they can register individually.

Institution-specific adjustments

  • RADAR can be adapted to your workflows for data management and quality assurance. Your administrators manage RADAR workspaces as central access points for researchers. Usage statistics and flexible quota support these processes.
  • The RADAR user interface is easy to use and can be adapted to your corporate design with your institution’s logo and spot color.
  • Research data can be published with your own DOI prefix. The metadata of your data publications are harvestable as a set via our OAI provider and usable for automated integration in your publication lists.
  • The RADAR software is modular and can be used via programming interfaces (APIs). The RADAR API can be used for maximal integration into existing infrastructures and workflows. A customized user interface can be implemented.
  • Alternative archive storage can be integrated into RADAR Hybrid, e.g., your local data center or an external storage service.
  • RADAR Local is operated by FIZ Karlsruhe entirely on your IT resources. The start page can be designed according to your needs and the service runs under a custom name under an Internet address of your choice.

Secure data archiving and publication

  • RADAR guarantees secure and format-independent data storage (Bitstream Preservation). RADAR Cloud preserves archived data for the selected retention period (5, 10, 15 years). For published data, RADAR Cloud guarantees their availability for at least 25 years.
  • RADAR enables the description of datasets and the single files and directories they contain with metadata. The RADAR metadata schema is interoperable (DataCite, Dublin Core) and supports the implementation of the FAIR Principles.
  • The entire RADAR service and the technical infrastructure of RADAR Cloud are subject to German law. Research data is stored with RADAR Cloud in three copies at different geographical locations exclusively in academic computing centers in Germany.
  • RADAR offers you a variety of open interfaces. Concluding an agreement does not result in a „vendor lock-in“.
  • RADAR has an exit strategy. If FIZ Karlsruhe should cease to operate RADAR, the transfer of responsibilities to another institution and ongoing funding is ensured.
  • Since suitable certification procedures do not yet exist for all research data related repository types, RADAR cannot currently be certified according to the CoreTrustSeal criteria. However, your institution can apply for CoreTrustSeal itself for its own RADAR repository.

Fair and transparent pricing

  • Costs incurred are billed annually. For RADAR Cloud, these consist of a basic fee and usage-based fees; for RADAR Hybrid and RADAR Local, flat fees are charged.
  • Quota regulations allow you to define the maximum usable storage volume in advance and thus limit costs incurred with RADAR Cloud.
  • For large data volumes of 50TB or more, RADAR Cloud offers discounted pricing.
  • RADAR Hybrid and RADAR Local do not have any volume-based cost components. The annual fees are constantly calculable, even if you expect high usage and large data volumes in the medium to long term.
  • FIZ Karlsruhe does not pursue any commercial interests with RADAR. Rather, we see the RADAR offering as part of our mission according to the guiding principle "Advancing Science".

Commitment of FIZ Karlsruhe

  • RADAR Cloud was developed themed "From the community - for the community" within the scope of a DFG-funded project (2013-2016) and now runs as a permanent service. FIZ Karlsruhe operates RADAR Cloud in cooperation with other renowned public infrastructures.
  • Together with the RADAR User Advisory Council, we are consistently pursuing the demand-oriented further development of RADAR which we started in the DFG project phase.
  • We strive to integrate RADAR into the emerging National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI). In doing so, we are following our guiding principle "Advancing Science", which is to promote the development of science by supporting the entire research process.
  • Our research area "Intellectual Property Rights in Distributed Information Infrastructures" is concerned with legal issues regarding research data management. RADAR benefits from these activities in the form of verified terms of use and licensing agreements and by assistance offered to users, for example, with regard to licenses, copyright and data protection.

Other target groups