Our Data Ecosystem: Adapting to a Changing Technology Landscape

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Our Data Ecosystem

Adapting to a changing technology landscape.

Latest News

  • The UO has renewed Dropbox until 2028. Some service changes will take effect July 1, 2025.
  • The new large-scale research storage service launches July 1.

Learn more about data storage

Data Storage Transformation

The University of Oregon is in the midst of a data storage transformation.

Information Services is taking a comprehensive approach to modernizing storage services, in collaboration with our UO partners—delivering value today while building future-ready solutions for the university.

Our goals:

  • Optimize UO’s suite of storage services based on university needs.
  • Support responsible data management practices across the institution.
  • Enhance compliance with data retention policies.
  • Improve vendor management and streamline contract negotiations to mitigate rising costs.

Beginning in 2025, we plan to launch new services, tune existing services, improve guidance, and stretch our funding dollars to meet critical needs. Our roadmap includes the following:

  • Launch new large-scale research storage and related services.
  • Enhance archival storage offerings.
  • Assess all UO software-as-service storage platforms — Zoom, Dropbox, Microsoft 365, Canvas, and Panopto — then optimize usage and costs as needed.

As this work progresses, we’ll use this webpage to share updates with the UO community.

 

Data Storage Services

Learn more about the UO's data storage services and related changes. We'll provide details for each service as the storage optimization work progresses.

Dropbox
  • Status: Renewed
    • Renewed through March 2028.
    • Service changes take effect July 1, 2025.
  • Service Description
    • Secure cloud storage and sharing of files across devices.
    • Subsidized by Information Services and the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation.
  • Space and Costs
    • 2 TB of individual space for free, with additional storage available for a fee.
    • Dropbox team spaces (available upon request) follow the same model.
    • Cost of extra storage: $40 per TB per year (rate reviewed annually).
    • Additional storage billed in 1 TB increments.
  • Availability
    • Faculty, Officer of Administration (Administrative Faculty), Staff, Graduate Employee.
    • Research Groups.
    • Departments.
    • Note: Students (other than GEs) will soon be phased out of Dropbox. An exception process is under development to accommodate specific research and academic needs. We’ll provide details in the coming months.
  • Purpose
    • Easy collaboration and file sharing with anyone.
    • Storage of large files, such as videos.
    • Supports version history and file recovery.
    • Research and scholarship storage, backups, and archive.
Large-Scale Research Storage
  • Status: New Capability
    • Coming July 1, 2025.
  • Service Description
    • Dedicated new data storage service to support UO research and scholarship across the sciences, arts, and humanities.
    • Secure, low-cost storage suitable for 1 TB to 100 TB and beyond.
    • Subsidized by OVPRI, Information Services, and a strategic UO investment.
  • Space and Costs
    • Purchase in 1 TB increments, with the option to prepay up to 5 years in advance. New orders will be prorated based on date of purchase.
    • Cost: $35 per TB per year (rate reviewed annually).
  • Availability
    • Faculty.
    • Research groups.
    • Departments.
  • Purpose
    • Research and scholarship storage, backups, and archive.
    • Easily move data to our High-Performance Computing cluster (Talapas).
    • High-speed data transfer between institutions via Globus.
    • Instrument data, including images from fMRI machines, genomic and metabolomics datasets, and more.
Globus Data Transfer Software
  • Status: New Capability
    • Recently enhanced with greater security and self-service capabilities.
  • Service Description
    • Secure web-based software that lets researchers move, share, and discover data through a single interface, no matter where the data lives.
    • Subsidized by Information Services and a strategic UO investment.
  • Cost
    • Centrally funded.
  • Availability
    • Faculty, Research Staff.
  • Purpose
    • Transferring large files between storage platforms, including to and from the large-scale research storage.
Zoom Cloud Storage (recordings and transcripts)

 Details coming soon.

Microsoft Storage (OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams)

Details coming soon.

AWS Cloud Services

Details coming soon.

Canvas

Details coming soon.

Panopto

Details coming soon.

 

More Information

News stories and email messages will be shared here. 

Data Security and Records Management

UO employees are responsible for being aware of the sensitivity of the data they handle, for using approved storage locations that support that policy, and for following other controls associated with different classes of data. The Information Security Office is available to help you identify secure and compliant solutions. (Some UO cybersecurity reference pages require a Duck ID login.)

Before deleting files or other data, or moving them out of UO systems, employees should be aware of their recordkeeping responsibilities as explained in the short video Records and Our Shared Responsibilities from University Records Management.

Getting Help