Globus Platform Services for Data Publication

ABSTRACTData publication systems are typically tailored to the requirements and processes of a specific domain, collaboration, and/or use case. We propose here an alternative approach to engineering such systems, based on customizable compositions of simple, independent platform services, each of which provides a distinct function such as identification, metadata association, and discovery. We argue that this approach can reduce costs and increase flexibility and overall service quality. We describe a collection of such services that we are developing within Globus, which initially provide persistent identifier association, data management, and discovery capabilities; we are also working towards an automation service that can reliably and flexibly coordinate these and other services to satisfy varied user needs. We describe data publication use cases that motivate our design, present our vision for a data publication platform, and report on current implementation status.