Supporting a University’s Ecological Research With a ZFS Storage Server

The University of Durham’s Computer Science department conducts research to understand how animals are coping with ecological challenges, with the aim of reducing global biodiversity loss.

We were asked to support their RoboRoyale project, which combines miniature robotics and AI to create robotic bees. Their robotic bees are programmed to interact with the queen honeybee to nurture her well-being. This project is unique in that it focuses solely on the queen rather than the whole colony.

Close up view of the working bees on honey cells

As part of their monitoring, the RoboRoyale project required a server on which to store their research. As this comprised of many large video files, they needed a large and scalable solution to keep this valuable data safe.

We provided them with a custom server with 480TB of usable storage. A redundant archival system, their server uses ZFS (Zettabyte File System) to guarantee data integrity, with 7 RAID-Z2 drives making the solution flexible, highly scalable and providing extra data security.

The team can now keep large amounts of their valuable research data secure. This will help them support the wellbeing of honeybees and the entire ecosystem.

If you’re in need of storage, a variety of servers can be found on our website. Or, feel free to get in touch with one of our friendly Server Specialists to begin developing a custom solution which works for you!

Case Study: How a Leading UK Utilities Company Reclaimed 11,023 Hours (7 FTEs) with Direct2Desk

A leading UK utilities company was struggling to manage thousands of devices for its distributed workforce. Their traditional IT asset management approach had become fragmented and time-consuming, draining IT resources with manual configuration, imaging, and lifecycle tasks that held back innovation.

How We Helped FitzRoy Streamline Their IT Asset Lifecycle Management

FitzRoy are a charity supporting people with autism, acute mental health needs, and learning disabilities in homes and services across the country, helping them to live independently. Their IT team help deliver life-changing projects, like setting up accessible IT suites for their day service users, but they were working with extremely limited time and resource […]